ABSTRACT
At this point, a return visit to my local bookstore and its “Environment” section is not such a confusing experience. The array of book titles, each suggesting either an improved or degraded natural world, now is more understandable. Indeed, the wider public discourse over whether we should celebrate or mourn changes to our natural environment is clearer as well. Earlier chapters provide a framework from which we can interpret and understand this ongoing debate. Though this framework may not be fully intuitive, its key conclusion certainly makes common sense: changes to our natural world, just like those to our own lives, entail both positive and negative consequences. As simple and obvious as this conclusion is, one might wonder why the debate is framed so often as either a uniformly declining or improving environment.
