Culture, Economy and Environment in an Age of Market Value
Presentation Abstract
The many qualities of marine environments are at the heart of debates about ‘environments and economies’. Reflecting across papers presented in this session and case studies from coastal B.C., we explore questions about what we choose to value and why in the marine environment, and the problem of ‘winner-take-all’ systems of economic development and the concentration or risks versus benefits given particular environmental changes. Our cases indicate ways of thinking about marine economies less as discrete acts of extraction to be valued on markets or substituted with cash equivalents than as environments best understood as a cultural landscapes with long histories of economic, cultural and livelihood security. Examples are provided of richly inhabited landscapes with long histories of intergenerational knowledge transmission through seasonal acts of cultivation and harvesting; areas vibrantly alive with origin stories recorded and retold in place, where abundance and wealth of resources feed complex social and ceremonial orders that provide for cultural resilience. Cases also include efforts to maintain and reintroduce food sovereignty as coastal communities become depopulated and increasingly burdened by household poverty. Finally, we consider all of these cases in reference to new models for environmental planning, known as ecosystem service and cultural services approaches, which aim to reconcile the unnecessary decoupling of ‘environments’ and ‘economies’. As a metaphor and method, ecosystem services seek to integrate these to better link physical and cultural worlds; include values that people hold dear, and maintain the livelihoods and well being on which cultural continuity depends.
Session Title
Session S-09H: Trading Cultural Ecosystem Services from Data Collection to Decision Making
Conference Track
Social Science Plus
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2014 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2-5-2014 10:30 AM
End Date
2-5-2014 12:00 PM
Location
Room 607
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Marine ecosystem management--Economic aspects--British Columbia--Pacific Coast; Value--British Columbia--Pacific Coast
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Pacific Coast (B.C.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Culture, Economy and Environment in an Age of Market Value
Room 607
The many qualities of marine environments are at the heart of debates about ‘environments and economies’. Reflecting across papers presented in this session and case studies from coastal B.C., we explore questions about what we choose to value and why in the marine environment, and the problem of ‘winner-take-all’ systems of economic development and the concentration or risks versus benefits given particular environmental changes. Our cases indicate ways of thinking about marine economies less as discrete acts of extraction to be valued on markets or substituted with cash equivalents than as environments best understood as a cultural landscapes with long histories of economic, cultural and livelihood security. Examples are provided of richly inhabited landscapes with long histories of intergenerational knowledge transmission through seasonal acts of cultivation and harvesting; areas vibrantly alive with origin stories recorded and retold in place, where abundance and wealth of resources feed complex social and ceremonial orders that provide for cultural resilience. Cases also include efforts to maintain and reintroduce food sovereignty as coastal communities become depopulated and increasingly burdened by household poverty. Finally, we consider all of these cases in reference to new models for environmental planning, known as ecosystem service and cultural services approaches, which aim to reconcile the unnecessary decoupling of ‘environments’ and ‘economies’. As a metaphor and method, ecosystem services seek to integrate these to better link physical and cultural worlds; include values that people hold dear, and maintain the livelihoods and well being on which cultural continuity depends.
