The Cathedral in the Desert Land Use, Ethics and the Damming of Glen Canyon

Daniel Hauck

Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Brain, David

Keywords

Land Use, Environmental Ethic, Public Policy

Area of Concentration

Social Sciences

Abstract

This project looks beyond customary the archaeological, political, geological, or sentimental analyses of Glen Canyon and the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) to examine the implicit ethical arguments mobilized by the actors to justify and explicate their positions. The ethical frameworks of Mill (Utilitarianism) and Sagoff (Cost Benefit Analysis) are utilized to illuminate the ethical orientations and cultural frameworks manifested themselves in the land use debates over Glen Canyon. Within the American cultural constructs of nature, these frameworks are part of the "cultural toolkit," or range of culturally acceptable possibilities available to mobilize actors and morally justify their decisions. The outcome of this study is two-fold. First is an understanding of the ways that the environmental ethics embedded in American culture have limited the ability to pursue consistent policies with regard to land use, preservation of natural areas, and conservation of natural resources. Second, in the terms of this case study, it questions the value sentimental attachment had in the Utilitarian ethic used in the debates and demonstrates how the emotional attachment to Glen Canyon and its subsequent loss spawned new ethical frameworks to attempt to more fully include nature and sentimental attachment to it.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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