In Wildness is the Preservation of the World: Thoreau's Environmental Ethics Philip J. Cafaro Associate Professor of Philosophy Colorado State University Environmental ethics asks how people should treat the rest of nature. In the words of a leading environmental philosopher, it seeks to specify "duties to and values in the natural world." 1 Over the past few decades, environmental ethics has emerged as an important area within philosophy, its growth spurred by our immense environmental problems and the sense that a change in values will be needed to successfully address them. In helping us to develop a strong environmental ethics, no thinker has more to offer than Henry Thoreau. He was one of the earliest and strongest critics of anthropocentrism: the view that only human beings have rights or "intrinsic value," and that other creatures may be used in any way we see fit. Perhaps even more important, Thoreau shows us how to lead happy, flourishing lives while still treating nature with respect. There is a great practical need to develop positive arguments for environmental protection. Environmentalism is sometimes seen as intolerably limiting, spawning an endless string of "thou shalt nots." Often, the general public views environmentalists as kill-joys and misanthropes, willing to countenance any trade-offs of human freedom or happiness in pursuit of our aims. Partly this is unavoidable. In defending nature, environmentalists are necessarily proscriptive. Recognizing intrinsic values in nature does limit its morally permissible use. Yet the writings of the great naturalists—and our own experiences—tell a story of joyful connection to nature. The artist, the scientist, the poet, the hunter and the fisherman, all pay attention to nature and "capture values" that enrich their lives. This 1 Holmes Rolston III, Environmental Ethics: Duties to and Values in the Natural World (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988). 1