Environmental Ethics and Urban Permaculture in Central Texas

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorMcKinney, Audrey
dc.contributor.authorSamples, Katelyn M.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberSmith, Chad
dc.contributor.committeeMemberBenedikt, Amelie
dc.date.accessioned2013-11-26T19:06:14Z
dc.date.available2013-11-26T19:06:14Z
dc.date.issued2013-11
dc.description.abstract<p>Human activities are causing vast environmental degradation around the globe at unsustainable rates. It is more imperative now than ever that we create sustainable societies that can coincide harmoniously with the natural environment. The dominant social paradigm views nature as resources for human consumption, but this paper argues that there are ethical human activities that challenge the mainstream ways of interacting with the natural environment. Environmental ethics is a subject advancing different ethical human-nature relationships. This thesis explores environmental ethics held by permaculture practitioners. Permaculture is a specific type of sustainable agriculture that focuses on using a system’s thinking approach to designing gardens that emphasize biodiversity and locally-adapted, edible perennial plants, as well as maximizing energy efficiency. Permaculture also contains embedded ethics of Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. Since permaculture is ‘site- specific,' this paper examines the environmental ethics held by permaculture practitioners. It also explores the potential of urban permaculture in Central Texas.</p> <p>Through interviewing permaculture practitioners of Central Texas, four main environmental ethics emerged, which are: social ecology, deep ecology, Aldo Leopold’s land ethic, and sustainability ethics. Many permaculture practitioners blurred the distinction between these ethics, while some aligned more closely with one ethic over another. Permaculture in and of itself embodies environmental ethics, and for the interviewees in this study, their ethical practice of permaculture influenced other aspects of their lives, not just gardening techniques. Practitioners also exemplified great hope for urban permaculture and felt that with the right amount of support, permaculture could become a more widespread practice. This paper also proposes some policy implications for implementing permaculture on a wider scale.</p>
dc.description.departmentPhilosophy
dc.formatText
dc.format.extent104 pages
dc.format.medium1 file (.pdf)
dc.identifier.citationSamples, K. M. (2013). <i>Environmental ethics and urban permaculture in Central Texas</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10877/4875
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectPermaculture
dc.subjectEnvironmental ethics
dc.subjectSustainability
dc.subject.lcshPermaculture--Texasen_US
dc.subject.lcshAgricultural ecology--Texasen_US
dc.subject.lcshEnvironmental ethics--Texasen_US
dc.subject.lcshVegetable gardening--Texasen_US
dc.titleEnvironmental Ethics and Urban Permaculture in Central Texas
dc.typeThesis
thesis.degree.departmentPhilosophy
thesis.degree.disciplineInterdisciplinary Studies
thesis.degree.grantorTexas State University
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
SAMPLES-THESIS-2013.pdf
Size:
1.4 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

License bundle

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
LICENSE.txt
Size:
8.94 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
LICENSE_1.txt
Size:
8.94 KB
Format:
Plain Text
Description:
Download

Collections

Graduate Theses and Dissertations