When Ecology and Values Become Entangled

Environmental journalism, by and large, reflects not just news of the day (and an underlying theme) but also the zeitgeist. For example, when I made ecology my beat in the late 1990s, stories about the biodiversity crisis were prevalent in mainstream media and in environmental magazines--one of which I worked at through most of the 2000s. In my current feature story on the divide in the conservation community, I have a historical section on the roots of environmental conservation. There, I talk about a progression in ecology--evolving primary concerns over a 100-year period, from wilderness preservation and endangered species to biodiversity and ecosystem services. Of course, ecology is a huge field with many sub-disciplines. What I'm referring to are issues that were picked up in the media and frequently covered, which helped them gain traction as popular causes. This does not happen in a vacuum. Influential thought leaders and vocal scientists play an instrumental role. For instance, if you want to understand how biodiversity became a huge story in the 1980s and 1990s, read "The Idea of Biodiversity," by David Takacs. This 1996 book is also mentioned in a recent paper published in the journal Ethics, Policy, and the Environment. The authors argue: