Bounded People, Boundless Lands: Envisioning a New Land Ethic

by Eric T. Freyfogle

One of the main challenges of contemporary environmentalism is to find an enduring, more ethical way for people to live on the planet. In Bounded People, Boundless Lands, legal scholar Eric T. Freyfogle asks a series of pointed and challenging questions about the human quest for ecological harmony. Deftly interweaving moral and ethical considerations with case studies and real-life situations, Freyfogle provides a deep philosophical examination of personal responsibility and the dominion of human beings over the earth.

222 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson and the rest of the "virtues of ignorance" radical farmer crowd then you'll like this guy. I definitely don't hate him. He does a good job creating balance between individualistic ideas on private property and the more communitarian commons approach, the libertarian ideal of small government and beneficial uses of big government regulations, objective scientific thinking and more emotional subjective reasoning, etc. The only real issues I have with this guy, and the rest of his ilk, are his views on business and "appropriate technology." In my opinion a lot of what they label appropriate isn't really ethical, or even sustainable, in the long term, and even a world with only small mom and pop shops would still have a lot of the same screwed up values and incentives. This stuff is certainly a huge improvement but I don't think that model should be considered the ultimate goal.

[Howard Mansfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thoughtful look at property rights and environmental responsibilities.