Alan Marshall (New Zealand author)

Alan Marshall is a New Zealand-born author and scholar working within the discipline of environmental studies. He has been noted as a key scholar in the field of environmental ethics.[1][2] For his work in environmental scholarship, the University of Wollongong awarded Alan Marshall a doctorate degree. Marshall has undertaken projects for and within institutes all around Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region. For example, he's held fellowships at IAS-STS (Austria), Nizhni Novgorod State University (Russia), KUSTAR (Abu Dhabi), Masaryk University (Czech Republic), Prešov University (Slovakia), NIREX (UK), Curtin University (Australia), and AIT and Mahidol University (Thailand).

Major ideas

Alan Marshall developed a postmodern version of the Human–Nature relationship,[3] one that throws into doubt the very concepts of 'Humanity' and 'Nature'.[4]  Marshall's approach is heavily influenced by the science of ecology but has been criticized as privileging one school of ecology, i.e., 'community ecology', over others such as ecosystems science, systems ecology, and the ecology of Gaia.[5]

In 2006, Alan Marshall founded The Ecomimicry Project, which tries to meld the science of ecology with Green innovation, environmental art, and the ethics of sustainability.[6] Examples of designs that emerged from this project include:

These designs have been praised in ABC Radio National and by the Australian art press.[7][8]

On 1 January 2013, Marshall started the intercontinental 'Ecotopia 2121' project, which details the 22nd century sustainable futures of 100 cities around the world. Ecotopia 2121 is a critical and creative response to the many mainstream 'Eco-city 2020' plans by various city governments around the world. In 2015, the master-class part of this project conducted at Mahidol University was awarded the 2015 'Kenneth M. Roemer Innovative Course Design Award' by the Society of Utopian Studies. Ecotopia 2121, the book of the project written by Marshall, was also the winner of the 'Future Forecasts' category of the 2016 Green Book Festival.

In 2016, Marshall began a new project in urban ecology called 'Frankencities: Our Unfolding Urban Horror Stories' which details the worst case scenarios of emerging environmental problems in 100 cities around the world (whilst comparing them to the insights offered by the Dr. Frankenstein story).

Marshall is also widely referred to as a critic of space exploration and the nuclear industry. His work in this area has been cited as insightful but usually regarded by scientists and engineers as being too radically 'environmental',[9][10][11] especially his calls for the protection of the Martian landscape.[12]

Fiction

Alan Marshall is an award-winning writer of fiction. His works of fiction include an historical novel, Lancewood, about an iconic New Zealand plant, and a science fiction radio drama called This Pointless Thing Called Life that was broadcast on NPR and XM Satellite Radio in the USA. In 2001 This Pointless Thing Called Life received the "Silver Award" from the Mark Time Awards by a panel that included Grammy-award winner Phil Proctor.[13]

Along with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, This Pointless Thing Called Life was nominated for a Vogel Award in the category "Best Long Form dramatic science fiction and fantasy production made in New Zealand in the year 2002".[14][15] Like his scholarly writings, Marshall's fiction explores the relationships between "humans and technology" and between "humans and nature".

The sequel to "This Pointless Thing Called Life" was another award-winning full-length radio feature broadcast in four parts on XM Satellite and by some NPR stations in 2003. This sequel was titled 'This Miserable Thing Called Life".

Books

References

  1. ↑ Oliphant, J. et al.(2011) AQA Religious Ethics for AS and A2, Routledge,978-0-203-83021-5: pp222.
  2. ↑ Newman, J (2011). "Green Philosophy, and A to Z Guide". Sage.
  3. ↑ Marshall, A (1998) 'A Postmodern Natural History of the World, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science', Part C, Vol. 34 Part C, No 1, 137-164
  4. ↑ Marshall, A (2002) 'The Unity of Nature: Wholeness and Disintegration in Ecology and Science', World Scientific: Singapore.
  5. ↑ de Laplante, K. (2004) Environmental Alchemy: How to turn Ecological Science into Ecological Philosophy, Environmental Ethics, Vol 26, Winter Issue.
  6. ↑ Joseph, D. (2009). "20 Great Summer Reads in Innovation". Bloomberg Business Week.
  7. ↑ Wakely, M (2009). "Design Inspired by Nature". ABC By Design website.
  8. ↑ Downton, P. (2009) Review of Wild Design, Artlink, Vol. 29, No. 4.
  9. ↑ Almar, I. (2002) 'What could COSPAR do to protect the planetary and space environment?', Advances in Space Research', Volume 30, Issue 6, 1577–1588.
  10. ↑ Fogg, MJ (2000) 'The ethical dimensions of space settlement', Volume 16, Issue 3, 16 July 2000, Pages 205–211
  11. ↑ "Cosmic Preservationist". New Scientist. Jan 3, 2003.
  12. ↑ McArthur, Dan and Idil Boran, "Agent-Centered Restrictions and the Ethics of Space Exploration" in Journal of Social Philosophy vol. 35 No. 1 (Spring 2004) pp. 148–163.
  13. ↑ "Mark Time/Ogle Award winners". Mark Time Awards. Jerry Stearns, David Ossman. 2001. Retrieved 22 Sep 2012.
  14. ↑ "Sir Julius Vogel Award Nominations - 2002". SFFANZ. Retrieved 22 Sep 2012.
  15. ↑ "Sir Julius Vogel Nominees List". The LOCUS Index to SF Awards. Mark R. Kelly and Locus Publications. Archived from the original on 2012-10-06. Retrieved 22 Sep 2012.
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