Yale Bulletin and Calendar

December 7, 2001

Volume 30, Number 13

David Ehrenfeld

ISPS talk to explore ethics of
biotechnology, conservation

David Ehrenfeld, professor of biology at Cook College, Rutgers University, will speak at two campus events on Wednesday, Dec. 12, as part of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS) Bioethics Seminar series.

He will discuss "Unethical Contexts for Ethical Questions" first at noon in the lower level conference room of ISPS, 77 Prospect St., then again at 7:30 p.m. at the Joseph Slifka Center, 80 Wall St. Lunch will be provided at the noon meeting for those who contact Carol Pollard in advance at (203) 432-6188 or carol.pollard@yale.edu. Both meetings are free and open to the public.

In an abstract describing his lecture topic, Ehrenfeld writes, "Given the complex, heavily interlinked ecological systems comprising people, society and environment, restricting the contexts of our ethical questions will often cast a deceptively favorable light on problematic technologies and remedies; and will lead to the sanctioning of bad decisions. Examples will be taken from biotechnology and conservation."

As a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Cook College, Rutgers University, Ehrenfeld teaches courses in general ecology, field ecology and conservation ecology. He previously taught biological sciences at Barnard College, Columbia University, where he co-founded one of the first courses in the country to explore the development of human sex differences and similarities. His research has focused on the behavior and sensory physiology of animal orientation and navigation in sea turtles, and he has published research papers on this and other subjects.

A regular columnist for Orion magazine, Ehrenfeld is the author of "Biological Conservation," one of the first modern texts on conservation; "Conserving Life on Earth"; "The Arrogance of Humanism"; "Beginning Again: People and Nature in the New Millennium"; and "The Chameleon Variant," a science fiction novel about the abuse of genetic engineering. He was founding editor and is now consulting editor of Conservation Biology, the international scientific journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

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