Biodiversity and the Power of Metaphor in Environmental Discourse

Abstract

Taking all this together, it is obvious that biodiversity is not just a normal sci- entific concept. It is often used as an all- encompassing term, a scientized syno- nym for nature (Takacs, 1996: 107). When reading and listening to the defi- nitions biologists apply to biodiversity, it is hard to imagine what in nature does not fall under the rubric of the term (Takacs, 1996: 75). Biodiversity is about almost anything that is good and under a threat in our natural environment. The power of biodiversity as a metaphor in semipro- fessional and popular discourses is also linked to its origin as a scientific concept: it shines with the gloss of scientific re- spectability (Takacs, 1996: 99). This is an important feature of metaphors in relations between scientific and lay dis- courses. They do not only carry mean- ings but also power and authority (Weingart, 1995). Metaphors are pow- erful means of communicating author- ity and credibility from one discursive field to another. For example numbers, statistics and graphics can function as metaphors in their supposed ability to carry the ethos of objectivity of science. Biodiversity makes connections be- tween many disciplines, including ecol- ogy, evolutionary biology, environmen- tal management, environmental ethics and new technological applications, such as those developed by biotechnol- ogy. In addition, it is manifested in vari- ous forms, representing pre-Darwinian ideas for taxonomy and classification as well as 20th century theories of evolu- tionary biology (see, e.g. Potthast 1996). Thus, biodiversity is itself diverse, car- rying multiple perspectives, arguments and associations. Perhaps it is all this that makes biodiversity such a powerful metaphor for environmental research. It is possible to argue that the success of biodiversity in scientific and political arenas is not so much based on the sta- tus of biodiversity as a conceptual inven- tion but as a buzzword (Angermeier, 1994) or bandwagon (Rodda, 1993), performing a fashion effect (Kaennel, 1998) in environmental research and sci- ence policy. Along with other bio-neolo- gisms such as biotechnology, biomedi- cine, bioethics, biopolitics, biosociality, bioregional, etc. it has become part of a biocultural transformation in contem- porary society.