What Can I Do to Help Heal the Environmental Crisis?

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of figures and boxes -- Biographies of box authors -- Foreword 'Scorched Earth' by William Rees -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Our predicament: why we need to heal the world -- Summary -- Introduction -- The ecological predicament: why our ecosystems are breaking -- Human dependence on nature -- Overshoot -- Environmental indicators -- Extinction -- Ecosystem collapse -- Being way past ecological limits -- The social predicament: why our society is broken -- What is fair? Equity and equality -- Social cohesion and social capital: necessary so we can act -- The economic predicament: why our economy is broken -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- 2. A healing worldview and ethics -- Summary -- Introduction -- Worldview, ethics, values and ideologies -- Anthropocentrism -- The history of anthropocentrism -- The impracticality of anthropocentrism -- The psychology of anthropocentrism: paranoia, fear and denial -- Ecocentrism -- Is ecocentrism anti-human? -- Intrinsic value free from human valuation -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- 3. Reality, limits, denial and growthism -- Summary -- Introduction -- Problems with reality -- Why do we deny reality? -- Fear of change -- Failure in worldview and ethics -- Fixation on economics and society -- Ignorance of ecology and exponential growth -- Gambling on the future -- The media and communication -- Breaking the denial dam -- 'Resources' are infinite only in our minds -- The limits to nature's gifts -- Growthism and growthmania -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- 4. The tragedy of overpopulation denial -- Summary -- Introduction -- It is not just footprints: it's too many feet -- What is an ecologically sustainable global population? -- Why is overpopulation such a difficult policy issue?.

Other reasons why we deny overpopulation -- Is talking about overpopulation anti-human? -- Solutions: the big picture -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- 5. Transforming society's assumptions -- Summary -- Introduction -- The assumptions of neoclassical economics -- Consumerism -- Alternatives to the consumer society -- Solutions: dealing with the heresy of more -- Assumptions of hate -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- 6. Appropriate technology tempered by humility -- Summary -- Introduction -- What is appropriate? -- Techno-centrism and ecomodernism -- Renewable energy: an appropriate technology -- Inappropriate technologies -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- 7. Reinvent and rejuvenate yourself: reject hubris -- Summary -- Introduction -- What damages us psychosocially? -- Rethinking our ethics -- Rethinking who we are -- Rethinking our own denial -- Rethinking our eco-spirituality and sense of wonder -- Nature rituals such as the 'Council of All Beings' -- Rejecting hubris -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- 8. Be in place, don't own it -- Summary -- Introduction -- Ownership: the slavery of place -- The 'blueprint' of gridding the world -- 'Control' and 'mastery' of nature -- 'Land rights' in balance with 'obligation to the land' -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- 9. Listen and wonder -- Summary -- Introduction -- A truth endlessly rediscovered … -- Anti-spirituality in Western culture -- Reawakening an earth spirituality -- Speaking out for re-enchantment -- A path back to wonder -- Key steps on the road to wonder -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- 10. Is collapse coming? -- Summary -- Introduction -- Collapse, crisis, catastrophe? -- The long emergency and long descent? -- Ecosystem collapse -- Is it too late? Optimism, pessimism and realism -- Conclusion: towards a 'good' collapse? -- What can I do?.

11. Seek to heal: the 'Great Work' of ten key solutions -- Summary -- Introduction -- How do we heal? -- The 'Great Work' -- Ten solution frameworks -- Worldview, ethics, values and ideologies -- Reinventing ourselves to heal -- Overpopulation -- Consumerism and the growth economy -- Solving climate change -- Keeping life alive -- Appropriate technology: a renewable future -- Reducing poverty and inequality -- Education and communication -- The politics of healing -- Conclusion -- What can I do? -- Conclusion - healing our world -- Ideas for educational exercises -- Index.

From leading environmental scientist and writer Haydn Washington, this book examines the global environmental crisis and its solutions, and is an essential read for students and scholars of environmental science and environmental philosophy, and for all those keen to heal the world and contribute towards a sustainable future.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.