Barbara Muraca, a philosophy associate professor at the College of Arts and Sciences, recently co-authored an article in the August issue of the journal Nature from her 2022 United Nations-supported work on human-nature relationships. 

Muraca was part of the 2022 Assessment Report on the Diverse Value and Valuation of Nature for IPBES, the UN-funded Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. A year later, Nature published an article arguing humanity needs to shift its environmental values away from short-term, profit-oriented values.

The authors, including Muraca, argue that more sustainable values can achieve a more just and sustainable future. Her research focuses on the “relational values” between humans and nature and hopes to emphasize the importance of viewing the two as connected rather than separate entities.