Restoring or Re-storying the Lake District: Applying Responsive Cohesion to a Current Problem Situation

Abstract

This paper examines the role of ethics in addressing aspects of ecological restoration in culturally-saturated landscapes. Do we have the ethical tools to respond to the complex questions that restoration poses? We can see valued landscapes, such as the English Lake District, as culturally rich or as ecologically denuded. This paper will juxtapose the demands of retaining rich cultural narratives and those of rewilding (which would allow for greater self-sustaining biological diversity and space for unrestrained nature). Using the ethical theory of responsive cohesion, this paper will explore the cultural narrative vs wildness question in the context of the English Lake District.