In this book Kerry Whiteside introduces the work of a range of French ecological theorists to an English-speaking audience. He shows how thinkers in France and in English-speaking countries have produced different strains of ecological thought and suggests that the work of French ecological theorists could lessen pervasive tensions in Anglophone ecology. Much of the theory written in English is shaped by the debate between anthropocentric ecologists, who contend that the value of our nonhuman surroundings derives from their role in fulfilling human interests, and ecocentric ecologists, who contend that the nonhuman world holds ultimate value in and of itself. This debate is almost nonexistent among French theorists, who tend to focus on the processes linking nature and human identity. Whiteside suggests that the insights of French theorists could help English-language theorists to extricate themselves from endless debates over the real center of nature's value. Among the French theorists discussed are Denis de Rougemont, Denis Duclos, René Dumont, Luc Ferry, André Gorz, Félix Guattari, Bruno Latour, Alain Lipietz, Edgar Morin, Serge Moscovici, and Michel Serres. The English-language theorists discussed include John Barry, Robyn Eckersley, Robert Goodin, Tim Hayward, Holmes Rolston III, and Paul Taylor.

While considerable research and on-ground project work focuses on the interface between Indigenous/local people and nature conservation in the Asia-Pacific region, the interface between these people and cultural heritage conservation has not received the same attention. This collection brings together papers on the current mechanisms in place in the region to conserve cultural heritage values. It will provide an overview of the extent to which local communities have been engaged in assessing the significance of this heritage and conserving it. It will address the extent to which management regimes have variously allowed, facilitated or obstructed continuing cultural engagement with heritage places and landscapes, and discuss the problems agencies experience with protection and management of cultural heritage places.

For the twentieth-century naturalist and poet Loren Eiseley, the relationship between human beings and the natural world has become unnatural, divided by the era of modern technology. Loren Eiseley’s Writing across the Nature and Culture Divide analyses how the philosopher of science becomes a boundary crosser in time and space. Qianqian Cheng points to Eiseley’s method of uniting science and the humanities to reflect on human evolution and the past and future role of science with a visionary and poetic imagination. Seizing the connectedness of living beings, Eiseley, and now Cheng, makes us aware of the presence of nature even in daily urban life. Qianqian Cheng unveils Eiseley’s merits, showing the poet as a necessary voice in the urgent mission to make individuals realize their responsibility to respond ethically to the living world.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity...” (Jeremiah 29:11–14) Walking in the path of darkness, I never looked up to see God’s light. I had put God on the shelf. I was making my way in life. I was gaining notoriety and recognition for my accomplishments. My pride, arrogance, and selfishness were shining in my fleshly success. I was rolling and life was rocking, until one day, God placed a boulder in my path I could not move. In the blink of an eye, I lost my career, and my marriage was coming to an end. My Heavenly Father had stopped my fleshly ways to show me the deep darkness of my soul. He would take the pieces of clay from my brokenness, place me back on His pottery wheel, remold me with His loving hands, and put me through the fire to purify my soul. He would lead me to His place, “The Back Porch,” where He would teach me to meditate, show me visions, give me peace in His quietness, and open my ears to hear His voice. I would listen as He would speak through the pen and I would record His spoken words. Exhausted, tired, and weary, a broken man was being healed through the writings of his Heavenly Father. In this journey, He will use my love for nature to share with me the simple things in life, explain my visions, and gain understanding as we walk through this journey together. God shines His light and speaks to every man and woman. You must take the time to see His light and be still in His presence to hear His voice. Open this book, take a journey with me, and experience how God heals and remolds a broken man. He led me to write this book so you can see how God changed me and experience how God can change you.

Presents integral approaches to ecology that cross the boundaries of the humanities, social sciences, and biophysical sciences. In the current era of increasing planetary interconnectedness, ecological theories and practices are called to become more inclusive, complex, and comprehensive. The diverse contributions to this book offer a range of integral approaches to ecology that cross the boundaries of the humanities and sciences and help us understand and respond to today’s ecological challenges. The contributors provide detailed analyses of assorted integral ecologies, drawing on such founding figures and precursors as Thomas Berry, Leonardo Boff, Holmes Rolston III, Ken Wilber, and Edgar Morin. Also included is research across the social sciences, biophysical sciences, and humanities discussing multiple worldviews and perspectives related to integral ecologies. The Variety of Integral Ecologies is both an accessible guide and an advanced supplement to the growing research for a more comprehensive understanding of ecological issues and the development of a peaceful, just, and sustainable planetary civilization.

Ecocriticism is a critical approach that focuses on the representation in literature of the non-human elements of the natural world, a method of inquiry that has been largely limited to literature written in English. The aim of Ecocritical Approaches to Literature in French is twofold: to introduce ecocriticism to scholars of French-language literature, and to open ecocriticism to the vision and voices of French literature.The chapters look at work not only from France, but also from North America, the Caribbean, and Africa. The discussions include fiction, poetry, film and pedagogy. The goal of the collection is to demonstrate not only the applicability of ecocritical inquiry to literature in French, but to demonstrate the possibilities of ecocritical theory on the study of French literature, and also for ecocriticism itself. This collection will be a useful resource both for scholars of French-language literature and also for ecocritics who may have had only limited contact with literatures in languages other than English.