ABSTRACT
Using eelgrass restoration in the Narragansett Bay as the touchstone for discussion, this chapter clarifies some of the challenges faced in ecological restoration by analyzing those challenges under three distinct philosophical classifications: epistemological, axiological, and normative. Examining wide divergences among governmental, scientific, and popular articulations of estuarine matters, the chapter surveys how the fractured relationships governing reflection, value, and action has been addressed both within and beyond various principles governing restoration. It also recounts the efforts of the Rhode Island advocacy group Save the Bay to implement a community restoration initiative for children and then to redesign the initiative when original expectations about its effect did not come to fruition. Finally, the chapter addresses broader ambiguities about the relationships between fact and value, and between value and action, as they emerge from the restoration issues discussed. While the chapter avoids the prescription of particular solutions to the challenges facing eelgrass and other estuarine restoration, it strives to
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 112 Congressional Mandate: Philosophical Dimensions Beneath Estuary Restoration ...................... 115 Principles of Habitat Restoration and Embedded Philosophical Knots ........................................ 119
Normative Directives ......................................................................................................... 119 Axiological Context ........................................................................................................... 121 Epistemological Uncertainty ............................................................................................. 123
Eelgrass Restoration in Narragansett Bay: Philosophical Challenges within Pragmatic Problems ..............................................................................................................................124 Epistemological Challenges to Eelgrass Restoration ......................................................... 125 Axiological Challenges to Eelgrass Restoration ................................................................ 126 Normative Challenges to Eelgrass Restoration ................................................................. 128
Seagrasses in Classes: The Challenge of Affective Public Engagement ....................................... 129 Fact, Value, and Action: Affective Engagement and Cultural Norms ........................................... 133 Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... 137 Appendix: What is Eelgrass and Why Is It Important? Zostera marina L., or eelgrass ............... 137
What Are the Pragmatic, Concrete Problems Facing Restorationists Who Work in Narragansett Bay? .............................................................................................................. 138
Literature Cited .............................................................................................................................. 140
delineate and illuminate the tangled sources of value that can drive everyday decisions-sources that, left unexamined, may contribute collectively to the demise of eelgrass populations.
