An extra credit option:

Take a trip to Agnes Scott (another famous women's college, and it is Marta-accessible) and write up a summary and reaction to this event!

Is Environmentalism Dead?

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 -- 7:30 p.m. -- Evans Hall, rooms ABC

Agnes Scott College, 141 E. College Ave., Decatur, GA 30030

Mark Sagoff is Acting Director and Senior Research Scholar at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has published widely in journals of law, philosophy, and the environment. His books include The Economy of the Earth and Price, Principle, and the Environment.

In "Is Environmentalism Dead?" Professor Sagoff critically examines environmentalism’s transition from the 1970s, during which environmentalists drew on religious affections, populist resentments, and attachment to specific places, to the present, when environmentalists appear embarrassed by the theological, aesthetic, ethical, and cultural commitments that inspired their movement decades ago. Sagoff claims that environmentalists today couch their arguments in terms that are just as normative and, indeed, non-secular, but that sound scientific-terms such as biodiversity, invasive species, and sustainability. Arguments about the definitions of these theoretical constructs have transformed environmentalism from a political cause to a research program. Yet, according to Sagoff, environmentalists can regroup around spiritual, ethical, and aesthetic ideals that have always motivated them, as long as they advocate these values openly rather than hide behind the smokescreen of science.

The event is free and open to the public. No ticket is required. This talk is sponsored by the McNair Lecture Fund of the Agnes Scott College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Beta of Georgia. This talk is part of the Ethics Program Speaker Series, which has as its topic for 2006-2007, "Is Nature Ours? Ethics, Economics, and the Environment." For more information on the series, please contact Lara Denis, at 404-471-5364 (ldenis@agnesscott.edu ldenis@agnesscott.edu>). For directions, please call 404-471-5411 or go to www.agnesscott.edu.

Spring Semester

Ethics Program Events:

February 5: Peter G. Brown, "Becoming Citizens Worthy of the Earth"

March 5: Margo Bagley, "Issues in Patenting Life"

March 26: Ronald Bailey, "The Consequences of Misdiagnosing Environmental Problems"

April 17: Hillel Norry and Mark Douglas, "Is Nature Ours? A Jewish-Christian Dialogue"

All events begin at 7:30 p.m. in Evans Hall, rooms ABC. All are free and open to the public and require no ticket.