About

Benjamin Hale teaches environmental studies and philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He works primarily in the area of environmental ethics and environmental policy, with theoretical interests spanning applied ethics, normative ethics, and metaethics. His recent work centers on ethical and environmental concerns presented by emerging technologies. Hale is the author of the book The Wild and the Wicked: On Nature and Human Nature, editor of the journal Ethics, Policy & Environment, and has served as the President of the International Society for Environmental Ethics. Before joining the environmental studies program, Professor Hale was the Director of the Center for Values and Social Policy in CU's Philosophy Department, and earlier served as the Interim Director of the Environmental Conservation Education Program at New York University. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an M.P.A. in Natural Resource Policy from the University of Arizona. His work focuses on environmental ethics and policy, addressing both theoretical and applied questions related to emerging technologies and their ethical implications.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Environmental ethics
• Philosophy
• Law
• Positive economics
• Epistemology
• Psychology
• History
• Geography
• Economics
• Microeconomics
• Ecology
• Biology

Selected publications

• Of Rain and Parades

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-13

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• Catching a Cloud

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-13

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• Bibliography

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-13

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• Neither Rain, nor Snow, nor Sleet, nor Hail

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-13

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• Index

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-13

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• Climate Change, Shifting Nature, and Deliberation

  The Monist · 2026-01-07

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  Abstract Climate change leaves conservationists facing unprecedented uncertainty and indeterminacy that make it hard to measure conservation success. The novelty of future ecosystems generates axiological challenges that leave conservation without clear action guidance. In this paper, we argue that our best tool to navigate competing viewpoints is through deliberative democratic mechanisms that bring as many voices to the table as possible. We do this largely by comparing two different wolf reintroduction efforts and emphasizing the epistemic, practical, and political challenges presented by climate futures (which have no present analog) that ecologists and conservation biologists anticipate climate change will bring. Rather than trying to solve these issues through resolving disagreements about environmental value, we suggest that centering democracy around deliberation allows for a more pluralist and practical way to sort out our obligations regarding nature. Our view offers an ahistorical, adaptive, and holistic approach to conservation in a modern and dynamic world.

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• Battening the Hatches

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-13

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• Introduction

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-13

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• Seeing through the Fog

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-13

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• Conclusion

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-02-13

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Frequent coauthors

• Alexander Lee

  NHS England

  8 shared

• Jeremy Moss

  4 shared

• Andrew Light

  4 shared

• Adam Pérou Hermans

  University of Colorado Boulder

  3 shared

• Lucy McAllister

  Denison University

  2 shared

• James A. Tantillo

  Louisiana Department of Natural Resources

  2 shared

• Lisa Dilling

  University of Colorado Boulder

  2 shared

• Bruce Evan Goldstein

  University of Colorado Boulder

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• President of the International Society for Environmental Eth…