Chapter 10 of Emma Marris’ Rambunctious Garden provides seven goals for humans to follow so that we may move towards solving the ecological preservation conundrum. In short, Marris advocates we “give up romantic notions of a stable Eden, be honest about goals and costs, keep land from mindless development, and try just about everything” (170).
Marris’ first goal entails protecting the rights of other species. All of nature has an inherent value, or land ethic, that covers every living and non-living feature. However, this can be tough to adhere to at times when the rights of certain species conflict with another.
The Marris asserts, “The land as a unit has a right to run itself without human meddling in some places” (156). By practicing deep ecology as opposed to shallow ecology, humans can learn to care for the environment while simultaneously caring for themselves.
Protecting charismatic megafauna is Marris’ third goal. The term charismatic megafauna refers to species that humans like and are more inclined to save. Such animals include whales, dolphins, elephants, gorillas, tigers and pandas – all big mammals with big eyes. When protected, these animals become keystone species that can lead to the umbrella conservation (or unintentional conservation) of species that live alongside them.
Next would be to slow the rate of extinctions. Every species should be equally worthy of protection. This means creating “conservation hotspots” and zones where endangered species live together. One of the problems, however, is that “narrowly focusing on stopping extinctions…saves species but not necessarily ecosystems” (160).
Fourth is to protect genetic diversity. Unfortunately, the distinctions between species are not always clear-cut and this lends to obscurity when deciding which groups of organisms are eligible for endangered species protection. Marris argues, “if the genes are more important…then you don’t even need to keep living populations going in zoos…All you need are the sequences” (162).
Marris continues on to promote the idea that we must define and defend biodiversity. Protecting biodiversity is an illusive concept that emerged in the early twentieth century. Marris jests that biodiversity is the “shorthand of complexity” for it can become extremely intricate. In fact, biodiversity may end up being the most problematic conservation goal because there is so much to it.
Marris’ sixth goal is to maximize ecosystem service. Although the “what have you done for me lately” argument seems like an unrealistic one in ecology, Marris declares we must not treat resources as inexhaustible and valueless. Instead, we can create a mutual relationship in which both humans and our environment can benefit.
Lastly, Marris champions we protect the spiritual and aesthetic experience of nature. While everyone’s ideal image of nature differs, we must remember that it is not always pristine.
Marris concludes her chapter and book by stating that no one goal is better than another. While some are more or less feasible and others are easier said than done, we can all agree that nature, “…a place to refresh our spirits or to contemplate something that is grander than ourselves” is too precious to mistreat (167).
