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There's one final question that we've skirted throughout these
discussions that I want to mention, not answer, as a prelude to one of
the questions I want to rais in our final class discussion on
Wednesday: Who gets to make the decisions about conservation policy?
- If I am committed to democracy and individual rights, I must
also be committed to the right of others to choose differently from
me, even when they make what I think is the wrong choice.
- If I am also committed to conserving biological diversity, I
must either be convinced that I can persuade others of the rightness
of my views so that the policies I favor will be democratically
adopted, be willing to accept a democratic decision allowing
policies that will harm conservation values I hold dear, or be
willing to believe that my opinion matters more than the opinion of
those who don't value biodiversity as highly as I do and make
policies for them that's in their own best interest.
That's the dilemma. I choose democracy. Which do you choose?
Next: A solution?
Up: Problems for an environmental
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Kent Holsinger
2011-11-25