ECOSYSTEM HEALTH - SOME PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

Some ecologists, philosophers, and policy analysts believe that ecosys tem health can be defined in a rigorous way and employed as a manageme nt goal in environmental policy. The idea of ecosystem health may have something to recommend it as part of a rhetorical strategy, but I am dubious about its utility as a technical term in environmental policy. I develop several objections to this latest version of scientism in e nvironmental policy, and conclude that our environmental problems fund amentally involve problems in our institutions of governance, our syst ems of value, and our ways of knowing. These are the problems that mos t need to be addressed.