In the context of growing concern over climate change and other environmental pressures, 'Biblical Prophets and Contemporary Environmental Ethics' explores what an ecological reading of the biblical text can contribute to contemporary environmental ethics
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The desert country of the American Southwest is the perfect setting for Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece Blood Meridian, a novel which raises questions about the relationship between humans and the environment. What is the human role in the larger ecological scheme? Is it to shape the stuff of creation to human will? The testing of "the kid" becomes a test for the reader of Blood Meridian who must confront the nature of the human heart. The tension between the landscape and the skyscape provides the focus for this ecological reading of the novel. In many ways, the land and sky become the protagonists of Blood Meridian, ubiquitous and powerfully present. McCarthy's emphasis on the landscape is significant, especially when compared to other contemporary American writers who take the west as the setting for their work. Other novelists have addressed important issues of western life and history - politics, sociology, economics, and relations between native people and immigrants. But the landscape is central to Blood Meridian - it is a land that is in itself, all-encompassing and mysterious enough to be its own story. McCarthy's representation of the landscape provides a dramatic contrast to the romantic notion of a virgin land waiting to be escaped to, settled, tamed and farmed. This reading of the novel addresses the book's central message – humans confronting the real, physical world. The landscape of the places we inhabit, the terrain, the stones, the trees, the "bones of things" contain sufficient mystery for humans to ponder.
The author considers the way in which Polish studies could contribute to meeting the obligations of ecological humanities. The analysis of excerpts from the core curriculum of the Polish language subject and the reference to Kenneth White's geopoetics suggest that the solution at school could be the use of the green reading method in Polish lessons and the readings available in the core curriculum: legends about Lake Gopło and Popiel referring to the beginnings of Polish statehood. As the analysis of the content of the legends shows, they also have a symbolic potential connected with the water element and referring to the folk tradition. A profiled reading, exposing this content, could contribute to awakening the ecological sensitivity of pupils, which is one of the important components of their ecological awareness.
The 21st century is marked by unprecedented environmental issues and the climate change. These dramatic have a direct impact on societies all over the planet. Yet actually, our globalized societies, our consumption culture and our economic system are the source for many environmental issues and especially climate change. In order to find a proper response to this global emergency, we need a comparatist and transdisciplinary approach. For example, Stephanie Posthumus proposes to analyze the current ecological crisis by using literary theory and fiction instead of focusing on scientific theory, in order to create new concepts which give rise to new subjectivities. Her approach is based on the cultural specificities of French literature. By unifying literary theory and fiction, Posthumus uses, while creating it, the approach of "ecological readings". This approach has four key concepts : "ecological subjectivity", "ecological dwelling", "ecological politic" and "ecological ends". They are interconnected and central to the goal that aims to rethink humans and their environment. The author's argument is shaped through questions as well as responses, and it leads us to challenge our point of views about our relation to nature, but also on the present and future role played by literature in a changing and unstable world. ; Les bouleversements climatiques sans précédent dans l'histoire de notre espèce que l'on connaît aujourd'hui ne peuvent être cantonnés à la sphère environnementale. Ils sont liés, par ce qui les cause, à l'ensemble de nos sociétés, de nos cultures et du système économique dominant. Il convient d'adopter une approche de plus en plus comparatiste et transdisciplinaire afin de répondre à une urgence globale. Sans analyser les crises écologiques et en s'appuyant sur les spécificités culturelles d'un corpus français, Stéphanie Posthumus propose d'allier la théorie et la fiction pour créer de nouveaux concepts permettant d'articuler des subjectivités inédites. Cette alliance se fait par des lectures ...
In: Political geography: an interdisciplinary journal for all students of political studies with an interest in the geographical and spatial aspects, Volume 23, Issue 7, p. 891-915
Ecosystem management has emerged in the past several years as the new paradigm for managing public and private land. It combines the principles of ecosystem-level ecology with the policy requirements of resource and public land management. This collection of selected readings will serve as an introduction to the concepts of biological diversity, ecological process, biotic integrity, and ecological sustainability that underlie ecosystem management
"Advances in Ecopolitics Series" presents a collection of environmental alternatives worthy of consideration in light of the ongoing economic downturn which has accompanied the latest incarnation of unsustainable practices. Each publication discusses a significant element in the environmental theory which now represents an important aspect of sustainable living. The latest volume, "Global Ecological Politics", examines the range of environmental campaigns that are occurring across the planet. It showcases a selection of case studies on grassroots initiatives and activism in areas such as green economic alternatives, regional activism in defence of communities, alternative or utopian communities, green politics and ecotourism. This extensive array of ecological participation demonstrates that viable green alternatives are available in this current era of legitimation crisis across the formal political and economic sectors. "Global Ecological Politics" presents an important collection of articles for researchers, lecturers and academics in the socio-economic and political sector and is essential reading for those involved in all areas of environmentalism.
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Taking as its starting point the interdependence of the economy and the natural environment, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to the emerging field of ecological economics. The authors, who have written extensively on the economics of sustainability, build on insights from both mainstream economics and ecological sciences. Part I explores the interdependence of the modern economy and its environment, while Part II focuses mainly on the economy and on economics. Part III looks at how national governments set policy targets and the instruments used to pursue those targets. Part IV examines international trade and institutions, and two major global threats to sustainability - climate change and biodiversity loss. Assuming no prior knowledge of economics, this textbook is well suited for use on interdisciplinary environmental science and management courses. It has extensive student-friendly features including discussion questions and exercises, keyword highlighting, real-world illustrations, further reading and website addresses
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Cover -- Endorsement -- Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: Finding Simone Weil in an Ecological Void -- Notes -- Part I Growing Roots: A Reading of Simone Weil -- 1 Mapping an Ethics of Decreation -- Contraries in Weil's Writings and Ideas -- Critiques and Defenses of Weil's Contradictions -- The Ethics of Balancing Contraries -- Linking the Natural and the Supernatural Through Decreation -- Decreative Contradiction in Ecological Ethics -- Notes -- 2 The Faculties -- The Faculty of Knowing -- The Faculty of Loving -- The Faculty of Willing -- Notes -- 3 The Power of Force -- Defining Force -- Force and Necessity -- Force and Necessity in the Anthropocene -- An Ethical Critique of Weil's Force -- Balancing Force -- The Impact of Necessity and Force On the Meaning of the Faculties -- The Necessity of Absurdity (Contra Knowing) -- The Necessity of Absence (Contra Loving) -- The Necessity of Suffering (Contra Willing) -- Notes -- 4 Attention and Mediation -- Attention: The Balance of Faculty and Force -- The Balance of Metaxu -- Wisdom as an Open Mediation (Between Knowing and Absurdity) -- Loving God as an Open Mediation (Between Loving and Absence) -- Consent as an Open Mediation (Between Willing and Suffering) -- Notes -- God's Decreation -- Individual Decreation Versus Destruction -- The Action of Science (Via Wisdom) -- The Action of Art (Via Loving God) -- The Action of Work (Via Consent) -- Weilian Ethics -- Notes -- Part II Plato and the Environment -- 6 Contemporary Dualist Ecological Readings of Plato's Phaedrus -- Philosophical Responses and Readings of Phaedrus -- Eco-feminism and the History of Platonic Thought -- Plumwood On Plato and the Ethics of Exclusion.
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"Readings in Performance and Ecology is a ground-breaking collection of essays focusing on how theatre, dance, and other forms of performance are helping to transform our ecological values. Leading scholars and practitioners explore the ways that familiar and new works of theatre and dance can help us recognize our reciprocal relationship with the natural world; how performance helps us understand the way our bodies are integrally connected to the land; how environmentalists use performance as a form of protest; how performance illuminates our relationships with animals as autonomous creatures and artistic symbols; and how performance can help humans re-define our place in the larger ecological community"--
Before the fall of Imperial Rome, priests cast the guts of sacrificial animals on the temple floor, claiming to be able to divine the future from these entrails. By probing the remains of Alberta's past sacrifices (reading the entrails), the author believes we might dimly see an apparition of Alberta's future. This controversial book vividly portrays the history of land and life in Alberta from the Ice Ages to the present. Making no apologies for his criticism of government, regulators, and large corporations, Conrad aims to strike a discussion at all levels by presenting his arguments intensely. For those interested in natural history, the environment, and the future of Alberta's ecological resources, this provocative book is essential reading.