Reed Noss: Conservation

“Science, as traditionally defined, is fundamental to conservation biology but does no good if isolated from "softer" issues such as ethics, sociology, and political strategy. Indeed, there is nothing more dangerous than science in an ethical vacuum.”

Reed Noss

[Conservation Biology, Whither Conservation Biology?, June 1993, 7, 2, 215–217, 10.1046/j.1523-1739.1993.07020215.x, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1993.07020215.x] (quote from p. 215)

Science

“Many university departments—especially the traditional resource disciplines such as fisheries, wildlife, range management, and forestry—are closely tied to industry or hook‐and‐bullet recreation and treat conservation biology with anxiety or disdain.”

Reed Noss

[The failure of universities to produce conservation biologists, Conservation Biology, 11, 6, December 1997, 1267–1269, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1997.97ed05.x] (quote from p. 1267)

Universe

“Nature no longer entertains us when conserving it becomes inconvenient.”

Reed Noss

[Toward a Pro‐Life Politics, Conservation Biology, 15, 4, August 2001, 827–828, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.015004827.x]

Nature

“… We cannot get big grants to do field work anymore. … Will the next generation of conservation biologists be nothing but a bunch of computer nerds with no firsthand knowledge of natural history? … The naturalists are dying off and have few heirs.”

Reed Noss

[The naturalists are dying off, Conservation Biology, 10, 1, February 1996, 1–3, 10.1046/j.1523-1739.1996.10010001.x] (quote from p. 1)

History , Nature , Knowledge