This book identifies the land ethic as the best candidate for an environmental ethic. The land ethic is a secular, nonanthropocentric, holistic-ecocentric environmental ethic that was initially conceptualized by the naturalist, Aldo Leopold, and later historically expanded and conceptually developed by the philosopher, J. Baird Callicott. The land ethic is grounded in the science of ecology and evolutionary biology. The main purpose of this book, however, is not to specifically justify the advancement of the land ethic, but rather to evaluate whether it can be embraced by Catholicism. Meaning, are the scientific, conceptual, and logical foundations of the land ethic conducive with Catholic theology? The hypothesis of this book is that Catholicism does have adequate scientific, philosophical, and theological foundations to embrace the land ethic as a viable environmental ethic. In this book, the Catholic Magisterium's perspective on the environmental crisis is evaluated through the review of pertinent Church documents and writings. Principally, the Church's implicit theology of the cosmic Christ is thoroughly evaluated and, then, expanded to an explicit cosmic christology as conceptualized in the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and other Catholic theologians and scientists. This conceptualized cosmic christology (presented as compatible with ecology and Catholic doctrine) could function-in the context of the ongoing environmental crisis-as a Christian panentheistic ecocentrism (with an accompanying eschatology of hope) that is fairly compatible with the holistic-nonanthropocentric ecocentrism of the land ethic. Despite the title's cosmic implications, this book does not directly promote the contemporary New Age movements nor their associated beliefs. It, also, does not promote creationism, Intelligent Design Theory or any other theories, which regard contemporary evolutionary biology as completely fallacious. This book recognizes the validity of ecology within its scientific context. At the same time, it also recognizes that one can potentially acquire a much deeper understanding of the ecological reality of life from a religious perspective. This book is not evangelical, though, at times, it attempts to be persuasive in absence of scientific evidence, which is often the case when dealing with the subjectivity of religion and environmental ethics. Defining the intrinsic value of the natural environment is extremely difficult and complicated-scientifically unapproachable. Yet, even though the reality of the world's beauty transcends scientific understanding, it inspires humanity to pursue its mystery and preserve its integrity.
About the Author: Richard Clark has been working in the environmental field in California for over 25 years. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Soil Science with additional coursework in the physical sciences. While at Cal Poly, Mr. Clark also took philosophy courses where he was introduced to Aldo Leopold's "Land Ethic" via philosopher J. Baird Callicott's essay entitled, "The Search for an Environmental Ethic." Mr. Clark continued on with post-graduate studies in geology, environmental science & engineering, and he earned a M.S. in Environmental Studies at Cal State University Fullerton with additional coursework in comparative religion. Mr. Clark's M.S. project advisor was a fulltime clinical laboratory scientist and a part-time CSU Fullerton instructor who earned his B.S. in Microbiology from Cal Poly and his Ph.D. in Religion from Claremont Graduate University. The commonalities between Mr. Clark and his advisor were scientific careers and academic and faithful involvement with religion. Richard Clark currently works as county deputy health officer and has overseen the cleanup of numerous contaminated soil and groundwater sites in southern California.