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Bringing to the task my formal training as an ecologist, I use a narrative approach to teach environmental studies. My students and I work together to unfold a multi-faceted story of human relationships with the rest of nature. This story reaches back to antiquity, but has had unprecedented consequences much more recently. It incorporates scientific ways of knowing about the physical world and also cultural and personal ones. It is an open inquiry into what human thoughts, values, and actions may or may not be mutually beneficial to Earth and all its life. My published writings include a book titled Aldo Leopold's Odyssey about one of America's best-respected 20th century conservation thinkers (1887-1948). Situated within the context of the American conservation movement, this shows the development of Leopold's idea of land health--what he hoped would become an ecologically grounded standard for right ways to think about and use nature. My current scholarly work builds from that on Leopold. It is situated at the crux of ecological science, cultural and environmental history, and literary criticism. I am studying "utopia's nature"--developing a sort of intellectural biography of the human-nature relationship in utopian narratives written mostly between the late 19th century and the 21st century. I argue that to have enduring civilizations that advance meaningfully flourishing individual lives along with just social conditions, people must learn how to prosper without depleting Earth's capacities for self-renewal. I seek, then, ultimately, what insights we can glean from evaluating utopias' past ideals in relation to this standard. I consider what virtuous impulses we would do well to spare and what dreams need to be better grounded in ecological realities for today's utopias to promote humans and the rest of nature living to mutual benefit, while leaving for future generations the fullest complement of possibilities for thriving lives.
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