Wilderness, Religion and Ecological Restoration in the Scottish Highlands

The efforts of nature conservation bodies to return parts of the Highlands to a ‘pristine’ state involve attempts to reduce both signs of human dwelling and the destructive impacts of animals introduced by wealthy landlords for sport and cash such as deer and sheep. The irony is that such restoratio...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:  
Détails bibliographiques
Auteur principal: Northcott, Michael S. 1955- (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
En cours de chargement...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: Equinox Publ. 2005
Dans: Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
Année: 2005, Volume: 10.3, Pages: 382-399
Sujets non-standardisés:B Highlands
B Wilderness
B Conservation
Accès en ligne: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Résumé:The efforts of nature conservation bodies to return parts of the Highlands to a ‘pristine’ state involve attempts to reduce both signs of human dwelling and the destructive impacts of animals introduced by wealthy landlords for sport and cash such as deer and sheep. The irony is that such restoration projects will still not achieve the levels of biodiversity that obtained before the Clearances when Gaels dwelt in what are now regarded as ecologically rich but threatened regions. Wilderness restoration projects reflect in some ways the modern romantic fetishisation of wild nature which finds its modern equivalent in the growing practice of wilderness therapy. Discussions amongst philosophers of wilderness, and ecological restoration, frequently neglect the dimension of the environmental exclusion of indigenous people, and so also tend to fetishise wilderness. Biblical accounts of wilderness restoration are strongly at variance with modern approaches when they suggest that the divine intent to restore desert to fertile land involves also the redemption of the poor, and of other species, from the greed and corruption of the wealthy. In this sense the land reform project of the new Scottish Parliament comes closer to a Biblical vision of wilderness restoration than traditional nature conservation strategies.
ISSN:1749-4915
Contient:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of religion, nature and culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/ecot.2005.10.3.382