Moriarty Science Seminar: 10 Things I Hate About ‘Nature,’ or a Political Ecology of Conservation

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: “10 Things I Hate About ‘Nature,’ or a Political Ecology of Conservation“

Speakers: Dr. Noah Theriault, Carnegie Mellon University

This event will take place Monday, May 8 at Noon in person in Earth Theater and online via Zoom.

Abstract: “Nature” and “natural” are part of our everyday vocabulary, but we rarely pause to ask what exactly these words mean. How we define them reveals as much about our own worldviews as about anything else. Our beliefs, social identities, occupations, and idiosyncrasies are all implicated in how we differentiate what is natural from what is anthropogenic, artificial, unnatural, supernatural, deviant, or mutant. This distinction—between nature and its antonyms—pervades our social structures and political debates even as it evades our critical reflection. Using the principles of political ecology to examine biodiversity conservation in the Philippines, this seminar will push us to consider how conceptions of nature shape our relations with ourselves, with one another, and with the world around us, often in ways that unintentionally reproduce social and ecological harm. In order to love and respect nature, we must confront some of the troubling things done in its name.
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