My latest book review is up at the Ecologist: Ecological Ethics, by Patrick Curry:
Earlier this year, the National Ecosystem Assessment estimated the value of British nature (National Parks, forests, lakes) to be in the billions of pounds. It assigned a monetary figure to nature’s value to humans in the hope that this would inform and guide UK planning policy. It generated headlines across the country in a manner that focused people’s attention on the businesses eyeing up the environment in this commercial, human-centric manner. Such an attitude, it seems, pervades modern life and dominates political decision-making processes. It is as if they ask the question: how is nature, which is separate from us, of value to us?
