Over the past 20 years or so, growing concerns that mainstream approaches to conservation are failing have converged and clashed in ‘the great conservation debate.’ This debate has been propelled in part by critical assessments of what’s gone wrong with conservation, as well as by a number of terrifying scientific press releases and reports of ‘species extinction accelerating’ and ‘Nature in decline.’ Some suggest the debate can be boiled down to two clashing positions on how best to save nature in a time of ecological crisis: ‘sparing vs. sharing’. Others argue that this is way too simplistic, as conservationists are a diverse bunch of people grappling with very different circumstances around the world, and therefore hold a much more complex range of positions. In their recent book on this debate, political ecologists Bram Buscher and Robert Fletcher write that “[i]n analysing the great conservation debate, it is clear that the lived reality of the conservation community is a tense and pressurized one, imbued with a great sense of crisis and responsibility.”
??chir??: A Butter Delight from France
Have you heard about Échiré butter, the immensely popular butter from France that has taken Japan by storm? Known for its creamy texture and…