Introduction: Linking Ecology and Ethics for an Interregional and Intercultural Earth Stewardship - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 9

International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network. Maass and
Equihua discuss the conceptual framework that has guided the ILTER in its stew-
ardship efforts. They undertake a transdisciplinary research approach to understand-
ing socio-ecosystems, representing an important epistemological shift from earlier
LTER paradigms that focused on ecology, with people viewed as external infl uences
rather than integral components of the system.
An initiative at a global scale presupposes information about the different regions
of the planet. Ben Li and collaborators examine the cumulative publication output
of the ILTER network—some 30,000 publications—to document striking gaps in
terms of regions of the world where knowledge is produced and published, and the
type of information that is included in ILTER research. This chapter provides a
quantitative diagnosis of critical geographical and conceptual gaps in ILTER that an
Earth Stewardship initiative should aim to fi ll. Ways to integrate ecological sciences
and ethics should be found in order to solve intercultural and interdisciplinary con-
ceptual gaps. To address these gaps, Jorge Aguirre describes fi eld environmental
philosophy (FEP), a methodological approach developed in Latin America that
underscores the value of the integration of poetic work with scientifi c and philo-
sophical research into education and conservation. Aguirre enriches the FEP meth-
odology by incorporating hermeneutics—i.e., theory of text interpretation—with a
dual purpose:
(i) to deconstruct a narrow economic-utilitarian rationality, which is not inherent
to human nature but emerged in a particular historical and cultural context, and
(ii) to develop innovative practices of biocultural conservation that are informed
scientifi cally and ethically, illustrated with examples from Mexico and Chile.
The arts and humanities also contribute to interdisciplinary research at sites of
the US LTER network. Based on an extensive series of questionnaires, Lissy
Goralnick et al. describe novel collaborations among ecologists, artists, writers, and
philosophers to frame the stewardship discussion in a very different context, using
multiple media to explore distinct ways to communicate concerns about Earth's
future. They focus on empathy as a key element because empathy touches those
scientists and students who have developed a commitment and sense of responsibil-
ity to stewardship. This focus coincides with one of the methodological elements
highlighted by Aguirre regarding FEP, in resonance with the essay “Thinking like a
Mountain,” written by Aldo Leopold—another ESA president who articulated a
stewardship ethic, as Callicott explains.
To achieve interdisciplinary work, Charles Redman and Thaddeus Miller empha-
size the methodological importance of understanding the specifi c meanings of con-
cepts used with contrasting connotations by different disciplines. They note that
infrastructure has both technological and cultural implications. Within a new inter-
disciplinary framework, they propose that infrastructure should be considered in the
context of three equally important domains: social, ecological, and technological/
infrastructural systems (SETS).
Part II closes with two chapters that present case studies of interdisciplinary
work in remote arid, rural Mediterranean, and urban ecosystems. Daniel Orenstein