In Defense of Ecosystems— Garden, New York Botanical Garden 1988

"In Defense of Ecosystems," Garden 12, no. 4 (July/August 1988): 2-5, 32. Online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/36763

Ethical concern has focused on the welfare of individuals--persons, animals, plants--but an environmental ethic is not complete without concern for the biotic community. This shift of focus can be defended with prudential reasons. At depth, however, the defense of ecosystems involves more moral courage. Human cultures emerged from Earth's ecosystems, remain tethered to them, and ought to respect creative evolutionary ecosystems, the systems of life. Garden is the journal of the New York Botanical Garden.