This dissertation examines contemporary American novelists whose depictions of how humans relate to the natural world challenge dominant Western cultural assumptions about human autonomy. My analysis centers on Marilynne Robinson, Louise Erdrich, and Richard Powers. Scholarship has largely understood these writers to be undertaking human-centered, social projects related to gender, ethnicity, and technology. However, in my reading, their works demonstrate how the formal elements of fiction—character and plot development, narrative voice and perspective, and recurring imagery—can be used to develop what I call a coextensive vision of the environment, one which shifts emphasis from the autonomous human self to a perception of how embodied individuals are embedded in larger networks and interchanges. In developing this claim, I suggest the environmental potential of the novel, a genre that has received short shrift in ecocriticism. Chapter One considers the novels of Marilynne Robinson, focusing on Housekeeping. Robinson’s nature imagery is highly metaphorical, but I argue that her writing also works on what we might call a material register: it persistently gestures toward an external world that resists enclosure through language, a natural world with which the human body is entangled. Accordingly, I argue, Robinson’s work develops an ecological vision wherein humans are coextensive with the environment. Chapter Two centers on Louise Erdrich’s boundary imagery. I first explore the recurrence of imagery of harmful divisions across Erdrich’s whole body of work. This is, I contend, a pattern that Erdrich uses to critique radical individualism. I further argue that Erdrich draws on the traditional trickster of Anishinaabe storytelling to reinvigorate coextensive connections through pleasure and humor, generating a tribal kincentric ecology emphasizing reciprocity between interrelated beings. Chapter Three closes the project by reading Richard Powers, whose work offers a more frightening vision of what it means to be inseparable from nature compared with Robinson and Erdrich: in Gain, the primary link between humans and environment involves shared toxicity. I explore how Powers’s preferred two-stranded narrative structure develops the reader’s ecological awareness. However, I propose, Gain ultimately problematizes the ethical promise of interconnection, suggesting that knowledge of coextension spurs negative affect and disengagement. / 2020-02-14T00:00:00Z

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There has been growing recognition in recent environmental discourse that environmental justice, which is normally understood to mean the disproportionate effect of climate change on minority groups, also takes the form of epistemic injustice. In the Canadian context, this means the exclusion of Indigenous philosophies, values, and perspectives from discourse about environmental ethics, as well as the spheres of policy and governance as they pertain to the environment. At the same time, there has been increasing concern with creating just outcomes for future people. Given that future generations have made no contribution to the pollution that causes climate change, but will feel its worst effects, many environmental and political philosophers have recently pointed to the need for a strong theory of intergenerational justice, especially as it pertains to the environment. In this thesis, I argue that an essential part of achieving intergenerational environmental justice in Canada is working toward the rectification of both material and epistemic harms toward Indigenous peoples which are perpetuated by the “rationalistic” conception of nature which sees nature as an instrumentally valuable resource to be exploited for human gain. I explore the historical construction of this conception of nature and its pervasiveness in recent work on environmental ethics in order to show how Indigenous perspectives have historically been suppressed through colonialism, and more recently been subjected to epistemic oppression within Western environmental ethics. I then focus specifically on intergenerational environmental justice as a field in which Indigenous philosophies have faced the greatest exclusion, and may also have the most to teach us. I conclude by providing a brief overview of recent Indigenous environmental activism as an expression of Indigenous values, and look to treaties as understood by Indigenous philosophies as a potential framework for moving together toward a just future for all.

Thesis advisor: Kristin E. Heyer / Discourse about climate change has the potential to empower moral agency toward sustainable praxis or arrest action by furthering moral oblivion. This dissertation analyzes sources for moral narratives about climate change—in theology and ethics, in public discourse and the news media, and in social movements—to determine their relative influence on agency. Because climate change and environmental degradation are wicked problems, there are always multiple ways to understand the problems and propose solutions that influence agential action. This dissertation promotes a pragmatic approach to environmental ethics, which analyzes the particularities of each problem to mediate the interconnected impact of historic injustice, social sin, and lived experiences of harm. Social movements provide new moral visions for enacting social change opposing structural injustice. The environmental justice movement, generated from experiences of environmental racism in the disposal of toxic waste, provides both a corrective moral vision and normative metrics by which sustainable action can be measured: recognition, participation, and distributive justice. Application of these normative principles makes it possible to analyze the extent to which environmental action pursues redress for structural injustice or continues to perpetuate social and environmental harm. Rooted in a social praxis of Christian hope, environmental ethics ought to stimulate the moral imagination to sustain action pursuant to tangible and lasting social change. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

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One of the primary concerns of science studies scholars is the translation and utilization of theory in practice. In this thesis, I address this concern as it applies to theories of environmental ethics by analyzing the present use in and the applicability of Green philosophy to a current environmental public policy debate. Namely, through a history and analysis of the debate over the proposed introduction of a foreign species of oyster to the Chesapeake Bay, show that the Green perspective can, if adopted, be a valuable aid to solving current environmental problems. / Master of Science

Owing to the author's interest in and concern for earth's processes, healthy ecosystems, and environmental decline and devastation, this thesis examines the human – nature relationship, as it relates to landscape architecture, through spiritual, mathematical, geometrical, historical, economical, ecological, philosophical and ethical perspectives. Sustainable design and eco-revelatory design methods are also explored in order to aid in the development of a personal design ethic that defines and produces ecologically responsible works of landscape architecture. The goal is to establish a personal framework for design that results in built landscapes that are ecologically more benign, holistically more functional, and culturally more significant than standard practices. Research methodologies include literature review, case study analysis, project site analysis, and personal interviews. Findings suggest that despite a longstanding and growing call for a more harmonious relationship between nature and anthropogenic changes on the land, the green movement remains a loosely defined alternative undercurrent. The field of landscape architecture is uniquely poised to be a leader in the sustainable revolution; this is especially true when its practitioners, researchers and theorists are dedicated to ideals and activities that bring about true ecological value. For the individual designer, the experience of developing and committing to a personal design ethic can be empowering, and can produce work that has more mettle, veracity and purpose than the designer has previously known. / Master of Landscape Architecture

O tema da proteção da biodiversidade e, em especial, do Genoma Humano tem suscitado grande interesse e preocupação no Direito atual, agregando-se às preocupações de profissionais de diversas áreas como bioética, genética, saúde, além de diversos outros segmentos. O artigo 225 da Constituição Federal de 1988 estabelece a proteção da biodiversidade e da integridade do patrimônio genético no país. As hipóteses desenvolvidas no presente estudo afirmam que a preservação do patrimônio genético é um dos meios eleitos pela Constituição Federal para garantir o gozo ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado; de que a preservação da diversidade do patrimônio genético humano se faz imperiosa como meio de garantir os interesses difusos, coletivos e individuais com o fim de evitar a degradação do meio ambiente e promover a garantia dos demais direitos do homem. Corroborando tais premissas além da visão jurídica destaca-se a evolução do conceito de bioética, que passou do campo médico para uma bioética global, com as conseqüências da sociedade de risco para as gerações futuras, analisando os limites éticos das intervenções no meio ambiente e no Genoma Humano. Os riscos da intervenção sobre o genoma humano são analisados de modo a considerar suas repercussões sobre as populações vulneráveis frente ao princípio da precaução e o direito à intimidade, quando do uso das informações contidas no código genético humano. Analisa-se, ainda, a responsabilidade do pesquisador tendo o princípio do poluidor-pagador como instrumento de efetivação dessa responsabilização, na perspectiva de caracterizar a tutela do patrimônio genético como um direito humano fundamental. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-06-05T17:07:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Fernanda Martinotto.pdf: 897262 bytes, checksum: f5813eef57bd036d87c84193eb180d3e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-05T17:07:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Fernanda Martinotto.pdf: 897262 bytes, checksum: f5813eef57bd036d87c84193eb180d3e (MD5) / The issue of protecting biodiversity and in particular the human genome has sparked great interest and concern in the current law, adding to the concerns of professionals in various fields such as bioethics, genetics, health, and several other segments. Article 225 of the Constitution of 1988 provides for the protection of biodiversity and the integrity of the genetic heritage in the country. The hypotheses developed in this study say that the preservation of genetic heritage is one of the means chosen by the Federal Constitution to guarantee the enjoyment to a balanced environment, that preserving the diversity of human genetic resources becomes imperative as a means to safeguard the interests diffuse, collective and individual in order to prevent environmental degradation and promote the guarantee of other rights. Confirming these assumptions beyond the legal view highlights the evolution of the concept of bioethics, which passed the medical field for a global bioethics, with the consequences of risk society for future generations by examining the ethical limits of interventions in the environment and Human Genome. The risks of the intervention on the human genome are analyzed in order to consider its impact on vulnerable populations against the precautionary principle and the right to privacy, when the use of information contained in the human genetic code. We analyze also the responsibility of the researcher,with the polluter-pays principle as a tool for fulfillment of this responsibility in view of characterizing the genetic heritage protection as a fundamental human right.

O tema da proteção da biodiversidade e, em especial, do Genoma Humano tem suscitado grande interesse e preocupação no Direito atual, agregando-se às preocupações de profissionais de diversas áreas como bioética, genética, saúde, além de diversos outros segmentos. O artigo 225 da Constituição Federal de 1988 estabelece a proteção da biodiversidade e da integridade do patrimônio genético no país. As hipóteses desenvolvidas no presente estudo afirmam que a preservação do patrimônio genético é um dos meios eleitos pela Constituição Federal para garantir o gozo ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado; de que a preservação da diversidade do patrimônio genético humano se faz imperiosa como meio de garantir os interesses difusos, coletivos e individuais com o fim de evitar a degradação do meio ambiente e promover a garantia dos demais direitos do homem. Corroborando tais premissas além da visão jurídica destaca-se a evolução do conceito de bioética, que passou do campo médico para uma bioética global, com as conseqüências da sociedade de risco para as gerações futuras, analisando os limites éticos das intervenções no meio ambiente e no Genoma Humano. Os riscos da intervenção sobre o genoma humano são analisados de modo a considerar suas repercussões sobre as populações vulneráveis frente ao princípio da precaução e o direito à intimidade, quando do uso das informações contidas no código genético humano. Analisa-se, ainda, a responsabilidade do pesquisador tendo o princípio do poluidor-pagador como instrumento de efetivação dessa responsabilização, na perspectiva de caracterizar a tutela do patrimônio genético como um direito humano fundamental. / The issue of protecting biodiversity and in particular the human genome has sparked great interest and concern in the current law, adding to the concerns of professionals in various fields such as bioethics, genetics, health, and several other segments. Article 225 of the Constitution of 1988 provides for the protection of biodiversity and the integrity of the genetic heritage in the country. The hypotheses developed in this study say that the preservation of genetic heritage is one of the means chosen by the Federal Constitution to guarantee the enjoyment to a balanced environment, that preserving the diversity of human genetic resources becomes imperative as a means to safeguard the interests diffuse, collective and individual in order to prevent environmental degradation and promote the guarantee of other rights. Confirming these assumptions beyond the legal view highlights the evolution of the concept of bioethics, which passed the medical field for a global bioethics, with the consequences of risk society for future generations by examining the ethical limits of interventions in the environment and Human Genome. The risks of the intervention on the human genome are analyzed in order to consider its impact on vulnerable populations against the precautionary principle and the right to privacy, when the use of information contained in the human genetic code. We analyze also the responsibility of the researcher,with the polluter-pays principle as a tool for fulfillment of this responsibility in view of characterizing the genetic heritage protection as a fundamental human right.