that agenda has been pushed toward per-
ilously balancing on only one, economy—
yielding to top-down, short-term, unsus-
tainable “development as usual”.^16
The ravaging of ecosystems and their life-
giving functions has thus continued steadi-
ly.^17 Converging with the ecological extinc-
tion crisis, the planet has been experienc-
ing a severe erosion of the diversity of
human cultures and languages, reducing
the pool of knowledge, behaviours and val-
ues from which individual communities and
humanity at large can draw to respond to
social and environmental stresses.^18 The
loss of “vital signs” at the level of ecosys-
tems negatively affects the vitality of
human communities (and vice versa), in a
downward spiral of dysfunction and dis-
tress.^19
Preservation, conservation, and
beyond
Closing the existing gap between the “two
cultures” of the natural and social sciences
on issues of conservation is far more than
a matter of semantics. Nevertheless, it
may be useful to take a look at how the
concept of “conservation” is commonly
interpreted and to consider some alternative
interpretations. Often, “conservation” is
understood as (and appears indistinguish-
able in its practice from) “preservation”.
That is, it is thought of as referring to
something that needs to be
carefully set aside and sub-
jected to special treatment
for only limited, controlled
future use. Whether applied
to nature or culture, this
preservationist approach
tends to elicit strong reac-
tions in the people affected
by its application. Witness the
following vivid example, pre-
sented from a Tlingit (Canadian First
Nations) perspective: “Preservation [...] is
what we do to berries in jam jars and
salmon in cans.”^20
However, conservation does not have to
mean putting either humans or the environ-
ment in “jars” or “cans”. As Aldo Leopold,
an early pioneer of the environmental
movement, put it, conservation is about
how to humanly occupy the land without
rendering it dysfunctional for future genera-
tions. The way Leopold saw it, conservation
is “a positive exercise of skill and insight,
not merely a negative exercise of absti-
nence or caution”.^21 Leopold “insisted that
conservation means morethan simply pre-
serving what has not yet been spoiled; it
means reversing the history of abuse, using
ecological principles to harness nature’s own
powers of recovery.”^22
Adopting and extending this definition of
conservation might help bridge the gap
History, cculture aand cconservation
Figure 1.“Preserving” languages. (Courtesy ©
Robert L. Humphrey. Previously published in
AnthroNotes23(2), Fall 2002, p. 13.)
From aa TTlingit
(Canadian FFirst
Nations) pperspec-
tive: ““Preservation
[...] iis wwhat wwe ddo
to bberries iin jjam
jars aand ssalmon
in ccans.”
