Gilbert LaFreniere (born 1934 in New York) is an American ecological philosopher, active in the study of geology, ecology, and human impact upon nature.

Biography

Gilbert attended the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

and earned a Masters of Geology from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

before completing a Ph.D in intellectual history from the

University of California at Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

, (UCSB) in 1976. LaFreniere taught

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

, environmental ethics, and

environmental history Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa. Environmental history first emerged in the United States out of th ...

for more than twenty-five years at

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

in Salem, Oregon. He remains an active Professor Emeritus and continues to lecture on the transformation of natural landscapes by man, appearing at Willamette University, Portland State University, and Oregon State University in the last few years. Many of his lectures rely heavily on his own travels and photography of the national parks of Europe, New England, California, the Pacific Northwest, and Canada. LaFreniere is also a noted scholar of the work and thought of the French philosopher

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

and the Idea of Progress and appears in the Card Catalog of the Rousseau Library in Montmorency, France. Gilbert's most recent book is ''The Decline of Nature'' (2008). Among his other publications are the book ''Jean Jacques Rousseau and the Idea of Progress'' (1976) and articles in ''Environmental History Review'', ''Agriculture and Human Values'', and ''The Trumpeter''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:LaFreniere, Gilbert Green thinkers 1935 births Living people Historians of science Intellectual historians Environmental historians Willamette University faculty Activists from New York City

Biography

See also

References

External links