Rethinking park protection: treading the uncommon ground of environmental beliefs.

Chapter 19 (Page no: 175)

Parks as belief - making peace with paradox.

It is argued that we can defend parks purely on the grounds that creating them is the right thing for a society to do, without ever attempting to measure their utility. Three purely moralistic justification for parks are discussed: (i) parks and protected areas are a measure of respect for the Earth which sustains us; (ii) parks as living entities (or ecosystems), reflect our respect for life; and (iii) parks are integral to the needs of a modern society and, as such, are no more subject to purely utilitarian analysis than is that society itself. The dilemma of adequately funding a park's operations is also discussed with respect to the utilitarian values and non-utilitarian worth of the park.

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