The Future of Nature: Writing on a Human Ecology from Orion Magazine

From Booklist
Lopez has as much respect for language as he does for the living world, so when he uses the word terracide to describe what we're committing via unchecked industrialization and "hypercapitalistic aggression," it is no mere hyperbole. Lopez hasn't been alone in his attempt to understand the relationship between humankind and the rest of life on Earth. For a quarter of a century, Orion magazine has been publishing well-wrought essays of inquiry by diverse writers. Lopez has now assembled a compelling mosaic of prescient, incisive works published over the last 15 years that wrestle with questions of environmental sustainability and social justice. Clarion essays by such innovative and now prominent thinkers as Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, Gary Paul Nabhan, and Rebecca Solnit nestle against two-dozen other arresting dispatches, including Loren's chronicle of a grassroots effort to halt unnecessary commercial development in Colorado and Sandra Steingraber's report on the trouble with vinyl. Each essay has been brought up-to-date, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, adding up to a thought-provoking ecological primer. Seaman, Donna
Product Description
The western mindset is arguably one of the greatest threats to the world’s ecological balance. Corporatism and globalization are two of the obvious villains here, but what part does human nature play in the problem? Since its inception in 1982, Orion magazine has been a forum for looking beyond the effects of ecological crises to their root causes in human culture. Less an anthology than a vision statement, this timely collection challenges the division of human society from the natural world that has often characterized traditional environmentalism. Edited and introduced by Barry Lopez, The Future of Nature encompasses such topics as local economies, the social dynamics of activism, America’s incarceration society, naturalism in higher education, developing nations, spiritual ecology, the military-industrial landscape, and the persistent tyranny of wilderness designation. Featuring the fine writing and insights for which Orion is famous, this book is required reading for anyone interested in a livable future for the planet.