It’s About Time: Conservation Biology and History
Author(s)
Meine, Curt
Abstract
The past shapes and defines who we are, what we do, and where we do it. Far from being an esoteric concern, the development of a historic sensibility ought to be considered fundamental to conservation biology. In fact, any teaching or practice of conservation biology that neglects history is incomplete. The need for much greater interaction between conservation biologists and environmental historians implies the need for clear understanding of their affinities and differences. Over the last two decades, conservation biology and environmental history have developed along parallel paths; still, these two synthetic fields are not in complete synch, and perhaps ought not to be. Environmental history seeks primarily to interpret the past, while conservation biology seeks to shape the future. Despite the great gains we have made in understanding how science, policy, philosophy and practice have interacted and evolved over the last century of conservation, in the many ways we are still bogged down in the tradition of conservation historiography of “utilitarians” versus “preservationists.” This is a critical problem that we must address by providing a coherent, underlying conservation story to students, employees and citizens. In the end, historians should pay attention to conservation biology and conservation biologists to history for the same reasons: both need the other to fulfill their potential in answering to current concerns; both liberate us by allowing us to understand more fully the forces that shape our lives and the lives around us; both allow us to step back, however momentarily, from the always confusing mire of current circumstances, not to escape them, but to comprehend them.
