ABSTRACT

Defending Dolphins and Sea Turtles: On The Front Lines in an "Us-Them" Dialectic

By Joshua R. Floum

Providing an overview of the present approach to species protection, which has at its center the "us-them" dialectic, this commentary examines the dialectic's effect in three contexts: the debate between developed and developing nations over environmental protection; the split between proponents of expanded free trade and certain factions of the environmental movement; and the pronounced rifts which have developed within the environmental movement itself. The author concludes that single-minded advocacy has successfully placed dolphins and sea-turtles in the public eye. The result being that these ancient species have likely been saved from imminent extinction. However, the same "us-them" approach which has initially proven successfully, is in fact debilitating and detracting from the greater goals of wildlife protection which an open discourse might achieve.