An impassioned and well-reasoned cry for “great rising tides of affirmation of justice and human decency and shared...
A philosopher and award-winning nature writer examines the moral arguments behind the need to end the processes that have created global warming.
Moore (Philosophy/Oregon State Univ.; Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature, 2010, etc.) examines why it is unethical to permit the pillaging of the Earth’s resources and why people should take action to end further environmental degradation. She presents “Thirteen Good Reasons to Save the World” and then, in the essays that follow, elaborates on those she finds the most compelling. Humanity must save the Earth for future generations to enjoy, she writes, and the world is too miraculous to destroy. But most importantly of all, to allow further destruction violates the most basic human rights to “life, liberty, and security of person.” Human beings must learn to see the magnificence of the world and every living thing in it. At the same time, they must let the beauty of nature inspire a love that is so “elemental and fierce” that it gives rise to a determination not to let the planet die without a fight. As Moore points out, by 2060, it’s likely that “half of the Earth’s species will have gone extinct.” Speaking out about patterns of acceptance and denial that exist in personal and collective attitudes toward the reality of climate change is also imperative. Humans may be able to adapt—for a time—to the damaged world we are creating, but, writes the author, “the single-minded focus on accommodation to climate change…is a moral failure” because it makes no allowances for the open, multifaceted discourse that could improve a dangerous situation for the greater good. In this probing and lyrical book, Moore reminds readers of the interrelatedness of all living things through time, and she offers a clarion call to summon the moral courage to “rage against the dying” of the Earth.
An impassioned and well-reasoned cry for “great rising tides of affirmation of justice and human decency and shared thriving.”Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61902-699-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Counterpoint
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In this extraordinary collection, the final installment of a trilogy begun with Desert Notes (1976) and River Notes (1979), National Book Award winner Lopez (for Arctic Dreams, 1986) continues to use nature to teach us about ourselves. Each of the 12 stories in this slim volume creates a mystical world from everyday lives, depicting men and women coming up against situations with which they find themselves surprisingly unequipped to deal. As each character struggles to cope with predicaments that range from failing professions to disintegrating families to death, guidance comes from nature: the song of a wren that leads a man lost in the desert to water (``Introduction: Within Birds' Hearing''); the wildflowers that lead an estranged botanist back to his wife and daughter (``Homecoming''). Often a story revolves around a protagonist learning to let go of convention in order to hear nature. This listening can be approached directly, as when an old friend tries to convince the head of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to recognize that ``our biology is unraveling in a holocaust of extinct species'' and declare the ferruginous hawk an endangered species (``Conversation''). But Lopez does an even better job of illuminating the wisdom of nature when he offers ways of listening that are more like dreaming. For example, a wildlife biologist studying an arctic oasis learns the sorrow of modern animals when he discovers a land where only the souls of those killed properly (when the hunter prays after the kill) can come to search for new bodies (``Pearyland''), and a pack of wolverines teach an Alberta hunter why they don't want to be trapped (``Lessons from the Wolverine''). Through it all, Lopez's prose reads like poetry. His short, simple, and profound tales convey a deep respect for the environment and for the beauty of relationships, knowledge, language, and love. Haunting, seductive, and sensual.
Pub Date: Sept. 16, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-43453-4
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
Everything you wanted to know about the social behavior of lions, primates, naked mole rats, and more, in this engrossing East African saga by a noted field biologist. Packer's (Dept. of Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution/Univ. of Minnesota) narrative covers a two-and-a-half-month mission to Tanzania's Serengeti and Gombe National Parks and to Ngorongoro Crater. On his 16th trip to Africa, Packer and his crew follow, tag, and test the Serengeti lions for parasites. The author muses on lion sociality. Nomadic males will invade the predominantly female prides and kill all the cubs in order to father their own: ``Every lion in the world has a father who is a murderer.'' Females band together for protection against such raids and to guard against competing prides, resulting in a division of territory that he calls ``the balkanization of the Serengeti.'' Packer revisits Jane Goodall's famous primate research center on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Braving the largest number of poisonous snakes anywhere in East Africa, he slithers through the dense jungle while baboon chasers position themselves to catch stool samples. Then Packer visits the floor of the 2,000-foot-deep Ngorongoro Crater, which teems with wildebeest, zebra, antelope, and their predators. Packer's narrative waxes eloquently about the vastness of the migrating herds across the great spaces of the Serengeti. He includes horrific tales of murderous attacks on tourists by bandits. He laments the population pressures compressing the borders of the parks and the severe depletion of wildlife by poachers. He does not suffer fools gladly, rails against the corruption and inefficiency of local bureaucracies, and quite justifiably complains about the ghastly condition of East African roads. Although he somewhat murkily invokes the spirit of Conrad, his final point is worth noting: Humans, unlike lower forms of life, are capable of improving their society. For both the general science reader and the armchair traveler, an informative and exciting safari. (13 color photos and 4 maps, not seen)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-226-64429-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Univ. of Chicago
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
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