Ignoring Nature No More
The Case for Compassionate Conservation
For far too long humans have been ignoring nature. As the most dominant, overproducing, overconsuming, big-brained, big-footed, arrogant, and invasive species ever known, we are wrecking the planet at an unprecedented rate. And while science is important to our understanding of the impact we have on our environment, it alone does not hold the answers to the current crisis, nor does it get people to act. In "Ignoring Nature No More", Marc Bekoff and a host of renowned contributors argue that we need a new mind-set about nature, one that centers on empathy, compassion, and being proactive. This collection of diverse essays is the first book devoted to compassionate conservation, a growing global movement that translates discussions and concerns about the well-being of individuals, species, populations, and ecosystems into action. Written by leading scholars in a host of disciplines, including biology, psychology, sociology, social work, economics, political science, and philosophy, as well as by locals doing fieldwork in their own countries, the essays combine the most creative aspects of the current science of animal conservation with analyses of important psychological and sociocultural issues that encourage or vex stewardship. The contributors tackle topics including the costs and benefits of conservation, behavioral biology, media coverage of animal welfare, conservation psychology, and scales of conservation from the local to the global. Taken together, the essays make a strong case for why we must replace our habits of domination and exploitation with compassionate conservation if we are to make the world a better place for nonhuman and human animals alike.
About the Author
Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. His numerous books include "The Emotional Lives of Animals", "The Animal Manifesto", and "Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals", the last also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Reviews
"For years a small coterie of environmentalists, animal rights activists, ethicists, conservation biologists, philosophers, park management officials, and legislators have been grappling with the relationships between individuals and species; populations and habitats; bio-invasives and native and endemic species. What is the right thing to do with regard to listing threatened and endangered species? When is ecological legislation overreaching or, conversely, inadequate? At what point should humanity step in to resurrect past ecosystems, or prepare for climate-change-related future biomes? These and many other topics meant to help heal divisions between conservation biology and advocates of animal rights and animal welfare are forthrightly grappled with in Marc Bekoff's important new, bold, eclectic, and forward-looking anthology, which scans the planet for flash points where animal protection and conservation biology are in direct correlation, conflict, ethically ambiguous point-counterpoint, or simply off the radar of most local, regional, and international discussion. This thoughtful book is a must-read for every student of zoology, ecology, environmental ethics, and conservation biology" – Michael Charles Tobias, co-author of "God's Country and President", "Dancing Star Foundation"
"It may not easy to be compassionate in this speedy, greed-ridden world, but maybe a person can be a bit kinder. Marc Bekoff and his fellow contributors make the case that an attitude of intelligent caring is both possible and essential if the world is to be saved" – Michael Soule, University of California, Santa Cruz
"Marc Bekoff has gathered here a remarkable field of thinkers to address humanity's deepening estrangement from nature. Through the annals of history and science and literature, one message emerges clear: Our modern penchant for ignoring nature is not some harmless hiccup in an otherwise glorious human saga; it is a deadly sickness inflicting a world of impoverishment and misery for us and our fellow creatures. But in the case for compassion – for opening our hearts to the joys and sufferings of the world beyond our noses – we find a cure for our gravest threats, and at last, a reason for hope" – Will Stolzenburg, author of "Where the Wild Things Were" and "Rat Island"
"I have mentored hundreds of idealistic young students over the years who have wanted to 'save nature'. They are shocked to discover that often what 'saving' means in practice is a single-minded devotion to killing and uprooting the unwanted, misplaced, 'alien', or 'exotic'. 'Ignoring Nature No More' is the sort of mash-up that has the potential to lead us away from this paradigm, towards treasuring life in all of its crazy, contradictory complexity" – Dale Jamieson, New York University
