Media Credit: Courtesy of Ricardo Rozzi NT students now have the opportunity to work at the department of Philosophy and Religious Studies' field station at Cape Horn, Chile, where these Chilean students are working. [Click to enlarge]

The department of Philosophy and Religion Studies launched a field station in Cape Horn, Chile, giving opportunities to NT graduate students for internships and travel research beginning in fall 2006.

Ricardo Rozzi of the philosophy faculty said there are several ways students can get involved with this research prospect in Chile. NT students can take classes and learn about what is going on, act as research project assistants or complete their thesis or dissertation within the graduate department.

Ricardo Rozzi has been working with The Omora Foundation and NT for six years to establish this field station.

The Omora Foundation, which Rozzi is co-founder and president of, established the Omora Park in October 1999 in Cape Horn. Rozzi said Omora is Yahgan for "hummingbird."

"Omora is about bringing art, humanities and science together to understand the world and to inhabit the world, meaning to take action: policy action, economic action and conservation action," Rozzi said.

What makes the Omora Foundation different is that it is philosophically based. The Omora Foundation works to define new ways to interact with nature through environmental science and environmental ethics.

After the Omora Park was established in 1999, the entire Cape Horn area was declared a biosphere reserve by the Chilean government. These two events helped NT to develop this field station, leading the movement of research in the area, Rozzi said.

Cape Horn is one of the few pristine areas of the world; uninhabited, allowing philosophers, scientists and artists to be pioneers in the 21st century.

"This is on our continent, part of the new world, and we still have the opportunity to think about and develop it," Rozzi said.

"Today one of the main problems is homogenization, meaning we are making the planet everywhere the same in terms of culture, language, and landscapes. We need something different."

Cape Horn is the southern most tip of South America. Rozzi refers to Cape Horn as the "summit" of the Americas, portraying a fresh look at the world from a different lens.

Because Cape Horn is a biosphere reserve, there is no confinement to physical and conceptual barriers, Rozzi said. He said Cape Horn is different because visitors' focus can be on people, landscape and the environment.

Edward Pauley, of the philosophy department, is leading the administration of the field station.

Robert Frodeman, chair and professor in the philosophy department, said this gateway of research enables philosophy to go outside of the library and into the field.

"I believe we are unique in the United States," he said. "We are the only place, to my knowledge, doing something like this. No other Ph. D. program has a field station, which is what we have down in Cape Horn."

Frodeman said a Ph. D. program at Florida Atlantic University is the closest in comparison to NT's. The program at Florida Atlantic University is titled Comparative Studies for Public Intellectuals, said Robin Fiore, ethics and associate professor of philosophy at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla. It is similar to NT's program because they are working toward integrating different disciplines.

Rozzi said hard work goes into creating an exciting and revolutionary opportunity for environmental philosophy.

The next big thing on the department's schedule of events is the NT Omora Environmental Ethics Conference, held in 2007. Ecologists and philosophers from both Chile and the United States will attend, and Eugene Hargrove, of the philosophy department, will head the event.

Rozzi said this event will be the first of its kind.

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