The Social Creation of Nature

One reason for our failure to ＂save the earth,＂ argues Neil Evernden, is our disagreement about what ＂nature＂ really is--how it works, what constitutes a risk to it, and even whether we ourselves are part of it. Nature is as much a social entity as a physical one. In addition to the physical resources to be harnessed and transformed, it consists of a domain of norms that may be called upon in defense of certain social ideals. In exploring the consequences of conventional understandings of nature, The Social Creation of Nature also seeks a way around the limitations of a socially created nature in order to defend what is actually imperiled--＂wildness,＂ in which, Thoreau wrote, lies hope for ＂the preservation of the world.＂

Neil Evernden is associate professor of environmental studies at York University, Oantario, Canada. He is the author of The Natural Alien: Humankind and Environment.