Wildland Values

Holmes Rolston’s III

Corbin Fletcher c©

12 Types of Wildland Values

September 29, 2011

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 1 Market Value

THE MARKET VALUE OF NATURE

I Nature can be used instrumentally to render human existencemore materially comfortable. Humans have no options aboutsome consumption of nature in our economy, however, we dohave options about how much nature we consume. Growth andsocial pressures have forced market values into competitionwith all other values.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 2 Life Support Value

I The central goods of the biosphere were in placebefore humans arrived, though they have latelybecome our resources. Such things as airflow,water circulation, sunshine, and nitrogen fixationhave never figured much in market value.Previously, we thought that natural processeswere just given however with increasing demandson nature, human activities have threatenedcrucial life support functions.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 3 Recreational Value

I We want to see what we can do (activity) and we want to belet in on Nature’s show (contemplation). Wildlands are valuedfor sports (hiking, fishing) and also, wildlands are valued as awonderland: a rich evolutionary ecosystem where truth isstranger than fiction.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 4 Scientific Value

I Through undisturbed nature we gain better applied sciencewhich enlarges our understanding of the world and our roles init. Science enables us to manage more intelligently andperhaps rebuild what we have destroyed when we were not somorally advanced. Relic wildlands are the only place wherequestions of natural history and evolution can be settled.Destroying wildlands is like burning unread books.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 5 Genetic Diversity Value

Genetic DiversityIncreased plant mutation rates from monocultures, pesticides,herbicides, hybridized strains, and pollution, etc. have made itimportant to preserve the reservoir of wild-type genetic material tobolster failing domestic stock.

Some facts:I Humans eat only 30 plants on a large scale and only one or

two of those come from North America;I The loss of fifteen cultivares would result in one half of the

world’s population starving;I Eighty percent of the world’s calories come from ten species of

plants.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 5 Genetic Diversity Value

Genetic DiversityIncreased plant mutation rates from monocultures, pesticides,herbicides, hybridized strains, and pollution, etc. have made itimportant to preserve the reservoir of wild-type genetic material tobolster failing domestic stock.

Some facts:I Humans eat only 30 plants on a large scale and only one or

two of those come from North America;I The loss of fifteen cultivares would result in one half of the

world’s population starving;I Eighty percent of the world’s calories come from ten species of

plants.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 5 Genetic Diversity Value

Genetic DiversityIncreased plant mutation rates from monocultures, pesticides,herbicides, hybridized strains, and pollution, etc. have made itimportant to preserve the reservoir of wild-type genetic material tobolster failing domestic stock.

Some facts:I Humans eat only 30 plants on a large scale and only one or

two of those come from North America;I The loss of fifteen cultivares would result in one half of the

world’s population starving;I Eighty percent of the world’s calories come from ten species of

plants.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 6 Aesthetic Value

Nature’s problem solving yields works of grace-an eagle soaring, asnake slithering, a coyote on the run, the fiddleheads of ferns, evenmudflats with their 120-degree stress fracture symmetries. On smallscales or large, both ensemble and individual, Nature’s patterns canplease the eye. Valuing wildlands is vastly more than soaking upscenery, as one travels slowly in intimate contact with theenvironment.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 7 Cultural Symbolic Value

CulturalThe bald eagle symbolizes national self-images and aspirations(freedom, strength, beauty), as does the bighorn ram, the stateanimal for Colorado. We want some wilderness preserved because itcomes to express the values of culture superimposed on it, helpingus with our sense of belongingness and identity.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 8a Historical Value–Cultural

I In the U.S. humans only one hundred years ago were stillstruggling with a diverse and challenging environment in theirquest to “settle” the West. This struggle shaped many of ourattitudes in our collective culture. Wildlands of all typesshould be preserved as souvenir places for each generation’slearning period.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 8b Historical Value–Cultural

I Wildlands also provide the most profound historical museum ofall, a relic of the way the world was in 99.99 per cent of pasttime. We are relics of that world, and that world, as tangiblerelic in our midst, contributes to our sense of duration,antiquity, continuity, and identity.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 9 Character-Building Value

I Scouting, Outward Bound Schools, church camps, etc.Wildlands provide a place to sweat, to push yourselfmore than usual, perhaps to let adrenaline flow. Theyprovide a place to take calculated risks, to learn theluck of weather, to lose and find one’s way, to reminisceover success and failure. They provide a place to gainhumility and a sense of proportion.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 10 Therapeutic Value

I In society it is difficult to discriminate friends, enemies, and theindifferent. It is hard to get resolved focus on what to do next,or to predict the consequences of delay. But, in the wilds,supper has to be cooked, one needs to start the stove; it’sgetting dark. Exertion is demanded unambiguously;accomplishment is evident in a low-frustration environment.

I The self is starkly present and the social protocol is similar.So far as humans have been selected over evolutionary courseto meet challenge, adventure, exertion, and risk, society mustprovide avenues for such archetypal emotions, or to expectdeviant behavior-gangs and rebels without a cause. Wildnessmay provide a niche that meets deep-seated psychosomaticneeds.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 10 Therapeutic Value

I In society it is difficult to discriminate friends, enemies, and theindifferent. It is hard to get resolved focus on what to do next,or to predict the consequences of delay. But, in the wilds,supper has to be cooked, one needs to start the stove; it’sgetting dark. Exertion is demanded unambiguously;accomplishment is evident in a low-frustration environment.

I The self is starkly present and the social protocol is similar.So far as humans have been selected over evolutionary courseto meet challenge, adventure, exertion, and risk, society mustprovide avenues for such archetypal emotions, or to expectdeviant behavior-gangs and rebels without a cause. Wildnessmay provide a niche that meets deep-seated psychosomaticneeds.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 11 Religious Value

Religious ValueThe wilderness works on a traveler’s soul, as well as on muscle andcharacter. The wilderness elicits cosmic questions, differently fromtown. Some of the most moving experiences attainable are to behad there. Many Native American religions depend on wildernessas a sacred place for their spiritual gatherings.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 12 Intrinsic Value

I Each preceding type of value makes Nature tributary to humanexperiences, but several hint at more. Wild nature has value inand of itself, regardless of a human valuer. This is to say that ifhumans had never evolved, plants, animals, and other life formswould still have value just because they are.

I All life would have value in and of itself from the struggle for itsown existence. Value would exist for this life even if there wasno valuer capable of rational thought. Intrinsic value is diffusebut deeply felt, such values are difficult to bring into decisions;nevertheless, it does not follow that they ought to be ignored.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

# 12 Intrinsic Value

I Each preceding type of value makes Nature tributary to humanexperiences, but several hint at more. Wild nature has value inand of itself, regardless of a human valuer. This is to say that ifhumans had never evolved, plants, animals, and other life formswould still have value just because they are.

I All life would have value in and of itself from the struggle for itsown existence. Value would exist for this life even if there wasno valuer capable of rational thought. Intrinsic value is diffusebut deeply felt, such values are difficult to bring into decisions;nevertheless, it does not follow that they ought to be ignored.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III

Wildland Values

Credits

I Brought to you by http://blog.protectedareas.us

I Please let me know about improvements!I This presentation was created using LATEX !I The preceding was adapted from: Rolston, Holmes, III (1989)

Valuing Wildlands. In: Philosophy Gone Wild. Buffalo, NewYork: Prometheus Books, pp. 180-225.

Corbin Fletcher Holmes Rolston’s III