A moral account of a coastal landscape

Human interaction with nature is often measured against moral standards for 'appropriate' behaviour. Different, and often conflicting, ways of being-in-the-world is the theme of moral geographies. The Jæren district on the south-western coast of Norway has become one of the most intensively farmed areas in the country undergoing radical changes causing contemporary farmers to become subject to moral condemnation from a wide range of bodies and people. Two questions are addressed. What is the 'nature' of the moral geographies in the area? How do differing 'moral geographies' effect the land and its perception as landscape?