Implications of the Biocultural Ethic for Earth Stewardship - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 113

Keywords Ecosystem services • Environmental justice • Global environmental
change • Plutocracy • Sustainability

9.1 Introduction

The conceptual framework of the biocultural ethic links life habits with specifi c habi-
tats and communities of co-in-habitants (“3Hs”), thereby emphasizing the great het-
erogeneity of the human species and its interrelationships with biodiversity (Rozzi
2012). Consequently it demands a change in language from a prevailing reference to
the human species as a whole for causing “humanity's unsustainable environmental
footprint” ( sensu Hoekstra and Wiedmann 2014 ) toward a language that names and
distinguishes specifi c human groups or individuals who have negative or have favor-
able environmental impacts. Complementarily, the biocultural ethic's conceptual
framework discloses philosophical concepts and ecological practices for Earth stew-
ardship that are still little known within academia, global discourses and decision
making (Callicott 1994 ; Rozzi 2001 ; Berkes 2007 , 2012 ). The previous chapters in
this topic offered a characterization of ecological worldviews and practices in Asia,
South- and North-America. In this chapter I explore two sets of questions.
First, if there is a plethora of ways of conceiving and practicing Earth stewardship
that have so much to offer to sustainability practices and global ecological discourses,
such as those reviewed for Latin American schools of thought and living cultures
(see Chap. 8 in this volume), why do they remain ignored? If there are so many
cultural traditions and Earth stewards whose life habits imply a low ecological footprint
and promote a sustainable life, why do we face a global environmental crisis today?
To start answering these questions, I use the coupled Earth Stewardship/Biocultural
Ethic's conceptual framework developed in Chap. 8 to examine: Who are the stewards
that are most responsible for sustainable practices and who are the human co-inhab-
itants that are most responsible for the current excessive environmental footprints of
humankind? Which stewardship and other cultural habits drive sustainable forms of
co-inhabitation and which drive the largest unsustainable environmental footprints?
In which locations or habitats do these unsustainable habits mostly take place?
The second set of questions explores what can the biocultural ethic, and more
broadly environmental philosophy, contribute to the conceptual and practical framework
of the Ecological Society of America's (ESA) Earth Stewardship Initiative ( sensu
Power and Chapin 2009 ; Chapin et al. 2011a , b , 2015 , in this volume [Chap. 12 ]).
Some concepts associated with Earth stewardship have elements in common with
those proposed by the biocultural ethic. At the same time, some of the philosophical
concepts of the biocultural ethic are incommensurable with those of the Earth
Stewardship Initiative, and more importantly with those prevailing in today's global
discourse. The identifi cation of these incommensurable concepts enables a critical
analysis of the prevailing global discourse of governance, while disclosing alterna-
tive ecological worldviews and practices of living cultures that can contribute to
Earth stewardship. In this chapter I will analyze three core incommensurable con-