cs•

EDWARD 0. WILSON

Harvard University Press

Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England
1984
on the list of public priorities and not likely to be undertaken
for generations — being part of the agenda, as it were, of the
twenty-first century. They are useful right now for what they
reveal about the poverty of our self-knowledge. The auda-
ciously destructive tendencies of our species run deep and are
poorly understood. They are so difficult to probe and man-
The Conservation Ethic
age as to suggest an archaic biological origin. We run a risk if
we continue to diagnose them as by-products of history and
suppose that they can be erased with simple economic and
political remedies. At the very least, the Sophoclean flaws of

ca)
human nature cannot be avoided by an escape to the stars. If HEN VERY LITTLE is known about an im-
people perform so badly on Earth, how can they be expected portant subject, the questions people raise
to survive in the biologically reduced and more demanding are almost invariably ethical. Then as knowl-
conditions of space? edge grows, they become more concerned
Surely we would be better advised to invest the money on with information and amoral, in other words more narrowly
the workings of the mind. We should pay more attention to intellectual. Finally, as understanding becomes sufficiently
the quality of our dependence on other organisms. The brain complete, the questions turn ethical again. Environmental-
is prone to weave the mind from the evidences of life, not ism is now passing from the first to the second phase, and
merely the minimal contact required to exist, but a luxur- there is reason to hope that it will proceed directly on to the
iance and excess spilling into virtually everything we do. third.
People can grow up with the outward appearance of normal- The future of the conservation movement depends on
ity in an environment largely stripped of plants and animals, such an advance in moral reasoning. Its maturation is linked
in the same way that passable looking monkeys can be raised to that of biology and a new hybrid field, bioethics, that deals
in laboratory cages and cattle fattened in feeding bins. Asked with the many technological advances recently made possi-
if they were happy, these people would probably say yes. Yet ble by biology. Philosophers and scientists are applying a
something vitally important would be missing, not merely more formal analysis to such complex problems as the alloca-
the knowledge and pleasure that can be imagined and might tions of scarce organ transplants, heroic but extremely ex-
have been, but a wide array of experiences that the human pensive efforts to prolong life, and the possible use of genetic
brain is peculiarly equipped to receive. Of that much I feel engineering to alter human heredity. They have only begun
certain, and I will offer it in the form of a practical recom- to consider the relationships between human beings and or-
mendation: on Earth no less than in space, lawn grass, potted ganisms with the same rigor. It is clear that the key to preci-
plants, caged parakeets, puppies, and rubber snakes are not sion lies in the understanding of motivation, the ultimate
enough. reasons why people care about one thing but not another —
why, say, they prefer a city with a park to a city alone. The goal
is to join emotion with the rational analysis of emotion in
order to create a deeper and more enduring conservation
ethic.
9:57 am, Oct 16, 2013
Biophilia LISI 120 The Conservation Ethic Lig 121

Aldo Leopold, the pioneer ecologist and author of A ence has any verifiable meaning, it is that our passions and
Sand County Almanac, defined an ethic as a set of rules in- toil are enabling mechanisms to continue that existence un-
vented to meet circumstances so new or intricate, or else broken, unsullied, and progressively secure. It is for our-
encompassing responses so far in the future, that the average selves, and not for them or any abstract morality, that we
person cannot foresee the final outcome. What is good for think into the distant future. The precise manner in which we
you and me at this moment might easily sour within ten take this measure, how we put it into words, is crucially
years, and what seems ideal for the next few decades could important. For if the whole process of our life is directed
ruin future generations. That is why any ethic worthy of the toward preserving our species and personal genes, preparing
name has to encompass the distant future. The relationships for future generations is an expression of the highest morality
of ecology and the human mind are too intricate to be under- of which human beings are capable. It follows that the
stood entirely by unaided intuition, by common sense— destruction of the natural world in which the brain was as-
that overrated capacity composed of the set of prejudices we sembled over millions of years is a risky step. And the worst
acquire by the age of eighteen. gamble of all is to let species slip into extinction wholesale,
Values are time-dependent, making them all the more for even if the natural environment is conceded more ground
difficultto carve in stone. We want health, security, freedom, later, it can never be reconstituted in its original diversity.
and pleasure for ourselves and our families. For distant gen- The first rule of the tinkerer, Aldo Leopold reminds us, is to
erations we wish the same but not at any great personal cost. keep all the pieces.
The difficulty created for the conservation ethic is that natu- This proposition can be expressed another way. What
ral selection has programed people to think mostly in physio- event likely to happen during the next few years will our
logical time. Their minds travel back and forth across hours, descendants most regret? Everyone agrees, defense ministers
days, or at most a hundred years. The forests may all be cut, and environmentalists alike, that the worst thing possible is
radiation slowly rise, and the winters grow steadily colder, global nuclear war. If it occurs the entire human species is
but if the effects are unlikely to become decisive for a few endangered; life as normal human beings wish to live it
generations, very few people will be stirred to revolt. Ecologi- would come to an end. With that terrible truism acknowl-
cal and evolutionary time, spanning centuries and millennia, edged, it must be added that if no country pulls the trigger
can be conceived in an intellectual mode but has no immedi- the worst thing that will probably happen in fact is already
ate emotional impact. Only through an unusual amount of well underway—is not energy depletion, economic col-
education and reflective thought do people come to respond lapse, conventional war, or even the expansion of totalitarian
emotionally to far-off events and hence place a high premium governments. As tragic as these catastrophes would be for us,
on posterity. they can be repaired within a few generations. The one pro-
The deepening of the conservation ethic requires a cess now going on that will take millions of years to correct is
greater measure of evolutionary realism, including a valua- the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of
tion of ourselves as opposed to other people. What do we natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least
really owe our remote descendants? At the risk of offending likely to forgive us.
some readers I will suggest: Nothing. Obligations simply Extinction is accelerating and could reach ruinous pro-
lose their meaning across centuries. But what do we owe portions during the next twenty years. Not only are birds and
ourselves in planning for them? Everything. If human exist- mammals vanishing but such smaller forms as mosses, in-
Biophilia LOF 122 The Conservation Ethic JO 123

sects, and minnows. A conservative estimate of the current solve any problem created by earlier spasms of human inge-
extinction rate is one thousand species a year, mostly from nuity. The need now is for a great deal more knowledge of the
the destruction of forests and other key habitats in the true biological dimensions of our problem, civility in the face
tropics. By the 1990s the figure is expected to rise past ten of common need, and the style of leadership once character-
thousand species a year (one species per hour). During the ized by Walter Bagehot as agitated moderation.
next thirty years fully one million species could be erased. Ethical philosophy is a much more important subject
Whatever the exact figure — and the primitive state of than ordinarily conceded in societies dominated by religious
evolutionary biology permits us only to set broad limits — and ideological orthodoxy. It faces an especially severe test in
the current rate is still the greatest in recent geological his- the complexities of the conservation problem. When the
tory. It is also much higher than the rate of production of new time scale is expanded to encompass ecological events, it
species by ongoing evolution, so that the net result is a steep becomes far more difficult to be certain about the wisdom of
decline in the world's standing diversity. Whole categories of any particular decision. Everything is riddled with ambigu-
organisms that emerged over the past ten million years, ity; the middle way turns hard and general formulas fail with
among them the familiar condors, rhinoceros, manatees, and dispiriting consistency. Consider that a man who is a villain
gorillas, are close to the end. For most of their species, the last to his contemporaries can become a hero to his descendants.
individuals to exist in the wild state could well be those living If a tyrant were to carefully preserve his nation's land and
there today. It is a grave error to dismiss the hemorrhaging as natural resources for his personal needs while keeping his
a "Darwinian" process, in which species autonomously people in poverty, he might unintentionally bequeath a rich,
come and go and man is just the latest burden on the environ- healthful environment to a reduced population for enjoy-
ment. Human destructiveness is something new under the ment in later, democratic generations. This caudillo will
sun. Perhaps it is matched by the giant meteorites thought to have improved the long-term welfare of his people by giving
smash into the Earth and darken the atmosphere every them greater resources and more freedom of action. The
hundred million years or so (the last one apparently arrived exact reverse can occur as well: today's hero can be tomor-
65 million years ago and contributed to the extinction of the row's destroyer. A popular political leader who unleashes the
dinosaurs). But even that interval is ten thousand times energies of his people and raises their standard of living
longer than the entire history of civilization. In our own brief might simultaneously promote a population explosion,
lifetime humanity will suffer an incomparable loss in aes- overuse of resources, flight to the cities, and poverty for later
thetic value, practical benefits from biological research, and generations. Of course these two extreme examples are cari-
worldwide biological stability. Deep mines of biological di- catures and unlikely to occur just so, but they suffice to
versity will have been dug out and carelessly discarded in the illustrate that, in ecological and evolutionary time, good
course of environmental exploitation, without our even does not automatically flow from good or evil from evil. To
knowing fully what they contained. choose what is best for the near future is easy. To choose what
The time is late for simple answers and divine guidance, is best for the distant future is also easy. But to choose what is
and ideological confrontation has just about run its course. best for both the near and distant futures is a hard task, often
Little can be gained by throwing sand in the gears of industri- internally contradictory, and requiring ethical codes yet to be
alized society, even less by perpetuating the belief that we can formulated.
Biophilia ,i57 124 The Conservation Ethic JSF 125

AN ENDURING CODEOf ethics is not created whole from others hung on to evolve during thousands of generations
absolute premises but inductively, in the manner of common into distinct genera and species, found nowhere else, woven
law, with the aid of case histories, by feeling and consensus, together into intricate systems of competitors, predators,
through an expansion of knowledge and experience, in- and prey. Biologists have given many of the organisms for-
fluenced by the epigenetic rules of mental development, dur- mal scientific names reflecting their origin and exclusive
ing which well-meaning and responsible people sift the op- stronghold, such as cubaensis, antillana, caribbaea, and insu-
portunities and come to agree upon norms and directions. laris. Now it has come down to this: in a negligible interval of
The conservation ethic is evolving according to this pat- evolutionary time, within the lifespan of Fidel Castro and
tern. It started centuries ago as a scattering of incidental one unheroic entomologist of approximately the same age
thoughts and actions. The first biological preserves around visiting a nonstrategic part of the island, much of the wood-
the world were the by-products of selfish interests created, land and hence a large part of Cuba's history have vanished.
like most early art and learning, for the pleasure of the ruling In 1953, on trial in Batista's court, Castro declared that
classes. Among them were the gardens of the Kandy kings in history would absolve him. I wonder if it will, whether
Sri Lanka, the royal hunting reserves of Europe, and a few Blanco's Woods have since been cleared for the "good of the
islands, such as Niihau in the Hawaiian group and Lignum- people"— meaning one or two generations — and to what
vitae Key in Florida Bay, cordoned off for the use of private degree the Cuban people will someday treasure such places as
families. part of their national heritage, when heroes and political
I have visited all of these places, except Niihau, and many revolutions are dim in their memory.
others as well, drawn by the opportunity offered for original Advances in conservation elsewhere in the world have
biological research. In Cuba, on June 25, 1953, a month been equally subordinate to whim and short-term social
before Fidel Castro's assault on the Moncada barracks in needs. The ginkgo tree, a relict of the ancient Asiatic forests
Santiago de Cuba, I arrived on a far more modest mission in a and sole surviving species of an entire order of gymnosper-
jeep at a place called Blanco's Woods, near Cienfuegos. The mous plants, was saved only because it was planted as an
tract was owned by a wealthy family who lived in Spain and ornamental in Chinese and Japanese temple gardens over a
declined to develop the land. All the surrounding forest had period of centuries, long after it became extinct in the wild.
been cut down and converted into pasture and agricultural Pere David's deer held on for generations as an inhabitant of
fields, leaving Blanco's Woods a rare refuge of native plants the imperial compound at Peking, after being hunted out
and animals of the coastal lowlands. To walk into that other- over the rest of its once extensive range in China. In 1898,
wise unprepossessing woodlot was to travel back into Cuba's just before this final herd was destroyed, a new population
geologic past, into the Pleistocene age before the coming of was established by the Duke of Bedford on the grounds of
man — all thanks to what some would rightfully call the self- Woburn Abbey. The stock has since been used to populate
ish actions of one family. Over 50 million years the Greater other reserves and parks. The great value of such by-the-fin-
Antillean Islands, Cuba among them, had broken apart and gernails species preservation is that it keeps alive the possibil-
drifted away from Central America eastward across the ity of reconstituting original faunas and floras. Individuals
Caribbean Sea. In countless episodes the forests of Cuba were can be transferred back to the original habitats and allowed to
seeded with plants and animals from the mainland and sur- breed up to stable levels. Pere David's deer itself may some-
rounding islands. Many of the populations became extinct; day roam fresh in the relict woodlands of China.
Biophilia 5 126 The Conservation Ethic JO 127

Some kinds of organisms survive as the accidental bene- I write this line I have to pause to calm down my own cocker
ficiaries of religion and magic. In Israel rare plants, largely spaniel, who is barking at a passing jogger. I say without
exterminated in the surrounding agricultural land, grow in thinking, "Quiet! Good boy!") The key to the compatibility
and around the Tel Dan, tombs of the holy men located near of the two species is that dogs are descended with little behav-
the sources of the Jordan River. When the biologist Michael ioral modification from wolves. Like human beings, they and
J. D. White set out to analyze the genetic constitution of a their wild cousins are happy carnivores, specialized to hunt
group of interesting Australian grasshoppers called the Mor- large, swift, or otherwise unusually difficult prey in tightly
abinae, he found them in sufficient numbers only in ceme- coordinated groups. The wolf pack can catch mice and other
teries and along railroad tracks. In the Western Ghats of small animals easily enough, but its real distinction is that it
India, sacred groves dating back to hunter-gatherer times is also a superb instrument for bringing down a moose. The
today contain the best-preserved remnants of the original adaptation entails an extreme sensitivity to the moods of
flora and fauna. Madhav Gadgil, one of India's foremost others. Dogs (domesticated wolves) are always ready for the
biologists and recipient of a gold medal in science from communal hunt. They are primed to charge out the door
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has recommended that the with members of the human family in attendance, perhaps to
groves serve as the nuclei of a system of national biotic re- chase down and slaughter a squirrel or rabbit, which, after an
serves. appropriate amount of fussing about and posturing in re-
The modern practice of conservation has moved steadily confirmation of status, will be shared with others. When not
forward from such primitive beginnings, but its philosophi- on the run or its equivalent (being carried along ecstatically
cal foundations remain shaky. It still depends almost entirely in the family automobile), they follow the wolf's primal cus-
on what may be termed surface ethics. That is, our relation- tom of spraying urine onto tree trunks and bushes (fireplugs
ship to the rest of life is judged on the basis of criteria that and telephone poles will suffice) in order to mark out terri-
apply to other, more easily defined categories of moral behav- tory. At home, they metamorphose into children. The King
ior. This mode of reasoning is approximately the same as Charles spaniel was bred to be an extreme specialist in this
promoting literature because good writing helps to sell role. The adult possesses the small size, round head, and pug
books, or art because it is useful for portraiture and scientific face of a puppy also, let us acknowledge it frankly, of a
illustration. Of course the criteria are not in error—just baby—and is meant to be held in the lap.
spectacularly incomplete. Kinship affects emotion in other, unexpected ways. One
Thus we favor certain animals because they fill the super- of the most oddly disquieting events of my life was an en-
ficial role of surrogate kin. It is the most disarming reason for counter with Kanzi, a young pygmy chimpanzee. I was a
nurturing other forms of life, and only a churl could find guest of Sue Savage-Rumbaugh at the Language Research
fault. Dogs are especially popular because they live by hu- Center outside Atlanta, waiting in her office, when Kanzi was
manlike rituals of greeting and subservience. The family to led in by a young woman who is helping to raise him. It was
whom they belong is part of their pack. They treat us like the first time I had seen this rare primate in life. I had a more
giant dogs, automatically alpha in rank, and clamor to be than ordinary interest in it as an evolutionary biologist. The
near us. We in turn respond warmly to their joyous greetings, pygmy chimpanzee is arguably a distinct species from the
tail wagging, slavering grins, drooped ears, groveling, bris- ordinary chimpanzee. It appears to be somewhat less modi-
tling fur, and noisy indignation at territorial trespass. (Just as fied for arboreal existence than its sister species, and of the
 The Conservation Ethic ,.Cr 129
Biophilia ,OF 128
minutes he calmed down and walked cautiously over to me,
two it is the closer to man in certain key features of anatomy
flicking glances from side to side as though plotting an emer-
and behavior. The arms are longer and the legs shorter rela-
gency escape route. When he came near I brought my left
tive to the body. The head is more rounded, the forehead
hand up slowly and held it out, palm down and fingers
higher, and the jaw and brow less protruding. Overall the
slightly crumpled. I thought this was the very essence of
pygmy chimpanzee is remarkably similar in skeletal structure
humility and friendly intention, but he slapped my hand hard
to "Lucy," the type specimen of Australopithecus afarensis,
and backed off with a loud cry. The trainer murmured, "Oh,
one of the probable direct precursors of man. It is the most
you're such a brave little boy!" (He was a brave little boy.) I
humanlike of all animals. Its existence lends weight to the
didn't mind that my hand stung a bit. At that moment
belief of many biologists that the evolutionary lines leading
to human beings and chimpanzees split from a common Kanzi's comfort and well-being seemed much more impor-
stock in Africa as recently as five million years ago. There are tant than my own.
The trainer gave him a cup of grape juice, and he climbed
also a few equally impressive similarities in behavior. The
into her lap to drink it and be cuddled. After a short wait he
pygmy chimpanzee walks erect much of the time, and it
learns many tasks more quickly and vocalizes more freely slid down to the floor and drifted back over to me. This time,
than the common chimpanzee. In sexual behavior it is closer having been coached by Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, I imitated
than any other nonhuman primate to human beings. Fe- the flutelike conciliatory call of the species, wu-wu-wu-wu-
males remain sexually receptive through most of their cycle, wu . . . with my lips pursed and what this time I believed to
and they take a face-to-face position with the male in about a be a sincere, alert expression on my face. Now Kanzi reached
third of the couplings. out and touched my hand, nervously but gently, and stepped
The pygmy chimpanzee is also endangered as a species. back a short distance to study me once again. The trainer gave
Wild populations are found only in one remote area in the me a cup of grape juice of my own. I flourished the cup as if
Lomoko forest of Zaire, where a German lumber company offering a toast and took a sip, whereupon Kanzi climbed
has begun to conduct logging operations (in 1983, the time into my lap, took the cup, and drank most of the juice. Then
of writing). Only several dozen of the animals exist in captiv- we cuddled. Afterward everyone in the room had a good time
ity. Realizing the unique importance and threatened status of playing ball and a game of chase with Kanzi.
the species, scientists such as Savage-Rumbaugh, Adrienne The episode was unnerving. It wasn't the same as making
Zihlman, and Jeremy Dahl are engaged in intensive studies of friends with the neighbor's dog. I had to ask myself: was this
its biology and social behavior. Among the perhaps thirty really an animal? As Kanzi was led away (no farewells), I
million species of organisms on Earth, this is one that in my realized that I had responded to him almost exactly as I
opinion deserves the highest priority in research and preser- would to a two-year-old child — same initial anxieties, same
vation. urge to communicate and please, same gestures and food-
Kanzi walked into the office and spotted me sitting in a sharing ritual. Even the conciliatory call was not very far off
chair on the far side of the room. He went into a frenzy of from the sounds adults make to comfort an infant. I was
excitement, yelping and gesticulating to the two women with pleased that I had been accepted, that I had proved ade-
him in a way that seemed to exclaim, "That's a stranger! Why quately human (was that the word?) and sensitive enough to
is he here? What are we going to do about him?" After a few get along with Kanzi.
Biophilia "SF 130 The Conservation Ethic i 131

WE ARE LITERALLY KIN to other organisms. The com- many societies. Although the policy was once accepted ca-
mon and pygmy chimpanzees constitute the extreme case, sually and thought congenial to the prevailing ethic, it now
the two species closest to human beings out of the contem- seems hopelessly barbaric. Stone asks why we should not
porary millions. About 99 percent of our genes are identical extend similar protection to other species and to the environ-
to the corresponding set in chimpanzees, so that the remain- ment as a whole. People still come first humanism has not
ing 1 percent accounts for all the differences between us. The been abandoned but the rights of owners should not be
chromosomes, the rodlike structures that carry the genes, are the exclusive yardstick of justice. If procedures and prece-
so close that only high-resolution photography and expert dents existed to permit legal action to be taken on behalf of
knowledge can tell many of them apart. Bishop Wilberforce's certain agreed-upon parts of the environment, the argument
darkest thoughts might well be true; the creationists are justi- continues, humanity as a whole would benefit. I'm not sure I
fied in spending restless nights. The genetic evidence sug- agree with this concept, but at the very least it deserves more
gests that we resemble the chimpanzees in anatomy and a few serious debate than it has received. Human beings are a con-
key features of social behavior by virtue of a common an- tractual species. Even religious dogma is hammered out as a
cestry. We descended from something that was more like a system of mutual agreements. The working principles of
modern ape than a modern human being, at least in brain and ownership and privilege are arrived at by slow mutual con-
behavior, and not very long ago by the yardstick of evolu- sent, and legal theorists are a long way from having explored
tionary time. Furthermore, the greater distances by which we their limits.
stand apart from the gorilla, the orangutan, and the remain- If nobility is defined as reasoned generosity beyond ex-
ing species of living apes and monkeys (and beyond them pedience, animal liberation would be the ultimate ennobling
other kinds of animals) are only a matter of degree, measured act. Yet to force the argument entirely inside the flat frame-
in small steps as a gradually enlarging magnitude of base-pair work of kinship and legal rights is to trivialize the case favor-
differences in DNA. ing conservation, to make it part of the surface ethic by justi-
The phylogenetic continuity of life with humanity seems fying one criterion on the basis of another. It is also very
an adequate reason by itself to tolerate the continued exist- risky. Human beings, for all their professed righteousness
ence of apes and other organisms. This does not diminish and brotherhood, easily discriminate against strangers and
humanity—it raises the status of nonhuman creatures. We are content to kill them during wars declared for relatively
should at least hesitate before treating them as disposable frivolous causes. So it is much easier to find an excuse to
matter. Peter Singer, a philosopher and animal liberationist, exterminate another species. A stiffer dose of biological real-
has gone so far as to propose that the circle of altruism be ism appears to be in order. We need to apply the first law of
expanded beyond our own species to all animals with the human altruism, ably put by Garrett Hardin: never ask peo-
capacity to feel and suffer, just as we have extended the label ple to do anything they consider contrary to their own best
of brotherhood steadily until most people now feel comfort- interests. The only way to make a conservation ethic work is
able with an all-inclusive phrase, the family of man. Chris- to ground it in ultimately selfish reasoning—but the prem-
topher D. Stone, in Should Trees Have Standing?, has exam- ises must be of a new and more potent kind.
ined the legal implications of this enlarged generosity. He An essential component of this formula is the principle
points out that until recently women, children, aliens, and that people will conserve land and species fiercely if they
members of minority groups had few or no legal rights in foresee a material gain for themselves, their kin, and their
Biophilia 5 132 The Conservation Ethic 5 133

tribe. By this economic measure alone, the diversity of spe- cow." The individual fruits, which resemble small coconuts,
cies is one of Earth's most important resources. It is also the occur in bunches of up to 600 with a collective weight of 200
least utilized. We have come to depend completely on less pounds. Some 70 percent of the kernel mass is composed of a
than 1 percent of living species for our existence, with the colorless oil, used for margarine, shortening, fatty acids, toi-
remainder waiting untested and fallow. In the course of his- let soap, and detergents. A stand of 500 trees on one hectare
tory, according to estimates recently made by Norman (2.5 acres) can produce 125 barrels of oil per year. After the
Myers, people have utilized about 7,000 kinds of plants for oil has been extracted the remaining seedcake, which is about
food, with emphasis on wheat, rye, maize, and about a dozen one-fourth protein, serves as excellent animal fodder.
other highly domesticated species. Yet at least 75,000 exist Even with limited programs of research, biologists have
that are edible, and many of these are superior to the crop compiled an impressive list of such candidate organisms in
plants in use. The strongest of all arguments from surface the technical literature. The vast majority of wild plants and
ethics is a logical conclusion about this unrealized potential: animals are not known well enough (certainly many have not
the more the living world is explored and utilized, the greater yet been discovered) even to guess at those with the greatest
will be the efficiency and reliability of the particular species economic potential. Nor is it possible to imagine all the uses
chosen for economic use. Among the potential star species to which each species can be put. Consider the case of the
are these: natural food sweeteners. Several species of plants have been
• The winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) of New identified whose chemical products can replace conventional
Guinea has been called a one-species supermarket. It con- sugar with negligible calories and no known side effects. The
tains more protein than cassava and potato and possesses an katemfe (Thaumatococcus danielli) of the West African forests
overall nutritional value equal to that of soybean. It is among contains two proteins that are 1,600 times sweeter than su-
the most rapidly growing of all plants, reaching a height of crose and are now widely marketed in Great Britain and
fifteen feet within a few weeks. The entire plant can be eaten, Japan. It is outstripped by the well-named serendipity berry
tubers, seeds, leaves, flowers, stems, and all, both raw and (Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii), another West African native
ground into flour. A coffeelike beverage can be made from whose fruit produces a substance 3,000 times sweeter than
the liquefied extract. The species has already been used to sucrose.
improve the diet in fifty tropical countries, and a special Natural products have been called the sleeping giants of
institute has been set up in Sri Lanka to study and promote it the pharmaceutical industry. One in every ten plant species
more thoroughly. contains compounds with some anticancer activity. Among
• The wax gourd (Benincasa hispida) of tropical Asia the leading successes from the screening conducted so far is
grows an inch every three hours over the course of four days, the rosy periwinkle, a native of the West Indies. It is the very
permitting multiple crops to be raised each year. The fruit paradigm of a previously minor species, with pretty five-pet-
attains a size of up to 1 by 6 feet and a weight of 80 pounds. aled blossoms but otherwise rather ordinary in appearance, a
Its crisp white flesh can be eaten at any stage, as a cooked roadside casual, the kind of inconspicuous flowering plant
vegetable, a base for soup, or a dessert when mixed with that might otherwise have been unknowingly consigned to
syrup. extinction by the growth of sugarcane plantations and park-
• The Babussa palm (Orbigynamartiana) is a wild tree of ing lots. But it also happens to produce two alkaloids, vin-
the Amazon rain forest known locally as the "vegetable cristine and vinblastine, that achieve 80 percent remission
 The Conservation Ethic 5 135
Biophilia 5 134
trapolation indicates that many more such discoveries will
from Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system, as
result from only a modest continuing research effort.
well as 99 percent remission from acute lymphocytic leuke-
Furthermore, the direct harvesting of free-living species
mia. Annual sales of the two drugs reached $100 million in
is only a beginning. The favored organisms can be bred over
1980.
ten to a hundred generations to increase the quality and yield
A second wild species responsible for a medical break-
of their desired product. It is possible to create strains that do
through is the Indian serpentine root (Rauwolfia serpentina).
well in new climates and the special environments required
It produces reserpine, a principal source of tranquilizers used
for mass production. The genetic material comprising them
to relieve schizophrenia as well as hypertension, the general-
is an additional future resource; it can be taken apart gene by
ized condition predisposing patients to stroke, heart mal-
gene and distributed to other species. Thomas Eisner, one of
function, and kidney failure.
the pioneers of chemical ecology, has used a striking analogy
The natural products of plants and animals are a select
to explain these two levels of utilization of wild organisms.
group in a literal sense. They represent the defense mecha-
Each of the millions of species can be visualized as a book in a
nisms and growth regulators produced by evolution during
library. No matter where it originates, it can be transferred
uncounted generations, in which only organisms with the
and put to use elsewhere. No matter how rare in its original
most potent chemicals survived to the present time. Placebos
state, it can be copied many times over and disseminated to
and cheap substitutes were eliminated at an early stage. Na-
become indefinitely abundant. An orchid down to the last
ture has done much of our work for us, making it far more
hundred individuals in a remote valley of the Peruvian
efficient for the medical researcher to experiment with ex-
Andes, which also happens to be the source of a medicinal
tracts of living tissue than to pull chemicals at random off the
alkaloid, can be saved, cultured, and converted into an im-
laboratory shelf. Very few pharmaceuticals have been in-
portant crop in gardens and greenhouses around the world.
vented from a knowledge of the first principles of chemistry
But there is much more to the species than the alkaloid or
and medicine. Most have their origin in the study of wild
other useful material that it happens to package. It is not
species and were discovered by the rapid screening of large
numbers of natural products. really a conventional book but more like a looseleaf note-
book, in which the genes are the equivalent of detachable
For the same reason, technical advances utilizing natural
pages. With new techniques of genetic engineering, biolo-
products have been achieved in many categories of industry
and agriculture. Among the most important have been the gists will soon be able to lift out desirable genes from one
development of phytoleum, new plant fuels to replace petro- species or strain and transfer them to another. A valuable
leum; waxes and oils produced from indefinitely renewing food plant, for example, can be given DNA from wild species
sources at more economical rates than previously thought conferring biochemical resistance to its most destructive dis-
possible; novel kinds of fibers for paper manufacture; fast- ease. It can be altered by parallel procedures to grow in desert
growing siliceous plants, such as bamboo and elephant grass, soil or through longer seasons.
for economical dwellings; superior methods of nitrogen fixa- A notable case in point is the primitive form of maize,
tion and soil reclamation; and magic-bullet techniques of Zea diploperennis, recently discovered in a mountain forest of
pest control, by which microorganisms and parasites are set southwestern Mexico. It is still known from three patches
loose to find and attack target species without danger to the covering a mere ten acres (at any time a bulldozer might
remainder of the ecosystem. Even the most conservative ex- easily have extinguished the entire species, within hours). Zea
 Biophilia 5 136 The Conservation Ethic 5 137

diploperennis possesses genes for perennial growth, making it organism in order to facilitate its further study knows that he
unique among all other known varieties of corn. It is thus the may be in for a long wait. Even when the research has consid-
potential source of a hereditary trait that could reduce grow- erable economic potential, it is often at risk because of delays
ing time and labor costs, making cultivation more feasible in and inadequate data.
ecologically marginal areas. The diversity of species is so immense that the Linnaean
There are few countries in the world that do not harbor enterprise of describing the living world remains by force a
unique species and genetic strains still unknown to the peo- part of modern science. In addition to more and better
ple who live there. There is no country that would fail to staffed museums, we (scientists, individual countries, the
benefit from the importation of such undiscovered orga- world) would benefit from institutes for the extended study
nisms. With these facts in mind I find it astonishing that so of the organisms once they have been classified. There the
little attention is being given to the exploration of the living previously unknown species can be screened for economic
world. The set of disciplines collectively called evolutionary and medical potential, their ecology and physiological traits
biology, including initial field surveys, taxonomy, ecology, probed. The accumulating data will also reveal the complex
biogeography, and comparative biochemistry, remains processes by which species originate and go extinct, informa-
among the most poorly funded in science. The amount spent tion needed to guide the practice of conservation.
globally in 1980 on such research in the tropics, where the A few such institutions of high quality exist today,
great majority of organisms live, was $30 million — some- among them Brazil's National Institute for Research on
what less than the cost of two F-15 Eagle fighter-bombers, Amazonia, the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods
approximately 1 percent of the grants for health-related re- Hole, Massachusetts, and the Smithsonian Tropical Re-
search in the United States, or a few weeks' liquor bill for the search Institute in Panama. But, even if these pioneering orga-
populace of New York City. nizations were operated at full current capacity, they could
Let us postpone for the moment moral arguments of the handle only a minute fraction of the different kinds of orga-
conventional kind. It would be to the direct economic ad- nisms around the world. The most urgent need is for an
vantage of most governments to invest more in the study of increased research capacity in the tropics, where perhaps 90
their own living resources. Because evolutionary biology percent of species exist.
exists so close to the poverty line, it offers society what econ- I will now add a note of optimism that I know is shared
omists call increasing returns to scale: a modest absolute by many biologists. The exploration of natural resources is
expenditure in dollars will yield large relative benefits. The the kind of research most readily justified in the underdevel-
reason is that the existing low level of activity causes most oped countries, especially those in the tropics. It is also the
opportunities to remain unmet, with the result that the mar- kind they can most easily afford. These nations occasionally
ketplace stays largely empty. Museums, meant at their need accelerators, satellites, mass spectrometers, and the
founding to be national research centers, are everywhere un- other accouterments of big science, but such equipment can
derstaffed. Taxonomy, the principal occupation of museum be borrowed during cooperative ventures with the richer
scientists, is a declining profession through lack of support. countries. The economically less developed countries can do
The neglect is, all the more puzzling because the value of the better with skilled and semiskilled workers who make expedi-
research is widely appreciated within the scientific commu- tions into the wild, collect and prepare specimens, culture
nity. Any biologist who tries to get an identification of an promising varieties, and spend the long hours of close obser-
 Biophilia 5 138 The Conservation Ethic 5 139

vation needed to understand growth and behavior. This kind protect life. The elements from which a deep conservation
of science, is labor-intensive, best performed by people who ethic might be constructed include the impulses and biased
love the land and organisms for their own sake. Its results will forms of learning loosely classified as biophilia. Ranging
gain worldwide recognition and serve as a source of national from awe of the serpent to the idealization of the savanna and
pride. the hunter's mystique, and undoubtedly including others yet
Can there be an Ecuadoran biology, a Kenyan biology? to be explored, they are the poles toward which the develop-
Yes, if they focus on the uniqueness of indigenous life. Will ing mind most comfortably moves. And as the mind moves,
such efforts be important to international science? Yes, be- picking its way through the vast number of choices made
cause evolutionary biology is a discipline of special cases during a lifetime, it grows into a form true to its long, unique
woven into global patterns. Nothing makes sense except in evolutionary history.
the light of the histories oflocal faunas and floras. It is further I have argued in this book that we are human in good part
true that all of biology, from biochemistry to ecology, is because of the particular way we affiliate with other orga-
moving toward a greater emphasis on evolution and its re- nisms. They are the matrix in which the human mind origi-
sultant particularity. nated and is permanently rooted, and they offer the challenge
Finally, the efforts of generations to come will be frus- and freedom innately sought. To the extent that each person
trated unless they are safeguarded with national reserve sys- can feel like a naturalist, the old excitement of the untram-
tems of the kind recently pioneered by Brazil, Costa Rica, and meled world will be regained. I offer this as a formula of
Sri Lanka, where the parcels of land set aside are chosen to reenchantment to invigorate poetry and myth: mysterious
achieve a maximum protection of organic diversity. Other- and little known organisms live within walking distance of
wise hundreds of species will continue to vanish each year where you sit. Splendor awaits in minute proportions.
without so much as the standard double Linnaean names to Why then is there resistance to the conservation ethic?
record their existence. Each takes with it millions of bits of The familiar argument is that people come first. After their
genetic information, a history ages long, and potential bene- problems have been solved, we can enjoy the natural environ-
fits to humanity left forever unmeasured. ment as a luxury. If that is indeed the answer, the wrong
question was asked. The question of importance concerns
purpose. Solving practical problems is the means, not the
TO SUMMARIZE: a healthful environment, the warmth of purpose. Let us assume that human genius has the power to
kinship, right-sounding moral strictures, sure-bet economic thread the needles of technology and politics. Let us imagine
gain, and a stirring of nostalgia and sentiment are the chief that we can avert nuclear war, feed a stabilized population,
components of the surface ethic. Together they are enough and generate a permanent supply of energy—what then?
to make a compelling case to most people most of the time The answer is the same all around the world: individuals will
for the preservation of organic diversity. But this is not nearly strive toward personal fulfillment and at last realize their
enough: every pause, every species allowed to go extinct, is a potential. But what is fulfillment, and for what purpose did
slide down the ratchet, an irreversible loss for all. It is time to human potential evolve?
invent moral reasoning of a new and more powerful kind, to The truth is that we never conquered the world, never
look to the very roots of motivation and understand why, in understood it; we only think we have control. We do not
what circumstances and on which occasions, we cherish and even know why we respond a certain way to other organisms,
Biophilia 140

and need them in diverse ways, so deeply. The prevailing

myths concerning our predatory actions toward each other
and the environment are obsolete, unreliable, and destruc-
tive. The more the mind is fathomed in its own right, as an
organ of survival, the greater will be the reverence for life for
purely rational reasons.
Surinam
Natural philosophy has brought into clear relief the fol-
lowing paradox of human existence. The drive toward per-
petual expansion — or personal freedom — is basic to the
human spirit. But to sustain it we need the most delicate,
knowing stewardship of the living world that can be devised. CE)TERNAL SURINAM: the image of the land I kept
Expansion and stewardship may appear at first to be conflict- for many years symbolized the tangle of dreams
ing goals, but they are not. The depth of the conservation and boyhood adventures from which I had orig-
ethic will be measured by the extent to which each of the two inally departed, the home country of all natural-
approaches to nature is used to reshape and reinforce the ists, and the quiet refuge from which personal beliefs might
other. The paradox can be resolved by changing its premises someday be redeemed in a permanent and more nearly per-
into forms more suited to ultimate survival, by which I mean fect form. It is appropriate, then, to describe the reality of
protection of the human spirit. that particular place before returning a final time to its
image.
Surinam is a sovereign country with a fertile coastal
plain, interior wilderness, and one of the richest forest re-
serves in the world. It is often called the ornithologist's para-
dise for the variety of neotropical bird species seen more
easily there than in most of the rest of South America. Parrots
flock among the palms within the city limits of Paramaribo.
Over a hundred kinds of hummingbirds and cotingas flash
through the flowering canopies of the nearby forests. A short
drive and boat trip to the south will bring you to guans,
tinamous, manakins, bellbirds, ant-thrushes, and toucans,
and perhaps provide a glimpse of the harpy eagle, the giant
predator of monkeys and sloths and apex of the arboreal
energy pyramid. It is a general rule that, when the bird fauna
stays intact, so does the rest of the fauna and flora. The
interior of Surinam is a fragment of tropical America as it was
ten thousand years ago, or at least approximately so, when
the first Indian colonists walked in from the Panamanian
land bridge.