On a snowy day in March, University Honors College students  Brad Converse, Annie Jacobs, Tom Lord, Kayla Pierson, Anneke Tucker, Lindsey Almarode, Corinne Fletcher, Lacey Kloster, and Kirsten Tilleman, and OSU science advisor Shawna Harvey travelled to the ancient forests at the headwaters of the McKenzie River to study “Practical Reasoning for the Environmental Professional.” 

Over the course of the weekend, they learned the skills of moral reasoning that will empower them to think cogently and effectively about the hard questions that land on the desks of people working in natural resource fields – Is it right to kill barred owls to save spotted owls, an endangered species? Should wolves be allowed to repopulate the Oregon Cascades? What are the values of ancient forests, and how can they be compared to the values of board feet and pulp?  What are the differences in worldviews and values that make public decisions about land use so difficult? Does anything have value apart from its usefulness to human purposes, and what does that mean for our decisions about the common good? How can scientific information and human values together do what neither can do alone?  What would you have to consider, were you deciding whether to mine on Mars, sell glacier water to Bahrain, or cut a forest that has never been cut before? These are the kinds of questions the students sorted out with guidance from OSU Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Kathleen Dean Moore.

Along with their new reasoning skills, students brought home vivid memories:   Ten students stand silently in the dark, up to their knees in diamond snow under a crescent moon; they are listening for spotted owls to answer their calls.  Gathered around a roaring fire in the late evening forest, students experiment with forms of s’mores never tasted before, as globs of snow fall from towering trees.  Warm inside, students sit around the fireplace, imagining themselves into different roles, trying to site a manufacturing plant , learning the relation between justice and creative process. Early morning coffee and  blueberry pancakes.  Laughter and ah-ha! learning. Deep cold.

In winter 2011, Dr. Moore will teach a related UHC course on Environmental Leadership, teaching the skills of moral reasoning, democratic decision-making, effective communication, and personal integrity.