The Technosphere and Earth Stewardship - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 272

Infrastructure and technology have been central to much of what we consider
progress in the human endeavor. In fact, many would consider them to have
been pivotal in setting us aside from other species and enabling our dominance
of the world around us. Virtually every one considers that refi ned and improved
infrastructures and technological systems will be central elements in any sus-
tainable future we can envision. Acknowledging this pivotal role infrastructure
and technology has played in getting us to where we are and where we are
going, we can also question whether the largely, separate sectorial way we have
been conceptualizing, managing, and designing the social, environmental, and
infrastructural domains of our world has resulted in all that we hope for. It is our
contention that barriers raised by misalignment in our thinking about each of
these domains separately, has prevented us from attaining our potential for
designing and managing a more desirable future in which ecological integrity is
ensured, human well-being is enhanced, and social equity advanced (Leach
et al. 2010 ).
The solution, we think, is not to search for a singular, overarching, holistic frame-
work (Sarewitz 2010 ). Rather, the answer is in developing a more pluralistic under-
standing of each of these domains and how they interact, propagating resilience or
vulnerabilities. Only then can we begin to appreciate and understand the thorny
ethical and practical choices we are faced with. It is our hope that a richer under-
standing and subsequent realignment of the SETS perspectives will allow transform
what had been a serious barrier to change into a pathway to change and sustainability.
Experiments such as fi eld environmental philosophy methodology developed in the
Chilean International Long-Term Ecology Research site (Rozzi et al. 2012 ) are
promising as they acknowledge the need to engage in practical and contextual ethical
analyses and understanding. In order for earth stewardship to act as a viable guide,
scholars and practitioners alike must fi rst work to understand the central place of
technology and the limitations of understanding within and between social, ecologi-
cal and technological domains.
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