Papers by Zev Trachtenberg
Rethinking the Environment for the Anthropocene, 2019
Oklahoma law review, 1997
Although the goal of protecting the natural environment has gained increasing importance over the... more Although the goal of protecting the natural environment has gained increasing importance over the last generation, in recent years it has faced a number of serious challenges, not the least of which is the charge that it is inconsistent with respect for private property rights. At the federal, state, and local levels, advocates for the environment and defenders of property rights have contended with each other in courts, in legislatures, before agencies, and in the arena of public opinion. Thus, the conflict between environment and property has emerged as one of the thorniest political issues of the day, one which is national in scope, but which has immediate meaning for every community. It was with this conflict in mind that legal scholars and practitioners, academics from a range of disciplines, and members of the public came together at the University of Oklahoma on April 26, 1997 for a symposium on Environmental Protection and the Politics of Property Rights. Sponsored by OU's Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environment program, the gathering provided a forum for exploring society's efforts to negotiate the proper boundary between private rights and public control over important features of the environment. Three invited speakers were heard: Andrew Sawyer, Assistant Chief Counsel of the California Water Resources Control Board, presented an overview of the takings implications of the famous Mono Lake case; James L. Huffman, Dean of the Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College, offered a defense of private property rights in environmental values; and John D. Echeverria, General Counsel of the National Audubon Society, gave an analysis of the present state of the political battle between environmental advocates and the property rights movement. To provide an interdisciplinary outlook, comments were provided by members of the University of Oklahoma faculty representing three different approaches to the conference topic: Drew Kershen, of the College of Law, showed how the presentations raised legal issues that are also at work in Oklahoma cases; Baxter
Oklahoma Politics, 2001
In this paper, I discuss a persistent problem in the legitimation of environmental policy: the pr... more In this paper, I discuss a persistent problem in the legitimation of environmental policy: the proper interaction between scientific expertise and stakeholder autonomy. I refer my discussion to an ongoing project by a team of researchers, of which I am a member, from the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Oklahoma State University (OSU), to develop a management protocol for the illinois River in northeastern Oklahoma. I first review briefly the circumstances of the Illinois River watershed and summarize the OU/OSU protocol. I then discuss the increasing use in recent years of stakeholder processes in the environmental policy arena. Next, I present a scheme that represents the ways that both scientific assessment and stakeholder processes factor into policy legitimation. Finally, I use this scheme to illuminate the roles assigned to scientific experts and stakeholders in the OU/OSU protocol and to explore the broader question of the complex relation between those roles in general.
The Anthropocene is a newly proposed geological epoch, the age of humans [Crutzen and Stoermer, 2... more The Anthropocene is a newly proposed geological epoch, the age of humans [Crutzen and Stoermer, 2000]. It acknowledges that human activity is in effect a geological process, and that we are generating a physical and biological environment that is distinct from anything before and that is likely to leave a substantial trace in the geological record of Earth’s history. A long, well-established process has started to consider whether the Anthropocene should be formalized within the geological timescale, led by the Anthropocene Working Group of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy [Zalasiewicz et al., 2010]. If the Anthropocene is to be acknowledged as a geological epoch, the AWG must demonstrate that there is a high probability that a distinctly Anthropocene stratal unit (with its attendant distinct environmental characteristics) may be recognized by Earth scientists working today, and will be preserved in Earth’s future, and that a so-called golden spike marking the beginning ...
Trends in ecology & evolution, 2017
This paper describes a process of 'open' interdisciplinary scholarship. Researchers from ... more This paper describes a process of 'open' interdisciplinary scholarship. Researchers from across the University of Oklahoma blogged about a recent paper by ecologist Erle Ellis, and met in person to discuss posts. They then hosted Ellis for a seminar on questions that emerged, and for a public panel discussion.
Environmental Values, 2016
Philosophy in Review, 1997
... Andrew Light and Eric Katz, eds., Environmental Pragmatism Reviewed by. ZevTrachtenberg. Book... more ... Andrew Light and Eric Katz, eds., Environmental Pragmatism Reviewed by. ZevTrachtenberg. Bookmark and Share. This journal is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommerical 3.0 Unported license. ...
Ethics, 2001
... revolu-616 Ethics April 2001 Page 4. tion ... James Fishkin University of Texas at Austin Boo... more ... revolu-616 Ethics April 2001 Page 4. tion ... James Fishkin University of Texas at Austin Book Reviews 617 Annas, Julia. Platonic Ethics, Old and New. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999. Pp. 196. $35.00 (cloth). Platonic Ethics ...
Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 2008
In Rousseau's 'Cinquieme promenade' and Thoreau's essay 'Walking' both au... more In Rousseau's 'Cinquieme promenade' and Thoreau's essay 'Walking' both authors present themselves as solitary walkers through nature. However, the two men frame the meaning of walking in terms of two distinct existential positions. Whereas in his walking Rousseau enacts the identity of an exile, banished from society, Thoreau walks as a 'moss-trooper', someone who dwells on the border between society and nature. crisscrossing between them. The comparison reveals that for Rousseau. the purpose of walking is finally not to encounter the natural world. While Thoreau seeks the experience of wildness. Rousseau finds ultimate value in the experience of his self.
Earth's Future, 2015
There is an important precedent in the history of ideas for the Anthropocene proposal. This is no... more There is an important precedent in the history of ideas for the Anthropocene proposal. This is not found in the precursors that have been proposed to the formal scientific concept, but rather in the work of the eighteenth-century social theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I argue that Rousseau's speculative account of the development of human society models a way of viewing the condition of the physical environment as an expression of the social and economic institutions that support human beings' way of life.
Ethics, 2002
Acceso de usuarios registrados. Acceso de usuarios registrados Usuario Contraseña. ...
Uploads
Papers by Zev Trachtenberg