A geographical perspective has long been a powerful tool in determining the economic potential of a particular project, firm location, or resource utilization. Profitability is largely determinant on the ability to bring goods to the largest number of customers while minimizing transportation expenditures and acquiring inputs in the most cost effective manner (Krugman, 1991). With these goals in mind, an analysis of market proximity, industry agglomeration, and firm scale is paramount (McCann, 2004). The flow of goods from point A to Point B, whether these points lie within a neighborhood, a state, a country, or are separated by oceans, is not happenstance (Krugman, 1991). The locations of businesses and distribution networks, both regionally and internationally, will largely determine whether a firm thrives or fails within the market economy (Hanink, Geographic Change with Trade Based on Comparative Advantage, 2005).

 Like the economy, the interaction between humans and the environment can be evaluated from a spatial perspective. Our ability to alter the natural world at a micro level is nearly infinite, and we have so wholly shaped the landscape that “natural” is little more than a description of a human perceived best use for a piece of land. Regions that remain “wilderness” or “unspoiled” generally exist in that state through sociopolitical intervention rather than through any lack of human geographic expansion (Platt, 2004). The meadow that grows where a forest once stood or the lake that teems with life where once only a river flowed are merely constructs of humanity’s nature, a nature that is defined in terms of human use. In this light, it’s important to evaluate how much and in what locations we decide to shape the world around us. Ideally, our decisions won’t be made based on how easily we can change the environment but on how we can avoid doing so.

There exist three implicit truths within the context of the economy and the environment that’s been defined thus far: that humanity’s ability to alter the environment is nearly absolute, that we have a responsibility to do so as minimally as possible, and that economic profit is a just and essential pursuit. From this simple foundation we can derive the maxim that development which earns the most profit while doing the least harm to the environment is the pinnacle of humanity’s growth. This framework can be instructive in guiding both public policy and business analyses, particularly from the standpoint of the modern “green” movement (Bridge, 2007). Modeling the geospatial characteristics of extractive industries and the resultant environment impact (Le Heron, 2007) is only one aspect in which the application of EEG could add value. The spatial distribution and the proximity and communication between firms within agglomeration economies can also play a significant role in knowledge transfer regarding environmentally-friendly technologies (Weiss, 2007; Kassinis, 2001). Furthermore, EEG can be instructive in advocating for the use of various public policies that encourage environmental sustainability through both regulationist and ecological modernization approaches (Gibbs, 2006).

While EEG is a valuable contribution to the discourse in economic geography, the subdiscipline also has the potential to foster the development of new methodologies that combine techniques from a number of fields (Bridge, 2007). An emerging tool in EEG is the use of geographic information systems and economic land valuations to model the environmental impact of land use decisions (Bastian, 2002; Heidkamp, 2007) while fully operating within the confines of the maxim that was specified earlier. Economic profit-seeking under this methodology is not constrained by rigid interpretations of cost-benefit analyses or strict environmental protectionism but is allowed to thrive with an added recognition of the spectrum of environmentally appropriate land use (Heidkamp, 2007). In this manner, development and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, but rather are allowed to evolve together in symbiosis (Hayter, 2008). Eventually, as ‘environmental economies’ such as carbon cap and trade programs continue to emerge and grow (Bridge, 2007), this relationship may proceed even further towards a state of mutualism where profit-seeking and environmental protection become simultaneously reinforcing policy and business objectives.

 The growth of environmental economic geography is occurring alongside, and largely attributed to, the uncertainty surrounding the net social impact of rapid globalization. As an emerging field, there is yet no consensus in EEG as to the adoption or standardization of methodologies or policy approaches (Bridge, 2007). Rather than acting as a liability however, the diffuse nature of EEG research may be the discipline’s greatest asset by acting to reassess the assumptions of traditional economic geography (Bridge, 2007). As a new world emerges, radically affected by climate change and resource depletion, environmental economic geography has the potential to come forth as the most complete set of tools available to elucidate humanity’s interaction with each other and with the world around us.

Works Cited

Bastian, C. T. (2002). Environmental amenities and agricultural land values: a hedonic model using geographic information systems data. Ecological Economics , 337 – 349.

Bridge, G. (2007). Environmental economic geography: A sympathetic critique. Geoforum , Volume 39, Issue 1, Pg. 76 – 81.

Gibbs, D. (2006). Prospects for an Environmental Economic Geography: Linking Ecological Modernization and Regulationist Approaches. Economic Geography , Vol. 82 Issue 2, p193-215.

Hanink, D. M. (1995). Evaluation of Wilderness in a Spatial Context. Growth and Change , v. 26, iss. 3, pp. 425-41.

Hanink, D. M. (2005). Geographic Change with Trade Based on Comparative Advantage. Annals of the Association of American Geographers , Vol. 95 Issue 3, p511-524.

Hayter, R. (2008). Environmental Economic Geography. Geography Compass , 831 – 850.

Heidkamp, C. P. (2007). A theoretical framework for a ‘spatially conscious’ economic analysis of environmental issues. Geoforum , Volume 39, Issue 1, Pgs. 62 – 75.

Kassinis, G. I. (2001). Location, Networks and Firm Environmental Management Practices. Journal of Environmental Planning & Management , Vol. 44 Issue 6, p815-832.

Krugman, P. (1991). Increasing Returns and Economic Geography. Journal of Political Economy , v. 99, iss. 3, pp. 483-99.

Le Heron, R. (2007). Improving Wsheries management in New Zealand: Developing dialogue between Wsheries science and management (FSM) and ecosystem science and management (ESM). Geoforum , Volume 39, Issue 1, Pgs. 48 – 61.

McCann, P. (2004). Location, agglomeration and infrastructure. Papers in Regional Science , Vol. 83 Issue 1, p177-196.

Platt, R. H. (2004). Toward Ecological Cities. Environment , Vol. 46 Issue 5, p10-27.

Stormer, E. (2007). Greening as strategic development in industrial change – Why companies participate in eco-networks. Geoforum , Volume 39, Issue 1, Pgs. 32 – 47.

Weiss, G. (2007). The infuence of the local level on innovations in environmental technology: The case of the German kraft pulp industry. Geoforum , Volume 39, Issue 1, Pgs. 20 – 31.

Oil sands are intensely more economically and ecologically expensive to develop than traditional underground sources of oil such as the light, sweet crude found in Saudi Arabia.  Exploiting the unconventional resource, known as bitumen, requires separating it from a thick, heavy mixture of water and clay (Mintz Testa 2008, 31). This process requires large amounts of additional water and energy to be used before a refined, usable product is finally produced. The entire procedure produces more global warming emissions than conventional crude extraction (Galbraith 2008) and, in the case of Alberta’s oil sands, would require the removal of millions of acres of boreal forests (Mintz Testa 2008, 31).

The negative environmental impact of the further development of the oil sands has thus far been superseded by the enormous economic potential. It’s estimated that the province of Alberta may hold as much as 175 billion barrels of oil, making its reserves second only to the nation of Saudi Arabia (Lorinc 2009). The unprecedented run-up in world crude prices in 2008 and the expectation of future price increases has made the oil sands an undeniable source of future revenue in a world gripped by a global economic downturn. This potential has been highlighted by both Canada’s energy industry as well as Canada’s ruling Conservative party, whose political base is located in Alberta (Austen 2009). Since assuming power in 2006, Conservative’s have managed to significantly roll back restrictions on global warming emissions in an effort to enable the expansion of the nation’s oil production (Austen 2009).

In the United States meanwhile, the expansion of the Alberta oil fields would be welcome news to many politicians who’ve faced political pressure while trying to enable the development of the nation’s largest untapped oil reserves, located in the Anwar National Wildlife Refuge. Situated just north of the state of Montana, the province of Alberta is seen by many as the next best alternative to producing oil domestically. A growing legion of environmentalists, however, is unsatisfied with either solution. Groups such as Environmental Defence, based in Toronto, have called for the closing of the oil sands if the environmental impact cannot be mitigated (Austen 2009). With demand for oil in the United States and abroad unlikely to wane in the near future, tough choices will have to be made as to the economic and environmental premiums we’ll pay for the oil next door.

Austen, Ian. “Obama and Canada’s Controversial Oil Patch.” The New York Times, February 19, 2009: 1.
Galbraith, Kate. “The Costs of Unconventional Fossil Fuels.” The New York Times, October 8, 2008: 1.
Lorinc, John. “Alberta Addresses Oil Sands’ Gigantic Footprint.” The New York Times, February 18, 2009: 1.
Mintz Testa, Bridget. “Tar on Tap.” Mechanical Engineering, 2008: 30-34.
Rowell, Andy. “Oil Frontiers: The Future of Oil.” Multinational Monitor, 2007: 10-14.

Gibbs promotion of environmental economic geography rests largely on a theoretical foundation. The author extols the virtues of the subdiscipline but presents no empirical evidence as to the efficacy of this approach. Rather, he recommends future research that will be essential to support the growth of this new branch of economic geography. Gibbs champions a blending of the strong empirical groundwork of ecological modernization with other theories in an effort to achieve a new paradigm. This new model would recognize both the need for technological advancement as well as the requirement for simultaneous social adaptation.

Gibbs outlines a specific framework for future research to advance the field of environmental economic geography. First and foremost, he advocates an examination of institutional forms, “given that both ecological modernization and regulation theories strongly emphasize them” (Gibbs 2006, 207). This analysis would focus largely on the “intertwining of accumulation and regulation”, as well as on the significant and continuing role of the state (Gibbs 2006, 207).  Further research would focus on the often contradictory roles of ecological modernization, which seeks to increase resource efficiency while maintaining economic growth, and neoliberalism, which seeks absolute economic growth while largely ignoring negative environmental externalities.

In an effort to address the root causes of worldwide environmental degradation, Gibbs proposes a strong review of the role of globalization. This research would primarily be focused on a determination as to whether rich-nation environmental standards are effectively adopted in emerging economies, and whether international bodies encourage “strong” or “weak” environmental regulations in developing nations. To address the effects of consumerism in developed economies, Gibbs further proposes an analysis as to the effectiveness of emphasizing production side environmental controls rather than focusing more significantly on consumption. Gibbs declares the danger of developing a “closed-loop throwaway society” but acknowledges the difficulties in addressing consumption from both a regulatory perspective as well as a technological perspective (Gibbs 2006, 209).

David Gibbs is a worthy proponent of the pursuit of environmental economic geography. There is a definitive need to attribute economic value to the environment in an effort to better represent the true cost of environmental degradation and resource consumption. A combination of interrelated theories will indeed be essential to “link the grand and high-level abstractions of regulationist approaches to the concrete outcomes and contingencies of everyday life” (Gibbs 2006). In reevaluating our use of resources we have the potential to create a truly cradle-to-cradle consumption structure in which economic growth is not impeded.

Gibbs, David. “Prospects for an Environmental Economic Geography: Linking Ecological Modernization and Regulationist Approaches.” Economic Geography, 2006: 193 – 215.

“There is yet no ethic dealing with man’s relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. Land… is still property. The land relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not obligations” (374)

Leopold believed that the land ethic was a natural human development which built upon earlier ethics devoted to the relation between individuals, and later to the relation between individuals and society. He asserted that “the extension of ethics to this third element in human environment is… an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity” (374). Leopold stressed that human beings are members of a “community of interdependent parts” to which the soils, waters, plants, and animals also belonged (375).

“In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo Sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow members, and also respect for the community as such” (375)

This “respect for the community” was wholly lacking not due to an absence of education, according to Leopold, but because of a fundamental unwillingness to change our frame of reference. He wisely pointed out that “no important change in ethics was ever accomplished without an internal change in our intellectual emphasis, loyalties, affections, and convictions” (377). Leopold lamented the dearth of “obligations over and above self-interest” and the accompanying failure to practice conservation exclusive from the perceived value of land. Indeed, Leopold would have argued that human beings are incapable of gauging the value of the land in the first place. As part of an infinitely complex community, we’re but a sole organism that must maintain equilibrium with the land in order to ensure our mutual well-being.

J. Baird Callicott is a disciple of Aldo Leopold and one of the preeminent voices advocating a new relationship between humans and our environment. At the center of Callicott’s philosophy is a belief that “objectively good anthropogenic change is change that benefits people and maintains land health” and “objectively bad anthropogenic change is change that results in land sickness or worse in the death of ecosystems” (390). Within the context of a dynamic, changing environment, Callicott affirms that “ecosystem health is a condition of internal order and organization in ecosystems that… is both intrinsically good and objective” (385).

By personifying the land itself with the hitherto human quality of “health”, Callicott creates a defensible criterion for what is and is not admissible behavior in regards to our interaction with nature. Importantly, his stance leaves room for inevitable human development that is wholly accepted; so much as it falls within a context of maintaining the health of the environment. Callicott recognizes the difficulties inherent in defining what is and is not a healthy ecosystem but maintains that science is as capable in this regard as it is in defining a healthy human being.

“The problem for science is to identify objective norms of ecosystem health. Like the medical norms of bodily health, the norms of ecosystem health would be simultaneously descriptive and prescriptive, objective and nomothetic, instrumentally and intrinsically valuable” (386)

Callicott further articulates that the nuts and bolts of what characterizes a healthy ecosystem are outside of the purview of philosophy and instead tasks ecologists with determining “what the general characteristics and indices of ecosystem health might be” (387). Herein lay the immense possibilities of Callicott’s dogma. The fact that the environment is characterized and influenced by varying degrees of health would no longer be in question, and philosophical discourse would give way to scientific reasoning which would shape our synergy with nature.

Like many of his colleagues and predecessors, Holmes Rolston III stresses the importance of ecosystem health as a fundamental tenet of a healthy environment. Irrespective of the component parts, he contends, an ecosystem is “a kind of field with characteristics as vital for life as any property contained within particular organisms” (394). By applying this framework, it becomes evident that our approach towards conservation over the past century has been significantly misguided. Our emphasis on piecemeal protection of species, primarily mega-fauna, has overlooked the importance of broader natural systems that are necessary to ensure the survival of the entire community of organisms. By identifying the “matrix of connections” that encompasses an ecosystem it becomes possible to more fully appreciate that which gives the entire earth its vitality.

More radical than the idea of Leopold’s land ethic is the Deep Ecology Movement (DEM) that traces its roots to the 1970s. This philosophy, largely conceived by Professor Arne Naess, was a response to so-called “shallow ecology”, which was regarded as centrally focused on the “health and affluence of people in the developed countries” (400).  Naess developed a “platform of deep ecology” that laid out eight fundamental principles in the hope of stimulating a “dialogue between supporters of and critics of the DEM” (400). Many of these principles were largely incompatible with the basic assertions of other philosophies, however, including an insistence that “the flourishing of non-human life requires… a substantial decrease of the human population” (401).

The DEM can be considered one end of a spectrum as humanity seeks to define our role within, and responsibility to, the environment. Aldo Leopold’s land ethic and the work that’s been based on this philosophy have largely the foundation for the modern environmental movement. As we broaden our definition of what represents the “land-community”, it’s a prerequisite that humanity will be seen as only one of an endless number of species on the planet. We will no longer be conquerors of the earth but will be seen as protectors of nature’s delicate balance of life. We’ll be seen as special, but equal.

There are approximately 8,000 housing units in Ansonia, of which 48.5% are single family units. There were 13 new permits authorized in 2007, representing a potential increase of .16% of the housing stock. Both the percentage of single family units and the number of new permits authorized in Ansonia are below the corresponding state averages. The median price of homes sold in 2007 in Ansonia was also well below the state average. The town had a median sales price of $239,000, while the state average in 2007 was approximately $261,000.

The Ansonia School District has 2,689 students enrolled. The town spent approximately $27.7 million on education in 2006 resulting in a per pupil expenditure of approximately $10,300. The school district’s Connecticut Mastery Test scores show Reading performance rising from 39%, 46%, and 56% above the state goal through grades 4, 6, and 8, respectively. Math scores indicate 47% of students exceeding the state goal in grades 4 and 6, falling to 41% in grade 8. Writing scores hold relatively steady at 60%, 60%, and 63% of students above the state goal in grades 4, 6, and 8, respectively.

Home values in Ansonia have increased tremendously since data was released in 1994 that indicated 165 homes were sold with a median price of $115,000. At that time 46% of the housing stock was composed of single family dwellings. Education spending has also risen significantly over the same time period with per pupil expenditure growing from $6,800 in 1994. This rise in education spending is a function of the town’s total revenue which rose from $13.5 million in 1994 to approximately $51 million in 2006. Regardless of the larger education budget, Ansonia’s state Mastery Test scores in 2004 were comparatively lower than they were a decade earlier.

Derby, CT is comparatively smaller than Ansonia, with 5,634 housing units, of which 47.5% are single-family dwellings. Many more homes were sold in Derby than in Ansonia in 2007, however, when 72 homes fetched a median price of $270,000. This was slightly above the $261,000 median sale price in New Haven County but still below the state median of $295,000. Derby has seen a phenomenal growth in housing values since 1994 when 158 homes were sold with a median price of $104,500.

The Derby School District, which has 1,634 students enrolled and education expenditures of approximately $17.7 million in 2006, spends an average of $10,800 per student. This spending achieved grade 6 State Mastery Test scores of 53%, 58%, and 69% of students above the state goal in Reading, Math, and Writing. While these grade 6 scores are all significantly higher than Ansonia’s, in grade 8 the numbers fall to 55%, 39%, and 58%, which are all below Ansonia’s scores from the same grade level.

Derby’s total revenue more than doubled from $18 million to $36 million between the years 1993 and 2006. This rise accounts for a doubling of the town’s education expenditures from $9 million to approximately $18 million over the same time period. Unlike Ansonia, the increased spending is reflected in Derby’s state Mastery Test scores which showed greater performance in 2006 as compared to the numbers from a decade earlier.

The town of Seymour’s housing stock is composed of 6,757 total units, of which 71.5% are single-family dwellings. 28 new housing permits were issued in 2007, representing a .41% increase in the overall number of units in the town. The median sale price of the 166 homes that were sold in Seymour in 2007 was $268,000. Like Ansonia and Derby, home valuations in Seymour are significantly higher than they were in 1994 when 219 homes were sold in the town for a median price of $100,000. New home construction has also been trending towards an increasing number of single-family dwellings, which represented just 66.5% of the total stock in 1994.

With 2,553 students enrolled, the Seymour School District is similar in size to Ansonia and had a budget of approximately $28.4 million in 2006, resulting in a per pupil expenditure of $11,100. While Seymour’s education spending is not significantly higher than either Ansonia or Derby, the town’s State Mastery Test scores are significantly higher than in the two neighboring municipalities. By grade 8, 77% of students in Seymour were above the state goal in reading proficiency, while in math and writing 60% and 67% achieved this target.

Education expenditure in Seymour has followed the same upward trend as has been the case in Ansonia and Derby. Per pupil expenditure rose more than $5,000 since 1994 when approximately $6,000 was spent on each student. School performance showed tremendous improvement in Seymour between 1994 and 2004. Reading, math, and writing scores increased at every measured grade level, with writing performance nearly doubling during the decade.

Total town revenue in Seymour increased from $24 million in 1993 to $47 million in 2006 and education spending had a comparable rise over the same time period. The remarkable performance of the Seymour School District over the past decade, however, is likely explained by measures other than simply increased education spending. With a similar population size to that of Ansonia, Seymour’s median household income is over $12,000 higher than in the neighboring town, which is perhaps a better explanation of the disparity in school performance.

This study used a sample of 16,928 houses which were sold more than once in the “Greater Grand Rapids area from 1988 to 1993″ (p. 11). The decision to limit the sample to only dwellings with multiple sales records was made in an effort to “focus on changes in risk over time” and “estimate whether price effects vary over time as risk beliefs change”. “Environmental risk information” was primarily concentrated on data releases which pertained to nearby Superfund sites. Prior knowledge regarding Superfund sites among residents was accounted for in the study and used as a baseline to measure changing risk perceptions.

The authors were able to correlate newspaper coverage of positive environmental risk assessments with a rise in home values in the range of $56 to $87 per dwelling in response to each article published. These figures implied a “statistical value per case of cancer of $4.3 million to $8.3 million”, which was consistent with labor study analyses of the “value of a statistical life”. Newspaper coverage of the decreased cancer risk, it was therefore determined, had contributed to the residents’ positive changes in perception.

The authors noted that their results differed from previous studies in which residents had “either alarmist reactions or no reaction at all to risk information” (p. 22). Specifically, two related studies published in 1980 and 1985, respectively, were deemed to have results contrary to those of this study. Nevertheless, the authors concluded that residents do exhibit a tendency to respond to “expert risk information” provided by the EPA, which results in a corresponding change in housing prices.

In another study of housing prices which used the hedonic price model, David Brasington sought to explore “which measures of public school quality the housing market values” (Brasington, 1999, p. 1). In particular, the author attempted to determine which of 37 traditional measures of school quality had the greatest influence on housing prices. In doing so, Brasington hypothesized, it may be possible to convey the particular school data that should be used in future housing price assessments.

The author used “housing transactions from the major metropolitan areas of the state of Ohio” and “a variety of school quality measures” to conduct his study. These quality measures included, but were not limited to: proficiency test passage rates, expenditures per pupil, teacher/student ratio, teacher salary, student attendance rates, value-added measures, graduation rate, teacher experience levels, and teacher education levels.

Brasington determined that the housing market is most significantly affected by those measures of school quality which are “readily available to homebuyers”, including “test passage rates, expenditures per pupil, and a low teacher/pupil ratio” (p. 15). Average teacher salary and the student attendance rate were found to have a marginal effect on housing prices, while value-added measures, teacher education levels, teacher experience levels, and graduation rate had either little bearing on housing prices or were determine to be unreliable.

The author’s findings concerning housing values were consistent with similar studies in which proficiency test passage rates were deemed to have the most pronounced affect on housing prices. This study refuted other findings, however, that identified value-added measures to be a primary determinant of housing price variation. The author attributed this distinction to the fact that this study used a large sample size and significantly more measures of school quality than previous studies.

Stuart Gabriel also used the hedonic price model in his 1987 study which sought to quantify the economic effects of racial integration on housing prices. The study defined the racial attribute “in terms of percentage of minorities that live in the immediate neighborhood” and attempted to determine an economic bias in response to this ratio (Gabriel, 1987).

The basis of this study’s information was “census tract data for the city of Oakland, California, for 1977″ (p. 4). This geographic location was chosen primarily because of its significant minority population and its role in previous studies of racial discrimination. The area included 73 census tracts and obtained its “housing information, including sales prices and structural characteristics” from the Society of Real Estate Appraisers.

Results from this study indicate a pronounced negative economic effect following recent neighborhood racial integration. Additionally, the study’s author determined a “continued household willingness to pay for diminished minority neighborhood presence” (p. 10). These results are consistent with previous studies, but indicated that those previous analyses may have actually understated the economic effects of racial integration. In light of these findings, the author suggests modifying public policy to reflect the “limited efficacy” of “open housing laws and the like”.

Works Cited

Brasington, D. M. (1999). Which Measures of School Quality Does the Housing Market Value? Journal of Real Estate Research , 395-413.

Gabriel, S. A. (1987). Economic Effects of Racial Integration: An Analysis of Hedonic Housing Prices and the Willingness to Pay. American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association Journal , 268-279.

Gayer, T., Hamilton, J. T., & Viscusi, W. K. (2002). The Market Value of Reducing Cancer Risk: Hedonic Housing Prices with Changing Information. Southern Economic Journal , 266-289.

As the foundation of all Abrahamic religions, Judaism lays the groundwork for an environmental ethic which is followed by nearly half of the world’s population. While Islam and Christianity have subsequently splintered off and developed their own distinct environmental perspectives, Judaism has continuously evolved in response to changing scientific realities. Rabbi Benjamin Scolnic explained that, according to Judaism, humanity is on equal footing with nature “because all life has been created by God”. Earth is not a mere collection of resources intended for human consumption but is to be “tended and pruned by man”. Furthermore, humanity cannot be perceived as “owners” of the land but as mere “renters” who possess a responsibility to care for the earth from which their lives are sustained.

Rabbi Scolnic was adamant that the concept of “a good Jewish person” is incompatible with an irresponsible treatment of nature. To expand upon his point, the Rabbi illustrated the example of a Jewish person who owns a company which emits heavy pollution. This individual, Rabbi Scolnic explained, can never be considered “good” in the eyes of Judaism, regardless of how many mandated Jewish rituals they follow. According to these same principles, Rabbi Scolnic conveyed that “conflicts among humans do not justify the destruction of land” and neither war, nor personal grievances provide condonable causation for environmental degradation.

An understanding of the teachings of Judaism is vital in that, from an environmental ethics standpoint, verses 26 through 29 of Genesis are the most influential words ever written. This scripture, along with the totality of the Torah, forms the mutual bedrock of religious ethical literature for Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. While these four verses are common to all three faiths, the interpretation of the text often diverges significantly and provides insight into important distinctions between the three religions’ environmental perspectives.

26     Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27     So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28     God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29     Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

According to both Imam Abdul Madrig Karina Hasan and Father James Furlong, God anointed humanity with a special place on earth. Human beings, Imam Hasan expressed, were bestowed with a unique intelligence and “were created by god above animals”, vegetation, and the soils and sediment that form the building blocks of the planet itself. In accordance with this exalted position, the interests of man are preeminent, and paramount to the interests of nature. Father Furlong supported this doctrine while stressing that to “rule… over every living creature” is a mandate that carries with it a special obligation to respect and care for all of God’s creations.

Like the Abrahamic traditions, the Tlingit American Indian tribe of southeastern Alaska is profoundly influenced by a deeply rooted land ethic. Tlingit spiritual leader Edward Sarabia described his peoples’ own creation story as one in which humanity arose from ash and dust, in equality with the plants and animals that dominated the landscape. Mother Earth provides all that human beings need to survive and flourish and “how we take care of her is how she’ll take care of us”. The stars, planets, and humanity itself “are all related”, Sarabia revealed, and “the creator is all around is”. “Owning the land” is therefore as preposterous a notion as owning the creator, and to be sure, humans are merely a singular species for which the land is master.

In complete contrast to the Abrahamic traditions and the spiritual beliefs of the Tlingit tribe, Buddhism rejects the impression of a God as a separate, greater being, and implores followers to look inward to seek enlightenment. Lama Padma Karma Rinpoche describes Buddhism as “a philosophy or way of life” that “emphasizes meditation to determine how the mind is designed and how it works”. All things are impermanent according to Buddhism and existence is dictated by a continuous cycle of reincarnation for which the human form is but one possible construct.

Buddhist ethical guidelines advocate training in the “Five Precepts” of which the first precept is to avoid taking the life of all other living beings. This rule applies not only to the lives of other humans, but encompasses all living things from the animals that walk the land to the vegetation that provides their footing. Straying from this precept will incur the assumption of a “karmic debt”, the sum of which determines the next lifetime’s living form. Maintaining proper ethics in Buddhism therefore influences not simply one’s present lifetime, but endless lifetimes ad infinitum.

As the sole beings capable of contemplation, humanity will eternally seek to determine its intended role on earth. Our faith traditions and the environmental ethics that we abide by are essential and indispensible threads in the fabric of our being. In debating our disparate beliefs and searching for our fundamental connection with the earth we are perhaps unwittingly already fulfilling our environmental obligation.

Andrew Dobson identifies the European Commission’s definition of a genetically modified organism as one “in which the genetic material is altered in a way that passes the natural barriers of mating and recombination” (469). The primary distinction between genetic engineering and selective breeding, therefore, lies in the capability, or lack thereof, of a particular organism to be developed solely through scrupulous mating practices. Thus, the domesticated cat and horse do not meet the definition of genetically engineered unless their genes had been manipulated outside of the realm of naturally occurring genetic variation.

Dobson supports this determination when he quotes Michael Fox who stated “whatever analogy that exists between the old practices and the new is shattered by the fact that in traditional breeding practices genes cannot be exchanged between unrelated species, whereas, in many transgenic manipulations, they can” (469). Fox correctly identifies the amalgamation of unrelated species as the primary facet of genetic engineering and the identifiable deviation from selective breeding.

Andrew Dobson argues that “research in genetic engineering is as likely to be driven and regulated by the demands of the capitalist market as it is by good intentions and philosophical principles” (472). This is an entirely true, albeit far from prophetic statement. Profit-driven research already commands the vast majority of scientific funding while purely altruistic experimentation can be considered essentially a niche field. This represents not a failure, however, but an anticipated result of the market-driven system.

Dobson warns that there are no guarantees “that a disease-resistant kiwi-fruit would not be engineered ahead of a disease-resistant staple crop for the Third World” (472). While few would argue the virtue of increasing crop yields in starving nations, it would be disastrous to enact regulation that would seek to artificially favor this type of research at the expense of research demanded by the free market. By eliminating the economic incentive for scientific discovery, there would be a dramatic decline in both for-profit research as well as the resultant positive externalities that are so often the drivers of revolutionary breakthroughs.

Even after we accept that we should not create artificial requirements for the pursuit of altruistic research, however, we are left with unanswered questions of moral responsibility. Dobson correctly highlights the abhorable lives of transgenic, artificially fattened pigs who “suffer from arthritis, lack of co-ordination in the back legs and high levels of stress” (472). It would seemingly be reasonable in this instance to create ad hoc limitations on the exploitation of genetic know-how but this too could create moral predicaments. Supposing for a moment that these fatter pigs were providing increased sustenance in the aforementioned Third World, we are left with no easy decisions.

In light of this dilemma, the free market should again be left to determine our course of regulatory action. While the sale of growth-hormone infused pigs may be deemed unprofitable and unacceptable in the United States, the export of the technology to starving nations may be both economically viable and morally defensible. This type of scenario will become increasingly common as we expand the use of genetic engineering and the development of guidelines becomes a necessity. Our response to these challenges will reflect our willingness to accept moral concessions at a particular point in time and may offer some insight into the state of the human condition.

“… Goddess spirituality is the perceptual shift from the death-based sense of existence that underlies patriarchal culture to a regeneration-based awareness, an embrace of life as a cycle of creative rebirths, a dynamic participation in the processes of infinity” (442)

Sustainable human coexistence with the earth is often sabotaged solely by a limited frame of reference. When a single lifetime or a single generation is considered independently from all lives or all life, we lose our primary rationale for preserving our environment. Spetnek fervently rejects this narrow mindset and advocates Goddess worship to draw oneself “from the fragmentation and lonely atomization of modernity to the deepest levels of connectedness”. From this footing we’re capable of looking beyond ecological dominance and working not “in opposition to nature but as a potentially harmonious extension of nature” (442).