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Conservation movementThe Conservation movement seeks to protect plant and animal species as well as the habitats they live in from harmful human influences. The contemporary environmental movementand the Conservation movement have grown together in modern times, as the Sierra Cluband Audubon Societyhave come to reflect the broader ethics of a more diverse society. It continues to admire and use nature, and assign it varying ethical significance. Today it is more correct to say that there is no clear distinction between the conservation movement and environmental movement but rather a distinction between these and the ecology movementwhich gave rise to such strongly political groups as Greenpeaceand the Green Parties.
History
The nascent conservation movement slowly developed in the 19th century, starting first in the scientific forestry methods pioneered by the Germansand the Frenchin the 17th and 18th centuries. While continental Europecreated the scientific methods later used in conservationist efforts, British Indiaand the United Statesare credited with starting the conservation movement. Foresters in India, often German, managed forests using early climate change theories (in America, see also, George Perkins Marsh) that Alexander Von Humboldtdeveloped in the mid 19th century, applied fire protection, and tried to keep the "house-hold" of nature, an early ecological idea, in order so as not to disturb the growth of delicate teaktrees. The same German foresters who headed the Forest Service of India, such as Dietrich Brandisand Berthold Ribbentrop, traveled back to Europe and established themselves at forestry schools in England (Cooper's Hill, later moved to Oxford), and in Germany. These men brought with them the legislative and scientific knowledge of conservationism in British India back to Europe, where they distributed it to men such as Gifford Pinchotand Bernard Fernow. America had its own conservation movement in the 19th century, most often characterized by George Perkins Marsh, author of Man and Nature. The expedition into northwest Wyomingin 1871 led by F.V. Haydenand accompanied by photographer William Henry Jacksonprovided the imagery needed to dispell any rumors about the grandeur of the Yellowstoneregion, and resulted in the creation of Yellowstone National Park, the world's first, in 1872. Travels by later U.S. PresidentTheodore Rooseveltthrough the region around Yellowstone provided the impetus for the creation of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve in 1891. The largest section of the reserve was later renamed Shoshone National Forest, and it is the oldest National Forest in the U.S. But it was not until 1898 when Biltmore, on the Vanderbilt Universityestate, and Cornell Universityfounded the first two forestry schools, both run by Germans. Bernard Fernow, founder of the forestry schools at Cornell University and the University of Toronto, was originally from Prussia (Germany), and he honed his knowledge from Germans who pioneered forestry in India. He introduced Gifford Pinchot, the "father of American forestry," to Brandis and Ribbentrop in Europe. From these men, Pinchot learned the skills and legislative patterns he would later apply to America. Pinchot, in his memoir history Breaking New Ground, credited Brandis especially with helping to form America's conservation laws. The Conservation movement in America was supported by two main groups: conservationists, like Pinchot, who were utilitarian foresters and natural rights advocates who wanted to protect forests "for the greater good for the greatest length," and preservationists, such as John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club. Whereas conservationists wanted regulated use of forest lands for both public activities and commercial endeavors, preservationists believed this could lead to commercial overuse, and ruin unspoiled wilderness. The differences continue to the modern era, with conservation the major focus of the U.S. Forest Serviceand preservation emphasized by the National Park Service. Religious influenceConservation as such has historically been associated with religion - Zoroaster, Tao, and Islam(hima) in particular - but only in the 19th century became explicitly associated with Christianmorality, which was formed in part in opposition to Pagannature worship. For some, conservation during the 19th century invoked Christian reverence for the Creationto protect natural habitats from man. They lobbied consistently for parks and human exclusion from "the wild". They saw humans as apart from nature, in line with Judeo-Christian ethics of the time, and believed that an awe of biodiversity(as we call it today) would inspire religious piety. See also
Sources
Categories: Ethics| Conservation
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