Carolyn Merchant is professor of environmental history, philosophy, and ethics at the University of California, Berkeley. She is author of numerous books, including The Death of Nature (1990) and Reinventing Eden (2013). Dr. Merchant is a past-president of the American Society for Environmental History and has served on the executive and advisory boards of the History of Science Society, Environmental History, Environmental Ethics, and the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. Her research focuses on American environmental and cultural history in the overall context of Western history, philosophy, and the history of science. Her approach is designed to cast new light on the nation's and California's environmental history and contribute to a reassessment of policies.