Toward a More "Reflexive Environmentalism": Ecological Knowledge and Advocacy in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem

Abstract

"Ecology" has taken on diverse roles and significances in academia, society, and the environmental movement. While there has been strong academic interest in the critique of "science," this reflexivity has not necessarily permeated all dimensions of the North American environmental movement, particularly those groups or individuals who are associated with "preservation" or wild spaces conservation. This article examines a case study where the regional environmental movement is transitioning from traditional "wilderness" advocacy to a more socially and ecologically integrated environmentalism. My purposes are to (1) describe current environmentalists' use of "environmental" knowledges, (2) examine the rationale for invoking ecological knowledge claims, and (3) assess the challenges that necessitate greater social-biophysical knowledge integration in this region's environmental activism. I argue for the development of a more reflexive environmentalism that incorporates diverse knowledges and discourses in order to more completely represent "environmental issues" and the potentialities for social, political, and economic change.