Welcome to my nature-conservation and science fiction (#EcoSciFi) website.  The second item on the menu, the blog, and the next four items cover nature-conservation and open space issues and information.  The next menu item links to science fiction novels and stories in which I solve Earth’s nature-conservation problems.

I am fortunate to live on a small stream in central Arizona where many wild animals make frequent appearances.  To keep track, I have assembled checklists for all the major species groups found in Arizona.  The checklists are included under Arizona Wildlife.

My nature-conservation interests include topics from all over the globe.  Get the latest world news, information, and concerns for animal rights, biodiversity, nature conservation, wildlife, and more in the Nature Conservation (NatCon) News.  Get the latest on global warming in the Climate News.  Though the NatCon and Climate news sites are comprehensive, my Scoop.It newsletters are more popular.

My work was inspired by the ideas of Aldo Leopold who, toward the end of his life, believed that wildlife and humans have equal rights in what Leopold called the land-community.  Here’s the link for a movie about Leopold’s ideas.

Aldo Leopold. Proposed the Land Ethic which extends equality to all creatures.

“[A] land ethic changes the role of Homo Sapiens from conqueror of the land- community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.”  – Aldo Leopold, 1949.

Not bad.  Perhaps “Earth ethic” would indicate the shared importance of the oceans, atmosphere, and land. It seems to me that, at the time of his death, Leopold hadn’t yet fleshed out his ethics ideas. He hadn’t considered topics such as animal rights and he hadn’t seen human impacts reach the catastrophic level we see in 2015. And he had not felt the necessity for protests and marches that Edward Abbey and many others have begun to feel.

An important distinction in environmental ethics is made between people who practice conservation to benefit humans and those who practice conservation for the benefit of wildlife regardless of the consequences for humans.  This website is dedicated to the second of these.  To the belief that animals and humans have equal rights.  To varying degrees, this equality extends to rivers, rocks, air, and sea. Of course, it’s complicated, and many who act to conserve nature combine or alternate between the two points of view.  Perhaps ethical behavior must begin with shared images and ideas.  Hence my blog and newsletters.

As President of the Agua Fria Open Space Alliance, Inc., I serve as the organization’s principal representative.  Information about the organization is hosted here.