Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered: Devall, Bill, Sessions, George: 9780879052478: Amazon.com: Books
Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature Mattered Paperback – January 19, 2001
by Bill Devall (Author), George Sessions (Contributor)
4.1 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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Practicing is simple. Nothing forced, nothing violent, just settling into our place. "Deep ecology," a term originated in 1972 by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess, is emerging as a way to develop harmony between individuals, communities and nature. DEEP ECOLOGY--the term and the book--unfolds the path to living a simple, rich life and shows how to participate in major environmental issues in a positive and creative manner.
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Contents
Preface Nothing Can Be Done, Everything is Possible Minority Tradition and Direct Action The Dominant, Modern Worldview and Its Critics The Reformist Response Deep Ecology Some Sources of the Deep Ecology Perspective Why Wilderness in the Nuclear Age? Nature Resource Conservation or Protection of the Integrity of Nature: Contrasting Views of Management Ecotopia: The Vision Defined
From the Back Cover
Deep Ecology explores the philosophical, psychological, and sociological roots of today's environmental movement, examines the human-centered assumptions behind most approaches to nature, explores the possibilities of an expanded human consciousness, and offers specific direct action suggestions for individuals to practice. Widely read in it first printing, Deep Ecology has established itself as one of the most significant books on environmental thought to appear in this decade.
"Deep Ecology is subversive, but it's the kind of subversion we can use." --San Francisco Chronicle
"This book is an attempt at codifying a scattered body of ecological insight into a philosophy that places human beings on an absolutely equal footing with all other creatures on the planet." --Stephanie Mills, Whole Earth Review
"Difficult and (to some) unfamiliar insights on nature and human beings presented with simplicity and clarity, Deep Ecology rattles a cage full of occidental presumptions and yet it all seems almost like common sense." --Gary Snyder
Bill Devall has studied the social organization, politics, psychology and philosophy of the environmental movement for fifteen years. He teaches at Humbolt State University in California and is active in many environmental groups including Earth First! and the Sierra Club.
George Sessions teaches philosophy at Sierra College California. He was appointed to the Mountaineering Committee of the the Sierra Club in 1962, has served as a philosophy consultant to the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is editor of the International Ecophilosophy Newsletter.
About the Author
Bill DeVall has been a guest lecturer and featured speaker at universities in the United States and Australia and at national and international environmental conferences.
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In this first chapter we assume that the environmental/ecology movement has been a response to the awareness by many people that something is drastically wrong, out of balance in our contemporary culture. In the first section, we present several alternative scenarios for the movement. These scenarios will provide a context in which to understand deep ecology. Some of the major themes of deep ecology and of cultivating ecological consciousness are discussed in the second section of the chapter.
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Product details
Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: Gibbs Smith Publisher (January 19, 2001)
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Bill Devall
4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
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Top Reviews
James Storm Shirley
5.0 out of 5 stars Great thinking book...
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2012
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As advertised, long sought out, slow, going read.... but worth it, and should be read by anyone thinking about doing more for the planet
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cisco
2.0 out of 5 stars Heavy
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2016
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Way to deep and dated for me.
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Greg Bassham
3.0 out of 5 stars A Blast from the Hippy Dippy Past
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2019
This book is a quirky classic, a veritable cornucopia of 60s countercultural buzz words, utopianism, and mystical mush. Drawing on an eclectic range of sources (Thoreau, Muir, Naess, Eastern spirituality, Native American earth wisdom, anarchist social ecology, Gandhian nonviolence, 60s environmental radicalism, etc.), Devall and Sessions argue against human-centered "reformist" environmentalism and for a radical deep ecology that calls for profound and far-reaching changes in how humans live and relate to nature. It is anti-capitalism, anti-technology, anti-urban, anti-big-government, and anti-anthropocentrism. Deep ecology, in their view, is based on two major value commitments: (1) self-realization and (2) biocentric egalitarianism. Following Naess, by self-realization they don't mean pursuit of egoistic gratifications, but identification with the Whole of nature/reality and a commitment to the blossoming of all forms of life. By biocentric egalitarianism they mean a recognition that all living things (and even some nonliving ecological wholes such as rivers, mountains, etc.) have equal intrinsic value and deserve equal moral respect and consideration. Oddly, neither of these two central normative principles are included in the famous eight-point "Platform" of basic principles of deep ecology (p. 70) they endorse. In practical terms, the vision of deep ecology they favor involves a drastic reduction in human population, a rewilding of much of the globe, a rejection of "the dominant worldview" and modern technocratic-industrial civilization, and a return to what they call "the minority tradition" of small, self-regulating communities living in close harmony with nature, much as primal peoples once lived.
If this sounds like crackpot, pastoral utopianism, it is. Not a shadow of practicality or realism ever darkens their sunshiny dream of a re-greened Earth sprinkled with a few happy "mixed communities of humans, rivers, deer, wolves, insects and trees" (p. 205). It's Thoreau on acid. Charming in its way, but badly dated and wholly impractical.
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Howzat
5.0 out of 5 stars This 16-page article nicely summarizes Catton's 1980 book
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2018
For me, this book is well worth buying for one article: On The Dire Destiny of Human Lemmings by William Cotton, Jr. This 16-page article nicely summarizes Catton's 1980 book, Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change. Both writings are about carrying capacity, i.e., the maximum population of a given species which a particular habitat can support indefinitely (under specified technology and organization, in the case of human species). Catton uses the simple example of how lemmings predictably and periodically overshoot the carrying capacity of their simple habitat. Though the principles of carrying capacity are easy to observe and understand for the lemming, those same principles apply to much more complicated habitats, including the whole earth. The principles apply to all species, including humans. Hence, the title of Catton's article in the book, Deep Ecology.
Cotton explains the Take Over method of increasing the earth's carrying capacity for humans, the method of using technological advances (fire, stone tools, etc.) to gradually expand their population and territories, though this has been at the expense of other species. The Take Over method, however, is generally sustainable.
This is contrasted with the Draw Down method in which humans draw down finite supplies of natural resources at a rate which is faster than the resources can be replenished. Thus, expanding earth's carrying capicity for humans using draw down is not sustainable, and is seem by the author as stealing from future generations. Furthermore, continued use of draw down to expand human population will lead to a population crash. Catton is not Malthus nor Erlich , and has a much more sophisticated understanding of carrying capacity as it applies to human cultural and population growth. His 2009 book, Bottleneck, expands on Overshoot buy describing various techniques used by humans to sustainably increased population, as well as, describing clever, but unwise methods by which humans attempt to avoid limits of carrying capacity and continue their unsustainable economic and population growth.
You have to read his stuff because it's not easy to explain in a book review. I read a lot of environmental books about the history of different scientific disciplines and the new scientific findings in science. My main concern is climate science. I am continually trying to gain an accurate understanding of how the earth many systems function and how humans function within the host Earth. Catton's work influenced me more than any other single author.
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fitboy
5.0 out of 5 stars Quick delivery
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2018
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Arrived in the condition as described. Very good book.
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roger h stopford
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2016
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excellent - exactly as advertised
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Meditation novice
5.0 out of 5 stars Very satisfied
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 6, 2011
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Deep Ecology: Living as if Nature MatteredAnother great service from Amazon. This book was ordered from America, it was in excellent condition for second hand and an amazingly cheap price and delivered when it was planned.
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