Environment and Social Values

This paper suggests three fundamental influences that have led to the development of a socially embedded view of the environment in the United States. While our social relationship to the environment has changed over our history, from one primarily of exploitation to one primarily of stewardship, the natural world continues to be central to the American sense of self. Epistemological evolution also has clearly affected how we understand and relate to the environment, particularly as scientific and other epistemologies have evolved in the context of a country whose people and history are tightly connected to its natural resources. Finally, our society has developed a sense of ethical responsibility to the environment. These three strands have created the intellectual environment within which the scientific tools used to understand the natural world are exercised.