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49 Ecology L. Currents 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/ecolwcur49 and id is 1 raw text is: The World is My Oyster and Other
Tales of Domination: The Critique From
Ecosystem Services
Keith H. Hirokawa*
Introduction: N ature  as  - ...........................................................................  1
I. Ecosystem Goods in Conflict with Ecosystem Needs: When the World is My
O yster  ............................................................................................. . . 2
II. No More Oysters, and No More Oyster Habitat....................................... 4
III. Ecosystem  Services as Disruptive ......................................................... 6
C onclu sion ................................................................................................. . . 7
INTRODUCTION: NATURE AS -
Nature is the idea of where we are, the basis for understanding who we are,
and the place in which we are present, observant, relating, and thinking. Nature
is the backdrop that contextualizes all of our knowledge and inspiration. It
supplies our experiences, provides the basis for finding a sense of place, and
situates us within a meaningful community. Nature might be difficult to define,
yet it is the constant.
Less constant are the constructs we use to understand nature. Nature might
alternatively be thought of as a provider, or as chaotic, fragile, threatening,
wicked, caring, beautiful, sublime, scary, or even fixable. Such ideas might be
found in the Edenic narrative or a Hobbesian state, witnessed clinging to a
rapidly melting chunk of frozen water, or chased through an otherwise
untrammeled wilderness. The different values we impose on our experiences
lend support to alternative constructs of nature. This essay takes up two
competing constructions: nature as a pile of resources that are available for
human use and enjoyment versus nature as a collection of processes that benefit
humans. The former is reflected in what is generally thought of as resource
economics-the dominant paradigm of the law's idea of nature-in which nature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38VTiGQ8Q
*Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship, Albany Law School. I would like to sincerely thank
Kathleen Anderson for her invaluable research assistance, the excellent editors at Ecology Law Currents
for their insights and suggestions, and Professors Cinnamon Carlarne, Karrigan Bork, and Jonathan
Rosenbloom.

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