Looking at the Nature of Complex Value: 
The Practical Treatment of the Phenomenon of Ecological Value*
Part II: From a Practical Point of View

0.   Introduction

	Ecological practice, from a practical point of view, is conducted through forms of ecological re-intervention. Our previous research has been summarized as follows:

1:	Ecological value is an example of a complex value.
2:	Phenomenological considerations should take this complexity into account.
3:	Complexity is realized through a number of competing metaphors, and, through forms of value that source distinctive fields of value (e.g., pre-essentially non-integrated essential states, essentially integrated aesthetical states, de-ontological states, pragmatical states, hermeneutical states and/or factual states of affairs).
4:	This complexity is usually non-problematic in a practical sphere by virtue of the pre-existence of working genres of activity that deal with their harmonization.
5:	As practical philosophers we adopt a hermeneutic archaeology in order to focus on such mechanisms of mediation already present, and, in the light of the same proffer possible suggestions in a therapeutic hermeneutics for their critical re-formation/reformation.
6:	Critical re-evaluation of such interventions determining the presence/absence of a comparative existential excess in value-formation, both quantitatively and qualitatively, that arises through such processes of intentional re-normalization. 
7:	Such processes of re-normalization, through re-intervention, normally being seen as relatively ‘non-controversial’ from a practical point of view….. And:
8. 	Modes of integration being thematized through our seeking metaphorical forms of accommodation in the operative interactions between those key-metaphors.
9:	Such investigations noting distinctions, operations, accommodations, transformations involved, etc., in such genre-directed processes…. Whilst:
10.	That in and from the articulation of genres, processes of relative malformation can usually be seen as forms of sequential mistake (through mis-sequentialization, de-sequentialization and/or contra-sequentialization as noted elsewhere). 

	Let me now apply these theoretical insights to particular or specific topics of ecological concern in order to see how successful, or otherwise, this theoretical understanding can be treated on a practical level of application. (0)

	Let us briefly look at and re-examine the possible nature of re-interventions that might be appropriate to apply in the following list of nominated problematic issues, namely, global warming; loss of species through an associated loss of habitat; water conservation; energy conservation; birth control policies; more intensive use of land, etc., in order to discern the superficially controversial threads of debate running through these areas of ecological concern, the types of interventions that are already occurring and the nature of re-interventions thought desirable in the light of possible best outcomes, etc. (1)

*Latest version of paper: www.homestead.com/noelshomepage/noelshomepage3.html

1.   The Nature of Ecological Re-Intervention 

	It has been argued previously that ecological practice is conducted through processes of ecological re-intervention wherein practices of re-augmentation should be critically exercised. (2)

	In a hermeneutic archaeology we examine how interventions in an environmental locale or the environment-at-large are exercised. Because of the complexity of this topic of ecological concern, we need to learn how such complexity has been negotiated and resolved in the past in order to evolve and devolve a therapeutic program of ecological re-intervention by means of a critically orchestrated re-augmentation of prior processes of intervention, incremental innovations upon this basis of precedence, etc. (3)

	On a superficial level of examination, complexity is a minefield of controversy. However, on a practical level, such complexity is normally resolved by various deeper dialectical strategies wherein prior interventional patterns of activity are subjected to processes of re-normalization whereby through selective intervention, incremental innovations, etc., critical processes of augmentation can re-address and redress the problematic nature of our general, particular and/or specific ecological concerns. In this paper let me demonstrate how this type of manoeuver  is to be conducted, albeit in ideal terms. (4)

	Nowhere can we simply start from scratch! Ecological intervention can only be conducted through processes of re-intervention. We are forced to take what is to-hand and through selection, transformation, critical feedback, etc., augment such interventions in and through processes of re-augmentation. Let me examine our six topics of nominated ecological concern in order to demonstrate these various points and their interconnections in our dealing with the augmentation of resident ecological value in a locale, etc., through processes of re-intervention. (5)

2.   Demonstrating the Practice of Ecological Re-Intervention

	Our six topics are: global warming; loss of species through an associated loss of habitat; water conservation; energy conservation; birth control policies; more intensive use of land. Let me briefly examine these six topics in order to show how constructive and productive processes of re-intervention might be practically managed and critically orchestrated. (6)

Global Warming?

	In a future paper I would like to examine the pro’s and con’s of this one-sided debate on the existence of global warming. Suffice to say that if we accept this proposition in the affirmative then one must wonder if it is possible for the people of this planet to either adjust to such a possibility, slowdown the seeming inevitability of this trend, or, indeed, actually reverse the same? From an ecological point of view let us investigate these hypothetical possibilities? (7)

This proposition can be broken down into three questions (or, more critically, four question), namely, are so-called greenhouses gases relatively rising in individual and overall levels; is the overall, average world temperature (however you might sensibly define it) rising; and, is there a direct causal relationship between the former and the latter??? A fourth question might be added, indeed, should be added, in the rhetorical form of a ‘so what?’ Or, to cash out the relevance of such an enquiry, do we not need to re-ask ‘is the expected rise in world temperatures something we need to worry about, or, is it merely something we need to get use to and continue on in our daily lives as best as we can by merely adapting to such a change?’ When all said and done a degree or two does not seem to be that too much of a big deal. However, rather than being climate skeptics, instead, let us be phenomenologically skeptical as a part of a critical strategy in order to adequately answer this most important question. (8)

	On balance all three questions would overwhelmingly be answered in the affirmative – yes, there are increased levels of carbon dioxide (despite regular minor seasonal swings); yes, there are trends for increasing temperatures (despite irregular annual variations); yes, it does seem most likely that the factor of human activity is responsible in our being able to make a direct link between increased greenhouse emissions and increasing world temperatures. However, the adverse nature of such changes is another matter. (9)

Broadly speaking what does a few degrees increase in average world temperature/s mean? Just what can we expect in that regard? Glaciers will shorten further. Sea temperatures will increase and that energy will be transferred to tropical storms with a greater destructive capacity. The range of species will alter with some species being taken from their comfort zones, being forced into unsuitable habitat, etc. The natural climate-bound distribution of disease will shift accordingly, e.g., specific mosquito populations will shift further south in Australia and others will cross the Mediterranean as have already recently occurred, etc. Increased acidity of the oceans will mean a greater dissolution of shell-like structures with a loss of plankton, krill and coral species (and populations dependent upon that basis and thence populations further up the food-chain). Increased Artic, Antarctic and alpine melting will increase sea-levels with the loss of low lying regions of the world with the ensuing movement of millions of people to higher land. Seen in that light, a few degrees does make a considerable difference to how we live with each other on this planet! (10)

Loss of Species Through an Associated Loss of Habitat

	The visible coalface of ecological concern is often the loss of iconic species through an associated loss of habitat. How might forms of re-intervention enter into this controversial area of ecological policy and management? (11)

	One might say, as a rule of thumb, that ecological richness or poverty is reflected in the associated richness or poverty of the habitat in question. Loss of iconic species, e.g., whales, pandas, etc., is the much more visible end of this spectrum since loss of iconic species is often accompanied by the loss of other less well-know species around the same time. Let me re-explore this (phenomenological) concept of richness (as already noted in previous papers). (12)

	Richness has been previously defined as (qualitatively) intro-modal and (quantitatively) extra-modal (in complexity). E.g., respectively, the loss of species in a locale and the loss in the membership of those individual species. Habitat can also be treated in a similar fashion, e.g., through disintegration and degradation respectively. The former can occur through the advance of agriculture, urbanization, loss of supporting vegetation, inroads of traffic, etc. The latter can occur through changes in climate, land management/mismanagement, excesses in exploitation of resources and/or species themselves, etc. Re-interventions that addressed a reversal of or insulation from any of the above might contribute to a consequent process of enrichment (in both the number of species effected and in the health and number of their memberships). Habitat management being pursued along the lines of the natural continuation of habitat (without the need for direct human influence), mere preservation of remaining habitat, conservation through selective intervention (e.g., with isolated breeding programs, etc.), and/or restoration through the comprehensive re-management of that locale (e.g., through creating adequate ecological corridors; returning a certain proportion of the land to its original ecological state; selective plantings of the appropriate vegetation; apposite forms of public education; the imposition of the necessary legal requirements that recognize and protect indigenous species and habitat; apportioning appropriate costs in the utilization and/or exploitation of that locale; giving the appropriate people a stake in the maintenance and enjoyment of that local environment; etc., etc.). (13)

Water Conservation 

With increasing temperatures, with increasing populations and increasing utilization of water, current world shortages can only be exacerbated! (14)

Given a greater need for the utilization of water, how is this resource to be managed and also managed ecologically, i.e., to be shared not only with human consumers in mind but also with the environment dependent upon the same? As it is obvious that the environment has no market voice how is such a ‘voice’ to be given to the environment when its ‘silence’ can only speak of our failure to adequately recognize it in our financial equations, business calculations, cost of living, etc? Should we widen our understanding of the Gross National Product (GNP) to include the value of the environment and cost of any loss in the quality of the same? (15)

	A philosophical case could be made that in trying to evaluate the value of the environment we are dealing with proverbial chalk and cheese. On the other hand, we could extend current practice (beyond its current envelop of comfort) and ascribe some form of value, and the cost of loss of the same, by extending current practice in this regard. E.g, a farmer with a mature forest planted twenty-five years ago would find that their land has a value greater than that same piece of land minus its forest or, indeed, a forest merely planted say five years ago. Obviously forms of accounting are already in existence for valuing natural resources and more commercially oriented forms of production. In the same vein perhaps we could value the ecology of a piece of land that is not being farmed or not  being intensely farmed by the cost of its replacement, i.e., the costs that would be incurred if the land were to be returned to its previous state. Price mechanisms, although sometimes seemingly arbitrary, can act as mechanisms for the transfer of information along with a sort of potential break on their misuse, overuse, etc. The imminent implementation of carbon trading schemes, by putting a cost on a particular type of pollution, is a case in point that illustrates how we are already heading in this direction of evaluating and valuing ecological inventories. Obviously, water management in many regions of the world needs to be re-negotiated. Water needs to be equitably shared and conserved. Excessive and wasteful consumption needs to be rectified. Ecological concerns also need to be taken into account. Environmental health and its ongoing richness of replication is dependent too upon this prime resource! That its ongoing relative health or lack of health, in its dependency upon natural environmental resources like water, etc., should be adequately accounted for in the hope that such mechanisms alert us to its ecological decline and/or ecological recovery. (16)

Energy Conservation
 
Is there a need for energy conservation? The more wealthier you are the more you can afford to expend in terms of energy. But should this relationship be a direct one, and, one conducted at the expense of poorer people or, indeed, all people, now and in the future, who might have to suffer from the consequences of this form of proliferation? Should future generations have to pay a greater relative price that results from the excessive consumption practiced by previous generations? Is it right that developing countries now have to pay a higher relative price per energy unit than that incurred by previous generations in the now so-called developed nations? (17)

Price mechanisms are an important tool in directly and indirectly attempting to maintain ecological richness, weed out inefficient industrial processes, reward those forms of industry that are economically more viable, etc., encourage less wasteful practices, etc. (18)

How should one decide on the mix of energy resources? What percentage should be in re-newables like windmills, dams, solar-cells, geothermal sources, etc? What percentage should include power from nuclear resources, if at all? These questions are probably best left to pricing mechanisms. To be arrived at, overall, more by the way. (19)

Birth Control Policies

	A number of observations can be made, that if assumed to be valid, might help us better re-address this topic and thereby proffer a number of constructive mechanisms of re-intervention for dealing with our ecological concerns that stem from the adverse consequences of over-population. (20)

	First, I would like to note that large populations in and of themselves needn’t automatically be thought of as ecologically problematic. In a civil society what should be noted is the average ecological footprint of that population. If that footprint is minimal, or were to be brought to near zero impact, then we should have no reason for an excessive concern in this regard. A number of comments might be though relevant here lest we pre-judge this topic of a so-called ‘over-population’. (21)

	With the emergence of a middle class, population automatically stabilizes and eventually declines. This would be the natural order of things in Australia, e.g., were it not for the large number of migrants. Two trends augment this possibility, namely, the presence of a good education system and the presence of a good health system where both are effectively available for all sections of that population. A third platform might be the existence of an adequate old-age security or pension plan since support for the elderly is shifted from the sole and necessary existence of large families to the welfare provisions of the state. Moreover, general female emancipation and equality of opportunities should also facilitate this trend for declining birthrates in many middle class societies. (22)

	With increasing urbanization rural populations are declining and as a result there can be less human interference in ecological rich habitats by agriculturalists. Moreover, in civil societies damaging ecological practices can be reversed, e.g., he banning of crocodile hunting in Australia, reforestation in Costa Rica, better land management in the USA and Australia, etc. (23)

	Often ecologically rich habitats, or hot-spots, are localized in relatively non-agricultural intensive regions in the tropics, etc. (24)

	With an increasing GDP a third-world country often goes from a low ecological footprint to a higher one before making some degree of a retreat when that country finds it can better afford a cleaner environment as demanded by its citizens. This effect can be demonstrated in many industrialized countries when we examine the decreasing pollution levels of air and water, etc., as found in Europe, United States and Australia, e.g. (25)

	Generally, a society with an increasing middle class will incrementally take on a more democratic flavour locally and/or nationally (as well as globally). In such a milieu ecological concerns are usually successfully raised a better addressed and redressed. Against this, however, consumerist, hyper-economic forms of proliferation need to be also addressed and redressed! But, then, more wealthier economies are usually in a better position to constructively confront those types of issues. (26)

	One could also be optimistic to the extent that innovation in power generation, e.g., etc., have and will increasingly make a positive difference to this consideration of the overall ecological footprint of a society. E.g., some countries are heading towards 20% renewable forms of energy production from the use of solar cells, wind generators, geothermal power production, etc. Moreover, cleaner technologies will also have a positive impact (in the longer term). E.g., the use of smokeless combustion heaters being developed in China, etc. Although not without serious problematic issues, nuclear power generation can also provide cleaner forms of power production (and a number of future strategies could also be adapted for the greater utilization of nuclear material along with decreased production of radioactive byproducts)? (27)

	Often ecological damage is exacerbated in countries that lack an adequate degree of civil order (through corruption, civil wars, etc.). The mere restoration of government and local order redressing some of that ecological concern (although the return of government can also open up areas of the country side to more organized degrees of exploitation). (28)

	In the light of the comments above, and any the reader might want to proffer,  a positive ecological policy of intervention could re-intervene along the following lines. Promote health, education and welfare. Educate the public in good ecological management in order to reverse adverse trends in contra-ecological proliferation (e.g., unchecked shooting of crocodiles, excessive harvesting of certain fish-stocks , etc.). Decrease the overall and individual ecological footprint of that society and its members. Invest in cleaner ecological practices, etc., etc. Promote humane birth control policies although the promotion of the emergence of a democratically enfranchised population would more than likely automatically do this for us. In summary, one might say, that positive forms of re-intervention deal with prior forms of intervention, both positive and negative, in such a manner so as to promote the virtuous and demote the non-virtuous. Given the right pre-conditions for this approach, then an existentially-oriented trend would naturally head us in the right direction with a diminution of the ecological impact of that population in that society in question. Social control, in this regard, proceeding through sticks and carrots, and, sometimes, more by the way…  sometimes more successfully by promoting the latter. E.g., birth control measures could conducted by legal measures (as in China) or by financial incentives (or reversed as in Australia [in line with recent papal directives]) or allowed to be the natural outcome of an emerging middle class as occurs in most industrialized countries (with a few exceptions). (29)

More Intensive Use of Land

More intensive use of land needn’t compromise ecological richness! Ecological richness of habitat already shows us that the same land can support many overlapping populations of different life-forms. Human beings need be no different in this regard. However, extreme forms of management, over-management and mismanagement can all contribute to a loss of ecological richness.(30)

	People need to realize, as a general principle, that land should never be used for one thing and one thing only! A mono-thematic approach is often a recipe for disaster. Whereas, on the other hand, a poly-thematic approach is often synergistic, productive of a far greater variety of values, and makes for a more enriching experience. An example could be the way we see and often find the average golf-course. That piece of land is usually just a golf-course and only a golf-course! Once upon a time people could walk over them and enjoy the wide open green spaces, listen to the birds, and escape the noise of the city, etc. However, questions of use and ownership, legal liability (from being hit by golf-balls) have seen these place heavily enfenced and out of bounds for non-golf-playing citizens. But this blinkered, mono-thematic approach needn’t remain the default position for such land use. Town councils could give incentives for such land use to be opened up through the use of screens to stop people being hit by gold-balls, third-party insurance, signage could be erected warning of this type of hazard, paths made and maintained that could be used by both golfers and non-golfers alike. Furthermore, the land could be invested with many more forms of use, say, as a nature reserve for rare endemic and endangered vegetation, a place for sculpture, increased populations of animal and bird-life, as parks, as areas for water filtration and purification, etc., etc. I am sure my readers could all supply a number of other reasons why this type of land use could be intensified and how land in general could be better utilized without necessary compromising ecological integrity. (31)

	What is entailed in this instance and in other areas of ecological concern? In some respects, to put it in commercial terms of reference, our bucks should go further; be those dollars individually owned, collectively controlled by a corporation, exercised on the behalf of a community through rates or utilized by government bureaucrats in the spending of our taxes, etc! In our lives we are often told to be flexible and to be able to multi-task. In the same manner our resources should be better managed by being open to a plethora of coinciding uses without allowing those uses to necessarily conflict with each other. And how is this type of feat already being exercised? Through negotiation! Let me look more closely at this feature in the hope we can also apply it to the practical field of ecological advancement, i.e., not only allowing natural continuation, preservation, conservation and/or restoration but also this sense of re-invagination wherein our resources can be promoted beyond levels merely commensurate with a relatively laissez-faire approach! (32)

3.   The General Mechanics Behind Positive Forms of Ecological Re-Intervention

	In a theoretical perspective I have argued that past negotiations can be reviewed in a hermeneutic archaeology where we can see, given adequate textual material and adequate meta-textual interpretation, how those negotiated trends evolved over time to form the state of current play, and, how we might possibly re-write those trends in a more reflective light in and through their positive re-augmentation in a therapeutic hermeneutics wherein their intentionally directed discharge is better conducted through more constructive and successful modes of ecological re-engagement through such processes of re-intervention. (33) 

	On the current Australian political scene we are witness to a shameful practice by the Opposition where the current ecological-environmental debate is conducted as an exercise in ‘either/or’, as a matter in which we must chose between seemingly expensive deontological matters of a dutiful nature and pragmatical matters of a less expensive nature. But, we have scope here for a win-win situation. Conserving our resources should be a cost-saving measure! Using our resources in a more efficient manner should also be a cost saving exercise! Innovations can also form the basis for new industries. Moreover, doing nothing about pollution is also going to be probably costly for us at a later date! Delaying action in this same regard could also have a greater cost for us! (34)

	The carbon pollution reduction scheme, or, emission trading, or, by whatever name it will be finally packaged with, is a case in point. In a commercial enterprise full costs should be incurred versus a full accounting of benefits. Pollution, e.g., is am effect that has to bourn by the public and it is natural that the polluters should compensate the community for this infringement upon their general welfare and wellbeing, especially if at a later stage we are made to pay a true cost for the presence of such an enterprise, e.g., through increased costs of health-care and/or through the costs incurred in reclaiming that environment, etc. Similarly, in general, all polluters should be charged a sensible price for the nature and quantity of the pollution actually emitted. Such a market is an incremental innovation in the sense that we have borrowed from financial markets, markets in general, an innovative financial device that could be used to positively effect a variety of beneficial environmental purposes and outcomes. The marketplace, I am sure, would not in and of itself come up with such an innovation. But some governments in having to govern (or to be seen to govern, hopefully not) seem ready to take up this innovation, and hopefully, put such a mechanism in place and seriously move towards its effective implementation. Although I remain an optimistic in this regard, what are the general principles and insights that I would like to see outlined and examined in our dealing with complex ecological controversies (such as already noted in our six nominated topics)?  (35)

4.   Overview and Conclusion

	Ecological considerations, by their very nature, are a typical instance of how we deal with the highly controversial nature of complex values! Superficially, philosophers and politicians, and all people so inclined, can run with it in a highly controversial manner. However, in the real world we should find, more often than not, such complexity is already negotiated. In a hermeneutic archaeology we see how those negotiations evolved and devolved over time through an inspection of their relevant textual traces and their associated meta-textual genre-related inclusions that tell us how to interpret the same. Then, in a therapeutic hermeneutics we can re-write those meta-textual trends in such a manner as to better facilitate this practice of negotiation wherein such complexity finds itself better arbitrated and controversially de-fused in practice. Into such a mix of precedents, incremental innovations can hopefully be found, more often than not that being the case, that almost silently achieve this type of resolution. As authentic philosophers and phenomenologists, as hermeneuts and hermeneuticists, as existentialists and practical-minded individuals and communities we should seek these avenues of pre-negotiated and re-negotiable pathways that facilitate our passage through this World-of-Life with all its many over-lapping life-worlds wherein we normally find ourselves traveling from one to the other without too much fuss and bother, without too much ado, indeed, in a comfortable knowledge that the world is already practically mapped out for us and merely awaits our exploring it in finer detail and, therein and thereafter, find ourselves better able to enjoy the fruits of our endeavours and our obsessions, our fascinations and our mutual love that we should show for the other through our recognition of their-being-in-this-same-world together-with-us… be they those that came before, or, stand with us now, or, have yet to arrive! (36)

	   Noël Tointon, Sydney, 26.7.08.