Chapter 10

In chapter 10 of the book Rambunctious Garden, Marris generates seven goals that scientists can use to approach conservation. These goals are not about getting the place back to the way they were, instead they are more realistic objectives that conservationists should consider.  Goal one focuses on protecting the rights of other species, I agree with Aldo Leopold’s idea that “when we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect (Marris 246)”. The concept that human and nature belong to each other; therefore human must respect and love every species. Goal two emphasizes on protecting charismatic megafauna. Conservationists believe that those megafauna are keystone species, which can cause a great impact on the ecosystem that they live in. However, protecting megafauna species is a very controversial issue; because some conservationists believe that these megafauna can be extremely hard to control, and will destroy the whole environment. In Goal three, Marris talks about slowing the rate of extinctions. This is the goal for many conservationists, but it is very difficult to achieve.  Marris talks about Possingham’s concept that every species should be equally important. But when the money and resources were limited not every species are going to be saved. As Marris puts it, “narrowly focusing on stopping extinctions, in other words, saves species but not necessarily ecosystems (Marris 229).” Goal four encourages protecting genetic diversity. It is important to preserve genetic diversity, because it “preserves the raw source of the diversity of life (Marris, 230).” Ecosystem with more genetic variants will most likely to adapt into the fast changing environments. Goal five talks about defining and defending biodiversity.  Biodiversity, also called complexity, includes all the species, genes and ecosystems that existed. It is the idea that species should be exist together, and “evolution has produced a beautiful web of interrelations, inscrutable in its complexity and inherently valuable (Marris 232).” I agree with Marris that biodiversity may be the most difficult goal to achieve because it includes so much of the nature. Goal six is related to maximizing ecosystem services, which is a more economic approach to conservation. Even though this approach sounds unethical, I actually think this is a good one. According to Marris, “taking an ecosystem services approach can reveal the common interests shared by nature lovers and business people. Everybody wins (Marris 239).” Conservation needs a lot of effort, time and money; therefore I think it will be useful to make a connection with business people. The last goal emphasizes protecting the spiritual and aesthetic experience of nature. According to Marris, “aesthetic and spiritual values are not limited to native or pristine-seeming places (Marris 241).” There are many man-made places that we may have spiritual connections with it; and all of these places are worth protecting. In the end of the book, Marris advocates that everyone should take a responsibility to manage the nature that we live in because we are the ones who changed them.