Wild Ideas
Published on 30. August 1995
Book
Paperback/Softback
254 pages
978-0-8166-2615-1 (ISBN)
Description
A new view of what's "wild," and a new path for environmentalism.
At the very heart of American respect for nature, historically and philosophically, is the notion of the wild. This notion comes under scrutiny in Wild Ideas, a collection of essays that bring a fresh and refreshing perspective to the wilderness paradoxically at the center of our civilization.
Blending well-known and new voices, the volume surveys classical and romantic concepts of wilderness, from the scary to the sublime, and shows why neither serves us anymore. Instead, the authors argue for a "wild culture," in which nature is not opposed to humanity, a mere matter of resources and consumers. A cogent reassessment of the ideas that drive the conservation movement, Wild Ideas points out a new direction for future environmentalism.
Among the topics discussed are the confluence of wilderness, empire, and race in the United States; the way the ecology movement uses language; gendered views of the wilderness; maps and topology, and how they affect our view of the wild; healing by the wilderness experience; and the idea of an urban wilderness.
Contributors: David Abram; Douglas Buege, U of Wisconsin; Denis Cosgrove, U of London; Robert Greenway, Sonoma State U; Ed Grumbine, Sierra Institute; Marvin Henberg, Linfield College; Irene Klaver, Montana State U; Andrew Light, U of Alberta; Lois Lorentzen, U of San Francisco; Max Oelschlaeger, U of North Texas; R. Murray Schafer; Tom Wolf.
At the very heart of American respect for nature, historically and philosophically, is the notion of the wild. This notion comes under scrutiny in Wild Ideas, a collection of essays that bring a fresh and refreshing perspective to the wilderness paradoxically at the center of our civilization.
Blending well-known and new voices, the volume surveys classical and romantic concepts of wilderness, from the scary to the sublime, and shows why neither serves us anymore. Instead, the authors argue for a "wild culture," in which nature is not opposed to humanity, a mere matter of resources and consumers. A cogent reassessment of the ideas that drive the conservation movement, Wild Ideas points out a new direction for future environmentalism.
Among the topics discussed are the confluence of wilderness, empire, and race in the United States; the way the ecology movement uses language; gendered views of the wilderness; maps and topology, and how they affect our view of the wild; healing by the wilderness experience; and the idea of an urban wilderness.
Contributors: David Abram; Douglas Buege, U of Wisconsin; Denis Cosgrove, U of London; Robert Greenway, Sonoma State U; Ed Grumbine, Sierra Institute; Marvin Henberg, Linfield College; Irene Klaver, Montana State U; Andrew Light, U of Alberta; Lois Lorentzen, U of San Francisco; Max Oelschlaeger, U of North Texas; R. Murray Schafer; Tom Wolf.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Minnesota
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 149 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-8166-2615-1 (9780816626151)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
David Rothenberg is assistant professor of philosophy and director of the program in Science, Technology, and Society at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He is the author of Is It Painful to Think? (Minnesota, 1992) and Hand's End: Technology and the Limits of Nature (1993).
Content
Introduction - wildness untamed - the evolution of an ideal, David Rothenberg. Part 1 Whose wild idea?: wild and sustainable uses - revisioning wilderness, R. Edward Grumbine; habitable Earth - wilderness, empire and race in America, Denis Cosgrove; Earth-talk - conservation and the ecology of language, Max Oelschlaeger. Part 2 Cross-cultural wild: pancultural wilderness, Marvin Henberg; reminiscing about a sleepy lake - borderland views of women, place and the wild, Lois Ann Lorentzen; confessions of an eco-colonialist - responsible knowing among the Inuit, Douglas J. Buege. Part 3 The art of the wild: out of the map, into the territory - the earthly topology of time, David Abram; silent wolves - the howl of the implicity, Irene Klaver; the idea of the north - an iceberg history, David Rothenberg; the princess of the stars - music for a wilderness lake, R. Murray Schafer. Part 4 The wild revised: beauty and the beasts - predators in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, Tom Wolf; healing by the wilderness experience, Robert Greenway; urban wilderness, Andrew Light; epilogue - paradox wild, David Rothenberg.