Professor Halfacre writes book on conservation culture

Furrman University professor Angela C. Halfacre has written a book about South Carolina’s Lowcountry and why its powerful conservation culture represents a model for the nation.

A Delicate Balance: Constructing a Conservation Culture in the South Carolina Lowcountry is published by University of South Carolina Press.

Halfacre is the director of Furman’s David E. Shi Center for Sustainability and a professor in the political science and earth and environmental sciences departments.

A Delicate Balance is the first book to examine how a multi-layered culture of environmental conservation and sustainable development has emerged in the Lowcountry. Halfacre describes how sprawl shock, natural disasters, climate change, and other factors spawned and sustain—but at times also threaten and hinder—the culture of conservation.

She says fostering such a culture involves a delicate balancing of economic development and environmental preservation, especially in a region distinctive for its natural beauty and reliance on tourism. Based on 14 years of research, A Delicate Balance uses interdisciplinary literature and ethnographic, historical, and spatial methods to show how growing numbers of Lowcountry residents, bolstered by substantial political, corporate, and media support, have sought to maintain the region’s unique sense of place as well as its fragile ecology.

Halfacre joined the Furman faculty in 2008. A native of Clemson, she holds a bachelor’s degree from Furman, and master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Florida. Halfacre has published numerous, peer-reviewed journal articles on environmental and community perceptions and decision-making.

More information about A Delicate Balance can be found here, or contact Angela Halfacre at 864-294-3655, or angela.halfacre@furman.edu.