Book Description
Why shouldn't people who deplete our natural assets have to pay, and those who protect them reap profits? Conservation-minded entrepreneurs and others around the world are beginning to ask just that question, as the increasing scarcity of natural resources becomes a tangible threat to our own lives and our hopes for our children. The New Economy of Nature brings together Gretchen Daily, one of the world's leading ecologists, with Katherine Ellison, a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, to offer an engaging and informative look at a new "new economy" - a system recognizing the economic value of natural systems and the potential profits in protecting them.
Through engaging stories from around the world, the authors introduce readers to a diverse group of people who are pioneering new approaches to conservation. We meet Adam Davis, an American business executive who dreams of establishing a market for buying and selling "ecosystem service units;" John Wamsley, a former math professor in Australia who has found a way to play the stock market and protect native species at the same time; and Dan Janzen, a biologist working in Costa Rica who devised a controversial plan to sell a conservation area's natural waste-disposal services to a local orange juice producer. Readers also visit the Catskill Mountains, where the City of New York purchased undeveloped land instead of building an expensive new water treatment facility; and King County, Washington, where county executive Ron Sims has dedicated himself to finding ways of "making the market move" to protect the county's remaining open space.
Daily and Ellison describe the dynamic interplay of science, economics, business, and politics that is involved in establishing these new approaches and examine what will be needed to create successful models and lasting institutions for conservation. The New Economy of Nature presents a fundamentally new way of thinking about the environment and about the economy, and with its fascinating portraits of charismatic pioneers, it is as entertaining as it is informative.
Customer Reviews:
Essential Edition to the Literature.......2003-07-30
Paul Ehrlich recommended this title and I found it to be a necessary addition to the current body of literature on the topic. In fact, there is nothing else like this that I have run across. The crux of the book is finding ways to put a price tag on services nature performs for free so we can use the revenue for restoration and preservation of the human habitat. I did give it four stars only because the chapters were unnecessarily detailed in my opinion. Definitely worth a look.
It's a great start...........2003-01-30
I go thru phases where certain topics are of special interest, so when I saw the title of this book it peaked my interest as well as my skepticism. Since Gordon E Moore co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intell had done a positive comment on the book, and it had areas of the world that were of interest I bought it and am glad I did.
I liked the piece on Napa California west of us which has for decades suffered when the massive winter rains come thru and I wanted to read of there move toward restricting building on what is known as a flood plain, without hurting the economy.
Likewise in Chapter six, page 125 King County Washington and how people from distinctly different business backgrounds, blue colour to white collar corporate (Weyerhaeuser) worked together to protect the Snoqualmie Falls area, which having been there in person, is a majestic place that would have been ruined had big business been allowed to build there.
But it is the way the authors have made such an effort to think outside the American box, and have shown success stories from all over the world, where businesses have or are becoming enlightened and are discovering that being environmentally sound means money and success.
But as they note on page 232 "There is no single answer to the worlds environmental dilemmas, and the progress to date toward capturing the economic value of environmental services has been so limited as to be almost symbolic. Still, what has happened so far illustrates an approach with great scope for improving the world."
Not Just Capitalism -- Natural Capitalism.......2002-11-05
This book is great. I love its title, a yang to Paul Hawken's Ecology of Commerce yin. One of the book's other online reviewers prompted me to write, because I suspect the authors' predominant theme somehow got past that reviewer.
The idea is not simply that capitalism can save the world, but that well-directed, well-informed market forces will finally come to understand that beneath the bottom line of capitalism as currently practiced, there's a much more critical bottom line -- a primordial capitalism -- the living sytems of the planet. The economy of nature provides real wealth and natural wisdom without dysfunctional spinoffs like pollution, cancer, habitat destruction... If we take care of that living economy, it will take care of us.
This is an important book, because it gives us real-world examples of how nature underlies the market economy. We need this book to be used in college and high school classrooms, discussion groups,corporate retreats, and solitary late-night soul searches. Its message is critical to the continued prosperity of life as we know it.
Mixed bag of stories.......2002-10-07
Authors Gretchen Daily and Katherine Ellison have written an entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying book of case studies that are united around a common theme: namely, real-life projects in which for-profit capitalism and environmentalism may have found common ground. Daily and Ellison acknolwedge the contradiction that such a task entails, but they seem all too eager to discover opportunities where nature can be exploited in new ways to suit capital's ever-changing needs (as if this insight was somehow novel!). In fact the individual case studies represent a mixed bag in that a few appear to offer some hope for the environment while others appear to offer more hope for capital's expansion than for the earth.
But even among what I count as the more hopeful stories, precious little of the projects' success could be attributable to capital. Probably the best among them concerned the organic farming movement, which includes related efforts to preserve biodiveristy and substitute natural predatory insects for pesticides. As everyone knows, this is a movement that has been defined by its explicit rejection of standard corporate practices, yet the authors sheepishly do little to point this out. Another excellent chapter focused on the efforts of a dedicated scientist to preserve rainforest in Costa Rica. But while the scientist helped broker a deal from an orange juice manufacturer to dump its waste in the rainforest to promote regrowth in damaged areas, it seemed clear that the Costa Rican government played a much larger role in the cause of preservation that the manufacturer ever did. And of course the watershed protection project for the New York City area was spearheaded by sometimes belligerent public interest groups and the local government over significant opposition from private-property forces.
Among the less dubious stories: an Australian who is building Jurassic Park-style nature enclaves in hopes of attracting tourist dollars; an ex-Internet entrepreneur who hopes to cash in big by creating an overnight market for the buying and selling of the carbon-storing capacity of forests; and a political "deal maker" skilled in both obtaining and extracting concessions from developers in the hopes of merely slowing development. The market solutions highlighted in these and other stories point to the self-evident fragility of these projects to sustain themselves in the long run.
In an unitentionally humorous part of the book, the authors recount a think-tank exercise in which EVERYONE participating in the pretend game of land stewardship clear-cut their forest assets in the final round of play in order to maximize their returns. My criticism is not that there isn't some merit in what the protagonists of these stories are doing -- they appear to be remarkable individuals who may simply be making the best of their bad situations -- but if the world's future is dependent on the success of these individuals in coming up with market solutions to the world's environmental problems, then may God help us all.
In the end, this book fails to make a persuasive argument that capitalism can save the environment. There is some value to the case studies presented by the authors, especially where victories were achieved through democratic actions -- but this latter point was unfortunately down-played through much of the book in favor of the capitalist theme. But I think that contrary to the author's opinion, it seems obvious that the environment will continue to be exploited as long as for-profit capitalism rules the day. Therefore, I think that readers who want real answers to today's burgeoning environmental crisis will not find them in this book.
The Best New Approach to Conservation.......2002-10-05
Many of us have long hoped that governments would get on the ball and take the necessary steps to preserve our environment in general and critical ecosystem services in particular (if you're unfamiliar with them, read Daily's wonderful "Nature's Services"). If Shrub's efforts do destroy the environment have not convinced you we can't count on our leaders to end the ecological crisis, nothing will. This superb book tells of those who are taking a different approach -- trying to find ways that markets can be developed that will align economic and conservation goals. Everyone in both the business and environmental communities, as well as those in both, should read this interesting and hopeful book.
Book Description
The Non-Profit Sector: An Overview is a collection of the most insightful and accessible writings about the nonprofit sector in the U.S. and its organizations. The book discusses everything from Andrew Carnegie's turn-of-the-century philosophy of philanthropy, to the most recent writings by current scholars and practitioners. Accordingly, the book contains previously published articles, chapters, and encyclopedia entries that present the most influential theories, concepts, and issues associated with the nonprofit sector.
Furthermore, each chapter opens with a framing essay that identifies the central themes and issues presented within the chapter and provides an overview of sometimes competing points of view. Each framing essay also briefly summarizes the significance of the contribution of each writing to the development of knowledge in the field.
Customer Reviews:
Nonprofit Sector.......2007-02-26
Ott is a great editor and his collection of books on NPOs are interesting and easy to read.
Average customer rating:
- Unique observations of life as an undocumented worker
- Coyotes: a borderlands journey by a journalist & now professor
- An often unseen vantage point
- Outstanding book
- Outstanding glimpse into the lives of undocumented Mexicans
|
Coyotes: A Journey Through the Secret World of America's Illegal Aliens
Ted Conover
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Job Hunting & Careers
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
| General
| Guides
| Interviewing
| Job Hunting
| Job Markets & Advice
| Resumes
| Vocational Guidance
| Volunteer Work
Labor & Industrial Relations
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Labor & Industrial Relations
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Emigration & Immigration
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Ethnic Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Adventure
| Specialty Travel
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Money
| Issues
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Business Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Children's Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Nonfiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Reference Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Travel Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Enrique's Journey
-
Dead in Their Tracks: Crossing America's Desert Borderlands
-
Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border
-
Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail
-
The Devil's Highway: A True Story
ASIN: 0394755189
Release Date: 1987-08-12 |
Customer Reviews:
Unique observations of life as an undocumented worker.......2007-03-21
This is one of a handful of books recently written where the author joins a group of undocumented workers crossing the border in attempt to gain employment in the United States. The interesting twist here is that the author, though apparently fluent in Spanish, is white. He also attempts to work in the fields himself, as opposed to simply observing and writing about the work of others. This leads to a number of unique experiences and observations on race relations that are rarely discussed in this context. It also allows the reader to better understand what life is like for many undocumented workers in this country. Kudos to Ted Conover for making a sincere effort to better understand the lives of those that would not otherwise be recorded.
Coyotes: a borderlands journey by a journalist & now professor.......2007-01-10
This story rivets the reader to the writer's acceptance (guarded) by poor Hispanics as he seeks to be an Imbed with them when they cross the border at a couple of different sites. There was the interception by Mexican border police and their payoff; then life beyond the border on the way to nearby farms serviced by Coyotes (travel guides and job finders) and potato fields of Idaho (serviced by the same dependable families year after year).
It gives many glimpses of that struggle to pass on a better life to the kids.
The writer may influence many who would become investigative reporters.
An often unseen vantage point.......2006-09-30
This is an important book, particularly in today's charged political climate. It is very easy to deal in absolutes when one deals with abstract ideas, but what Conover does well, is to humanize those ideas. While many speak of illegal imigration, Conover speaks of specific imigrants. He shares their perspectives,not condemning them, not glorifying them, but merely letting them tell their stories.
Aditionally Conover is remarkable for the amount of energy he put into getting to know his subject. Half of the worth of the book is the story of the migrants, the other half certainly is Conover's own story.
Outstanding book.......2006-08-31
I live in Southern California, and work with and around illegal aliens (or undocumented workers) on a daily basis. This is one of the best works written by an Anglo-American on the subject I have read. Conover took the time to really get to know these people, and not just from an investigative point of view. He worked the fields with these men, lived as they did and currently do, and even took a beating for it. Actually knowing and physically feeling what these migrants do gives him credibility far beyond other reporters/journalists who ask only questions, and feel that they are "in depth" after spending a week with their "subjects". Conover makes his experience personal, and the reader feels like this is a story told over dinner. The next time you are at the grocery store, after reading this book, you'll have a greater appreciation for the bag of oranges you are buying, and the story behind them.
Outstanding glimpse into the lives of undocumented Mexicans.......2006-06-26
Written all the way back in the mid-1980s, long before all the heated rhetoric about illegal immigration going on in the US today, this book has turned out to be amazingly prescient. I feel like I would have had a much better understanding of this subject (not to mention appreciation of the people involved) had I discovered it a long time ago, but I suppose late is better than never.
Ted Conover did what I don't imagine very many other Americans would have the courage to do: Cross illegally from Mexico into the US with Mexicans doing the same thing. In doing so, he gives readers incredible insight into what compels some Mexicans to make that journey (i.e what life is like where they come from), what the journey is like, and what awaits them on this side of the border. I found myself exceedingly grateful for having been born American and simply in awe of the Mexicans who live such vastly disparate lives from their privileged neighbors to the north.
Conover simply relates his experiences to readers without the kind of ideological commentary or other editorializing that can get in the way of the facts surrounding the contentious issues involved. Coyotes is a well-written, touching, informative, and inspiring book that should be required reading for all Americans before they open their mouths about illegal immigration.
Book Description
Service Management is the best-selling text in this market and includes compelling and current examples from the field of technology. The text has extensive coverage on global operations, and the need for continuous improvement in quality and productivity in the service industry. Service Management also does an excellent job of demonstrating how crucial functional areas of an organization such as marketing, strategic issues, operations and human behavior impact effective service management.
Customer Reviews:
Melhor de melhores..........2004-11-08
O livro do Fitzsimmons é a melhor ferramenta conceptual e practica sobre gerenciamento de serviços. Sem dúvida.
El libro de Fitzsimmons es la mejor herramienta conceptual y práctica sobre gerenciamento de servicios.
O book of Fitzsimmons it's the better conceptual and practical tool about services management I've ever seen.
Jorge P. Aldrovandi
Fortaleza / Ceará / Brasil
I've never read a book that sucks more than this one does.......2003-12-08
Pointless formulas, impossible to find actual definitions, book is full of outdated real world references (ex: referring to online purchasing as a new fangled idea). I've never been so confused by a text in my life. I DO NOT recommend this book. It was a required text for my service management class and NOBODY was happy with the text. It almost annoyingly uses Texas as a reference for nearly all analogies. The only thing good about it was how highly it spoke of Amazon.com!
Its implementable, I used it so much it needed recovering.......1999-07-21
This is not the first services management Text I have read or the First Management text. The imposed shake up in the health professions has created a need to take on new learnings in a discipline I was not used too. However as I read I was able to understand and classify services. The wholistic view given in the first chapters allowed me to define my purpose and mission, define the characteristics and benefits of my service and create a service package. I was able to apply this through the service concept and focus on my delivery system creating a strategic plan centered around my clients. Its chapeters on quality allowed me to understand the concept of quality its content and purpose in respect of my business and implement a quality plan. It shed new light on the interactions between employees, organisations and clients. This allowed me to create strategies to improve employee satisfaction. The chapters on The physical facitity allowed me to redesign the physical environment of my service,improving employee and customer satisfaction. Capacity and demand and the handling of waiting times, is so important and the book takes time on these subjects. Conceptualy I was able to design and develope a service reflecting the type and standard of service I was in. This would not have been possible without the background theory, models and formulae supplied by the authors. They package their message in a form I understood. The models and diagrams are particularly good as are the referencing. Although the case studies weren't that relevant as I had my own organisation to test the readings on I still feel they would be valuable to the aspiring student, and it has changed forever my perception of the service encounter both as supplier and participant. The chapters and pieces on IT were important and its role in customisation of services and identifying added value areas and potential new markets are not to be missed.
I would recommend it as a first text and as a core text to cover all the gaps missed or misunderstood in other texts. The depth is such that you get to choose how far you go. If its too much then you stop. A word of warning it took me a year to read not because it was difficult but because clarity of thought can take time. Still my bank manger on seeing my final work stopped short and said.."You can actually do this stuff" If its results you want then this is a good place to start.
Customer Reviews:
Lifesaver........2007-02-17
I admit, at first I could feel my eyeballs melting from the pedantic aura that radiated from the Economy of Nature. The text followed a simple, formulaic method of teaching: each chapter began with a generalization, usually relating chapter concepts to a current issue, before dissecting the topic from the easiest to most difficult concepts. The material was essentially mathematical based on the graphs and equations normally associated with ecology, and the section on population growth is particularly helpful if you're a bit rocky with incorporating all the rates to calculate the net growth.
It was boring, boring, boring, but it was concise and saved my arse on final exams. If you're taking intro bio, I would recommend this as supplementary reading. It's definitely not as wordy as the average bio textbook, but you'll learn loads more about ecology and the math involved isn't tricky. The formulas are explained well, so even if you find it challenging you'll get the hang of it in no time.
Good info, but I don't think ecology is a real science........2004-03-29
This is a decent textbook as an introduction to ecology. It contains alot of good information and integrates quite a bit of mathematics and graphs into the material being presented. However, I am convinced that ecology is not a real science.
Average customer rating:
- Treasure Trove of Economic Fallacies
- Embrace and love the world you live in... thus, embrace God.
- Another mindblower
|
Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (Searching for a New Framework)
Sallie McFague
Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Theory
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Theology
| Reference
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Christian Living
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Theology
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Ecology
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Business Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Nonfiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Body of God
-
Super, Natural Christians
-
Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age
-
Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Language
-
The Great Work: Our Way into the Future
ASIN: 0800632699 |
Book Description
In this splendidly crafted work, McFague argues for theology as an ethical imperative for all thinking Christians: Responsible discipleship today entails disciplined religious reflection. Moreover, theology matters: Without serious reflection on their worldview, ultimate commitments, and lifestyle, North American Christians cannot hope to contribute to ensuring the “good life” for people or the planet. To live differently we must think differently.
McFague has therefore written this primer in theology. It helps Christians assess their own religious story in light of the larger Christian tradition and the felt needs of the planet. At once an apology for an ecologically driven theology and a model for how theology itself might be expressed, her work is expressly crafted to bring people into the practice of religious reflection as a form of responsible Christian practice in the world. McFague shows the reader how articulating one's personal religious story and credo can lead directly into contextual analysis, unfolding of theological concepts, and forms of Christian practice.
In lucid prose she offers creative discussions of revelation, the reigning economic worldview (and its ecological alternative), and how a planetary theology might approach classical areas of God and the world, Christ and salvation, and life in the Spirit. Enticing readers into serious self-assessment and creative commitment, McFague's new work encourages and models a theological practice that “gives glory to God by loving the world.”
Customer Reviews:
Treasure Trove of Economic Fallacies.......2005-03-30
This book is a delight to read, if only because McFague manages to compress so much economic illiteracy into a single book. Zero-sum game fallacy, the confusion between matter and resources, dependency theory, the idea that the market economy destroys the environment, the identification of a market economy with consumerism. They're all here in abundance! I would give the book one star simply because it displays such ignorance about a subject it claims to analyze. But some credit must be given to McFague for packing so many mistakes into so small a space, and for lacking any sense of irony for enjoying a cushy high level academic salary while disdaining all those consumer-driven lumpen proletariats who get by on half her salary.
Embrace and love the world you live in... thus, embrace God........2002-08-08
Avant-garde theologian, reformative and unorthodox Christian, Sallie McFague, in 'Life Abundant', sets forth a radical, earthbound, theology that is as provocative as it is over sanguine.
Her 'hope against hope' prophetic cry to all North Americans is to 'love and protect the world' and thus love God. Forsake your 'hell bent' consuming way and share the world's resources equally. Be liberated from your role as oppressors. While this message is needed and laudable, it will, sadly, go unheard and thus unheeded. For, as Seneca, the Roman philosopher said at the time of Christ, "It is the superfluous things for which men concern themselves".
Dr. McFague is an accomplished professor of Theology (Vanderbilt Divinity School) and, as such, she challenges you to reconsider your life philosophy, your spiritual theology and your consumer mentality. Dr. McFague wants you not to read her book as much as to engage, challenge and argue with her via the book. In the end, she hopes you will rethink and develop a 'working theology' that embraces and loves the world we live in.
While the title of the book is affable, and even quaint, this book is not. This is a dense and demanding read; however, a postulation worthy of every thinking person's effort. I am going to attempt the absurd. I am going to attempt to distill the erudite writings of Dr. McFague in three phrases. In "Life Abundant" Sallie McFague has an admonitory outcry for "middle class North American Christians". She calls them to 1) Change their manic consumer lives, and choose to live in harmony with, and care for, all creation. 2) Realize that Christians (as all people) live to give God glory by loving the world and everything in it. 3) Deconstruct their traditional theologies and then reconstruct them in concert with her "Panentheistic" theology.
Be forewarned, any attempt to fully grasp Sally McFague's in a coherent way will be akin to attempting to wrap your arms around a full grown Redwood tree. Her theology is "relatively absolute". She believes that all theologians speak of God metaphorically, and there is no such thing as a complete theology, rather there are only piecemeal theologies, and no creditable theologian makes empirical statements about who God is. Thus, the reading of her explanation of her belief system is akin to listening to Dennis Hopper disjointedly saying in 'Apocalypse Now' that he found "the one" (referring to Marlin Brando). Heavy man, heavy.
Her theology is Christian Panentheism - Pan'en'theism. God is immanent, incarnated in the world through nature. Thus she sees the world as 'in' ('en') God and that God is 'with' the world. God is with us here and now in all living beings. "The world", for Sallie "is where God dwells, it is God's 'house'". And, for her, the "divine incarnation" is not limited to Jesus, but God is incarnate in the world and each creature is "a microcosm of divine incarnation".
For McFague God is Reality. She states; "when we say that God is reality we mean that reality is both with us and beyond us, both eminent and transcendent, both physical and spiritual". God is "the source, the sustainer, and the goal of everything that is."
Her theology is a 'working theology' and she believe that we must act - now and decisively. She condemns the consumptive, consumer life style of North Americans. Her evolved theology is no longer the self-centered tribal, traditional anthropocentric Christian theology of the masses (salvation for the individual), but is a cosmological theology that affirms that being with nature is being with God and salvation is when you are in God's presence (God is found in relationship with others and nature). For Sallie the deterioration of nature and the injustice to the poor people is caused by the religion of our time - consumerism.
I found that some of her provocative statements raise significant questions. For example, if God so loves the world and is continually engaged, or "radical present", with the world, then where is the evidence of His/Her/Its involvement? Nowhere does Dr. McFague explain where or how God is "radically present". Please, give me examples, Dr. McFague, of where and how God is involved with this world He/She/It loves.
She does not embrace the Christian belief in the popular image of God as a supernatural being and redeemer of human individuals. But rather for Dr. McFague God is - radically transcendent and radically immanent. Her Christology is unconventional and unorthodox. She discards the personally redemptive, sacrificial death of Christ - "Personally, I have never been able to believe it", and replaces it with an 'ecological economic Christology.'
Her chapters on economic models are great reads, but her statement that we, in North America, have "allowed our economic theories (i.e. market capitalism) to tell us who we are"- is disputable. Market capitalism did not make us consuming, self-gratifying individuals, but rather we adopted market capitalism because it is what best benefits who we are.
Also, she beats the drum of 'frugality', asking her readers to restrict significantly their materialistic intake (she admittedly acknowledges that this is not a beat that North Americans are likely to dance to). Thus, her Jeremiah prophetic call to a radical life change, thought desperately needed, will accomplish what it did with Israel - Nada.
Her end notes (30 pages) are a gold mine for all those interested in cross-references, excellent bibliographies, insights and side-bar comments.
In short, though complex, this is a stimulating and thought provoking read. Anyone who believes, as McFague does, that God loves and wants to save the earth, should read this book, agree with her theology, "we are to give God glory by loving the earth" and chorus "Amen, and Amen". Recommended
Another mindblower.......2000-12-13
Just when I thought Christian theology has nothing more to say, Sallie McFague comes along and not only says something new but encourages her readers to participate in creating and living theology. Her theological credo is to give glory to God by loving the world and all in it. She acknowledges that this is a relative absolute for her as a North American feminist living in the 21st century, something all theologies should be. The book is divided into three parts: I The Practice of Planetary Theology, II The Context of Planetary Theology and III The Content of Planetary Theology. Her ecological liberation theology is opposed to the materialistic consumerism of the North American middle class. If these priviledged few (20% of the world's population) do not lower their impact on the environment and the poorer nations (80%)they won't have a future either. The way to change people's behavior is to alter the mindset (theology and economy). "Life Abundant" even makes sense to me as a white Afrikaans male living in South Africa. We have the unique combination of a First and Third World, rich and poor, in one country. We can see and feel the devastation the rich have on the environment and the poor. This latest work by Sallie McFague helped me make sense of my world and enticed me to develop my own religious autobiography. If you care for theology, God, nature, human beings or Christ, get this book ASAP. It will change your life and hopefully save the world.
Book Description
Nature's Economy is a wide-ranging investigation of ecology's past. It traces the origins of the concept, discusses the thinkers who have shaped it, and shows how it in turn has shaped the modern perception of our place in nature. The book includes portraits of Linnaeus, Gilbert White, Darwin, Thoreau, and such key twentieth-century ecologists as Rachel Carson, Frederic Clements, Aldo Leopold, James Lovelock, and Eugene Odum. It concludes with a new Part VI, which looks at the directions ecology has taken most recently.
Customer Reviews:
Engrossing and enlightening.......2005-11-23
I used to muse on the subject of environmentalism and why two seemingly opposed camps ("pro-environment" and "anti-environment"--though "anti-environment" could more fairly be termed "pro-development") think the way they do. This book answered many of my questions and started me thinking about more in-depth issues of environmentalism. The history presented is fascinating and, in some cases, appalling. I found myself thinking, "how could these people so eagerly destroy the environment that sustains them?", but at the same time the logic was right in front of me. I may not have agreed with it, but there it was.
The book is divided into six sections, which explore environmental thinking in chronological order: 1) Two Roads Diverged: Ecology in the Eighteenth Century; 2) The Subversive Science: Thoreau's Romantic Ecology; 3) The Dismal Science: Darwinian Ecology; 4) O Pioneers: Ecology on the Frontier; 5) The Morals of a Science: Ethics, Economics, and Ecology; 6) The Age of Ecology: Science and the Fate of the Earth.
This book was required reading for an environmental ethics class (something I think every college student should take), and I enjoyed reading it. We were asked to think about the points in the book in the context of 6 different frameworks: morals and ethics, religion, capitalism, the commons, science, and wilderness. I recommend that other readers do the same. Thinking about environmentalism from these different viewpoints gives it a different spin every time.
I never really considered myself an environmentalist, although I am all for living sustainably on the earth (within reason--some sustainability viewpoints are admittedly extreme). However, this book definitely shifted my opinions to those of a more environmentalist-like identity than I had before.
This review refers to the Second Edition (1994).
solid, informative, and clearly written........2004-03-26
This comment of Worster's from page 433 pretty much sums it all up:
"Whether we choose to learn from the past or not, the past is our most reliable instructor in reality."
He presents the supporting material for his case just as elegantly and firmly, throughout the book.
Good structure, sloppy execution.......1999-05-05
Donald Worster has written a gem of a book. It's too bad that he gets lost in his own selfconceit. Worster merely wants to say that all other ecological ideas are products of cultural conditions. Howver, his ideas are not. Worster is a master at structuring his points, and he is colorful at times. My favorite part, however (other than the connection of interdependncy to fascism) was when he misused his "In the begining was The Word" quote. "The Word," in the original Greek text of the bible, is actually "logos," not literal words of creeation. I had a hard time buying his schtick after reading that line.
Average customer rating:
- Came for the topic, stayed for the author
- Not just for New Englanders
- An Intriguing Glimpse at New Englandýs History
- on reflection, dazzling
- breaks new ground
|
Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England (Revisiting New England)
Diana Muir
Manufacturer: UPNE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Conservation
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Natural History
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Business Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside History Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
New England Forests Through Time : Insights from the Harvard Forest Dioramas
-
Ceremonial Time: Fifteen Thousand Years on One Square Mile
-
Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England
-
Changes in the Land, Revised Edition: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England
-
American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work
ASIN: 0874519098 |
Book Description
A dramatic story of the interplay between environment and economy in New England.
Customer Reviews:
Came for the topic, stayed for the author.......2005-02-17
Ms Muir is a great storyteller. I was interested in the topic and prepared to slog through boring text to learn something, but this was AMAZING. Read like a novel. She sees inter-relationships and draws conclusions which taught me a lot. Now I want to read everything she's written. I was sorry when I finished this book.
Not just for New Englanders.......2003-01-25
Other reviewers have discussed the virtues of the book, so I will only add that the lessons to be learned from this well written and fascinating study are relevant to the entire planet, not just New England. As such, the book is highly recommended to anyone anywhere who is interested in mankind's relationship to the environment and its effects on culture and economics.
An Intriguing Glimpse at New Englandýs History.......2002-10-31
Using a pond near her home in Newton, MA as a backdrop, Diana Muir weaves a compelling view of New England history, which she argues is a series of ecological crises.
From pre-Columbian times, Muir says, New England was populated by individuals struggling on a land that was not conducive to making a living. Radical solutions to unsolvable problems were their only escape. In the 1790s, when farming was the only occupation, a growing population and a soil spent by generations of misuse, resulted in a dearth of farmable land. With no prospects and no future, individuals like Eli Whitney and Thomas Blanchard, were forced to look for creative solutions to society's problems and set in motion an industrial revolution.
I was particularly intrigued by the story of Frederick Tudor, the man who in 1806 introduced ice to Martinique. It is one thing to sell ice to people who because of their location, understand the concept. It is quite another, to sell ice to people who have never experienced it, to say nothing about the practical necessities of ice houses to warehouse the product.
His father's real estate speculation losses left Tudor with nothing but ambition and a house with a pond in Saugus, MA. He succeeded after two difficult decades. There was always a wrinkle to be solved before a fortune could be built. Iceboxes had to be designed and then marketed in southern ports to people who had to be taught how to preserve it.
This phenomenon explains why there so many Crystal and Silver Lakes dot the New England landscape, relics of an enterprising age. Savvy ice dealers understood that attractive names sell products. For a brief period even Muir's Bullough's Pond was briefly renamed Silver Lake.
Diana Muir e-mailed me twice during the past two years introducing her book to me. Having read her book, I am grateful for her persistence. If you enjoy reading unique looks at our history, I implore not to wait for her to contact you. Read her book; you will not regret it.
on reflection, dazzling.......2002-08-02
This is one of the best books I have ever read- period! At the core of the book is Ms. Muir's message that we are part of nature, not separate from or above nature, and we have a great responsibility to maintain the integrity of the environment. Granted, this message is not new. Where this book is very different is how Ms. Muir leads up to this message. She shows how the New England landscape changed from one where farming dominated to one that was a mixture of many different types of mills and factories. You learn the consequences of everything that was done along the way: the consequences to fish and birds of damming rivers; the consequences to forests and to the air we breath of heavy logging; the consequences of catching too many of one type of fish, etc. What is great about this book is that Ms. Muir does not deal in hazy generalities. She takes you step by step and shows you specifically how certain actions cause certain changes in the environment, often unforseen. There is nothing simplistic in her observations and she knows there are no easy answers. She lays out the data for you and you can come to your own conclusions. But what really takes this book to another level is the fascinating biographical information that Ms. Muir provides concerning the many, many New Englanders that invented the machines of the Industrial Revolution and kept the economy vibrant as the importance of agriculture diminished. The way this book is put together is very unusual, due to the combination of all of the above factors and in the space of 248 pages you will learn a great deal of information. The research Ms. Muir must have done in writing this book is staggering and her knowledge across many different areas is amazing. Don't miss reading this book.
breaks new ground.......2002-07-25
It is hard to imagine how Reflections in Bullough's Pond could have been better written. Diana Muir gives an account of the interplay between New England's economic history and its environment in a lapidary prose which never leaves the reader behind. By the end of the book we are enlightened about the ebb and flow of these matters over the five hundred-odd years from early European settlement to modern times without ever being overwhelmed, for Ms Muir always wears her erudition lightly.
She breaks new ground in her treatment of the environment as both an economic resource and as a complex-often vulnerable-amalgam of ecosystems. Her thesis is that we are living on capital, be it fossil fuel, topsoil or forest-she is particularly compelling on the vulnerable biochemistry of these last. Unusually, however, Ms Muir is scrupulous in her use of statistics and fastidious in her argument. She never seeks to undermine the legitimacy of the economic impulse, though she does not flinch from her conclusion: an argument for restraint in economic activity and population.
Nor does she lose sight of the propensity of ecosystems to renew themselves, albeit often in new forms: she is pleased-almost amused-by the return of the beaver and the moose, while regretting the extinction of the elm and the emergence of local spruce monocultures. Indeed Ms Muir expresses herself more forcefully on the loss of flora than fauna. Perhaps this is because the long life cycles of the former make it harder to take an optimistic view of their capacity to renew themselves. Alternatively it may be because the collapse of agriculture in New England following the opening up of the West, has stimulated the return to southern New England of so many species formerly evicted to Canada.
Reflections in Bullough's Pond is no naïve elegy for a Paradise Lost; it never loses sight of a human interplay with the landscape which long antedates industrialisation, not to say European settlement. In a particularly ingenious section of the book, Ms Muir reminds us that in the middle of the nineteenth century, the courts and legislatures altered common law doctrines of liability to free up industrial activity. This reflected the climate of the times. Ms Muir argues that the climate of our own times may well give rise to more extensive liability concepts to restrain the corporations, notions very much with the tail wind of popular and professional thinking.
Given the book's generosity and elegance, it seems curmudgeonly to cavil at any part of it. But a couple of issues do arise. First forests. Since the invention of agriculture, we have cleared them for the simple reason that we have better uses for the land. This has been going on in the Old World for millennia. Of course there have been local environmental disasters, eg in North Africa and Mesopotamia, but nothing sufficiently general to justify veneration of forests as a precautionary measure. This is an artefact of late-twentieth century sentiment in the New World. There such virgin forests as have not lost within living memory are being destroyed even now, thus the local salience of the issue. Over the past fifteen years their defenders have sought to enlist support by arguing that they served one or another vital purpose: producing oxygen, acting as feedstock for drugs, now Ms Muir points to their role in topsoil. The first two arguments are infrequently heard these days. As to the last, let me point out that where I grew up in the eastern part of England, the ground was cleared eight or nine hundred years ago, but the topsoil remains sufficiently fertile for the local farmers to get out record yields.
I was also left uncertain as to the course Ms Muir might prescribe for the several billion who have never seen Bullough's Pond, and whose habitats have been profoundly altered by economic activity for millenia rather than centuries. The residents of Asia's great river valleys cleared the forests long before Columbus saw the New World. They have to eat-with luck raise themselves above thoughts of the next meal. Ms Muir has practical suggestions as to how the courts might restrain US corporations, but nothing on how to restrain the aspirations of those who dream of a fraction of American prosperity. I suspect she is wise enough to know that there is nothing to be done on this score. In a rare nod towards the nether reaches of environmental alarmism, she hints that she expects nature to impose population restraint, if we do not. I am more sanguine. In whatever might come to pass as in what has come before, we will wade through. As we must.
Average customer rating:
- Another fine book by Herman E. Daly.
- Let's hear it for the common good!
- Ethical, Humanitarian, Communitarian, Sustainable
- Great ideas, will they work?
- Humane and incisive
|
For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future
Herman E. Daly
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Policy & Current Events
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Development & Growth
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Economic Policy & Development
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Natural Resources
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Production & Operations
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Environmental Science
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Nature & Ecology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Environmental Science
| Earth Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Business Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Nonfiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development
-
Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics
-
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
-
Theories of Development
-
Ecological Economics: A Workbook For Problem-Based Learning
ASIN: 0807047058 |
Book Description
Updated and Expanded Edition Winner of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order 1992, Named New Options Best Political Book Economist Herman Daly and theologian John Cobb, Jr., demonstrate how conventional economics and a growth-oriented industrial economy have led us to the brink of environmental disaster, and show the possibility of a different future.
Customer Reviews:
Another fine book by Herman E. Daly........2007-08-23
This is a seminal work in the field of Ecological Economics, a real primer.
Neatly organized in parallel chapters dealing, one point-of-view at a time, with some of the main consequences from the fallacy of misplaced concreteness.
I just have restrictions to his views at the chapter on Population, where he advocates for abortion and euthanasia. See, on the former I'd rather advocate sending unwanted children for adoption. As for the latter, ortothanasia (no desperate measures) is ethically right, but euthanasia is quite selfish stuff, not to be advocated for by people bent on reconstructing community. That is why I didn't grade it as 5-star.
Except for that, just another fine book by one of the finest thinkers in our time.
Let's hear it for the common good!.......2005-07-05
I have been a fan of Professor Daly's for some time. This book has some excellent analysis and some truly great commentary. The writing is a bit dry; if you're new to Professor Daly's work, you might want to try one of his other books first, like "Beyond Growth." "For the Common Good" does have some wonderfully thought-provoking lines. Just to give you a taste: "Economics cannot do without simplifying assumptions, but the trick is to use the right assumptions at the right time." Or, with regards to relying on technological fixes for environmental problems: "It is one thing to say that knowledge will grow (no one rejects that), but it is something else to presuppose that the content of new knowledge will abolish old limits faster than it discovers new ones." Another on the same subject: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it; if you must tinker, save all the pieces; and if you don't know where you're going, slow down." On population control: "Nature's way is not always best, but in this instance it seems more responsible than our current practice of allowing new human beings to be unintended by-products of the sexual fumblings of teenagers whose natural urges have been stimulated by drugs, alcohol, TV, and ill-constructed welfare incentives." Daly's Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare deserves to be far better known than it is. The analysis of misplaced concreteness, especially as it relates to the nature of debt, is very good.
The authors sometimes come across as a little naive in this book. For example, they propose making the government the employer of last resort. I think they do not realize just how hard it is to make such programs work; they inevitably decline into a morass of dependency and corruption. The Washington DC municipal government has taken precisely this approach in the past few decades, with predictable results.
I think the authors would also do well to do some research on the failures of utopian communities; since I was raised a Mormon, I know a lot about some of these. The chapter on religion strikes me as a bit silly. They want to bring God into the building of a more humane society; this is not necessarily bad, but I tend to think that science will take us farther than God will. In my opinion, Christianity's idea that the Second Coming of Christ is not far off is a very serious barrier to giving humanity's long-term future the attention it deserves. Talking about ethics, the authors say "But to believe that God does exist makes the ethical life more authentic." Well, that's only true if God really does exist, which I doubt.
Overall, the book has some excellent points to make. If you're interested in economics and public policy, don't miss it.
Ethical, Humanitarian, Communitarian, Sustainable.......2004-01-01
Dr. Herman E. Daly may well be a future Nobel Prize winner ...he is especially well-regarded in Norway and Sweden, where he has received prizes one step short of the Nobel. He is the author, co-author, or primary contributing editor of many books that fully integrate the disciplines of economics and ecology. I bought the three most recent for the purpose of selecting one to give out at my annual Global Information Forum. I ended up choosing this book to give away to hundreds, in part because it is available in paperback and is not a more expensive "trade" publication; and in part because it is strong in laying out specific ecological policy areas in the context of a strong theological or ethical perspective.
Of the three books I reviewed, (the newest "Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications", the oldest, updated, "Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics") the first, the text-book, is assuredly the most up-to-date and the most detailed. If you are buying only one book for yourself, that is the one that I recommend, because these are important issues and a detailed understanding is required with the level of detail that this book provided. It should, ideally, be read with "Valuing the Earth" first (see my separate review of that book, from the 1970's updated with 1990's material and new contributions), then this book ("For the Common Good"), and finally the text book as a capstone. But if you buy only one, buy the text book.
This is a second-edition work, updated from the 1984 first edition. I like it very much in part because it comes across as less academic and more common-sense in nature. Part One does a lovely job of tearing apart the fallacy of misplaced concreteness with respect to economics, the market, measuring economic success, the reduction of the human to a "good" that can be traded without regard to humanity and ethics and community, and land. Part Two gently introduces the reader to the many distinguished thought-leaders and practitioners who have gradually matured the discipline of economics to embrace humanity, community, and sustainability as non-negotiable realities that cannot be ignored.
Part Three, a major factor in my choosing this book over the others for broad pro-bono distribution, addresses the specifics of policies one element at a time: free trade versus community; population; land use; agriculture; industry; labor; income policies and taxes; from world domination to national security as an objective. Finally, Part Four, without being corny or preachy, describes the religious or ethical vision (I still think the Golden Rule works as a one-sentence definition of common interest).
An afterword on debt in relation to money and wealth is particularly timely as the American public foolishly allows the White House carpetbaggers to run up a $7 trillion deficit that our great-grandchilden will never be able to pay off if we continue is these evil and irresponsible directions, all in sharp opposition to the sensible and ethical constructs in this book.
Of the three books, none of which really duplicate one another in any negative way, albeit with overlaps, this is the second that I recommend for purchase, after the textbook.
Great ideas, will they work?.......2001-05-29
The opening criticisms of how economics is taught in today's university structure along with the inappropriate credence given this largely theoretical topic's conclusions are well-presented and well-received. Similarly, the general theme of the recommendations is presented very nicely. Basically, we must focus on more local goods, more self-sufficiency in communities. The authors take the time and care to address such technicalities as what exactly they mean by communities. In general their care is a strength of the book, though perhaps more of the details could have been put in appendices or footnotes rather than disturbing the flow of the text. My main complaint is that no EXAMPLES are given--real-life attempts, either successful or failed, at some of their recommendations. Without examples, all their suggestions seem unsubstantiated. A lengthy but decent read, with a nice underlying philosophy.
Humane and incisive.......2000-08-25
Because of the large number of issues and sometimes conflicting solutions proposed, this is a difficult book to classify. Key, however, is the authors' profound refusal to subordinate the common good of the community to the god of the free market. This does not mean the elimination of markets where they have proven effective and non-destructive. It does mean keeping their operation within strict limits, so that people can regain a sense of community and a sustainable environment. Much of the book is taken up with showing the limits of market theory and practice, and in that sense should be studied by all with an interest in America's secular religion. Proposed solutions are decidedly non-ideological and largely eclectic. Both the left and the right should find points of agreement. All in all, this is an invaluable guide to many of the planet's most pressing problems and should be required reading for college undergraduates.
Book Description
This book explores the politics of wildlife conservation policy in Africa, specifically Zambia, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. The book addresses a general question: Why don't wildlife policies seem to be working? Rather than use standard explanations such as "bureaucratic inefficiency" or "corrupt dictators," the book demonstrates how politicians at all levels use wildlife policy for their own political ends, which may or may not include conservation. The book uses electoral and archival data, as well as interviews with individuals ranging from presidents to poachers to address this issue.
Books:
- The Oxford Handbook of Free Will (Oxford Handbooks)
- The Saint, the Surfer, and the CEO: A Remarkable Story About Living Your Heart's Desires
- The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment
- The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process And Technology
- The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy
- The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- Views from the South
- What's Love Got to Do With It?: A Critical Look at American Charity
- Wireless and Mobile Network Architectures
- Workplace/Women's Place: An Anthology
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Rural Women Battering and the Justice System: An Ethnography
- History: Fiction or Science
- Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club
- Analyzing the Distributional Impact of Reforms: a Practitioners' Guide: Trade, Monetary and Exchange
- Biology, Sixth Edition
- History: Fiction or Science
- Deadman's Poker: A Novel
- Historic Houses of the Hudson River Valley
- Architectural Details and Measured Drawings of Houses of the Twenties
- Australian Goannas
Nature and the Marketplace: Capturing The Value Of Ecosystem Services
Nature's Services: Societal Dependence On Natural Ecosystems
Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment, second edition (Yale Nota Bene)
