Past debates surrounding wilderness have not led to constructive dialogue but instead have created a rift between dueling sides. Far from academic, this debate has important ethical, policy, and pr...

The 2016 Republican Party platform is unabashed in its rejection of environmental principles and its embrace of extractive labor. Its ‘Natural Resources’ section reads: ‘[w]e are the party of America's growers, producers, farmers, ranchers, foresters, miners, commercial fishermen, and all those who bring from the earth the crops, minerals, energy, and the bounties of our seas.’ What is interesting about this statement is its selective view of productive labor. Not all who bring from the earth are equally valued within the (...) American conservative worldview. What accounts for the outsized role of white male workers in the discourses of American conservatives? (shrink)