EcoMind

by Lappe, Frances Moore

• ISBN13: 9781568586830
• ISBN10: 1568586833
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-09-13
• Publisher: Nation Books

Summary

In EcoMind, Frances Moore Lappe--a giant of the environmental movement--confronts accepted wisdom of environmentalism. Drawing on the latest research from anthropology to neuroscience and her own field experience, she argues that the biggest challenge to human survival isn't our fossil fuel dependency, melting glaciers, or other calamities. Rather, it's our faulty way of thinking about these environmental crises that robs us of power. Lappe dismantles seven common "thought traps"--from limits to growth to the failings of democracy-- that belie what we now know about nature, including our own, and offers contrasting "thought leaps" that reveal our hidden power. Like her Diet for a Small Planetclassic, EcoMindis challenging, controversial and empowering.

Table of Contents

Why I wrote this book	p. xi
Our Challenge Developing an EcoMind	p. 1
Can we remake our mental map?	p. 3
We're living an aberration	p. 4
We already know how	p. 4
It's not all locked up	p. 8
And a lot of people care	p. 9
So why are we moving backward?	p. 10
The power of ideas	p. 10
The Gipper and Gekko	p. 11
The trap	p. 13
The seven thought traps	p. 14
A liberating jolt	p. 17
No-Growth Is the Answer!	p. 19
But why the built-in waste and destruction?	p. 22
Privately held government	p. 24
Refocusing on what matters	p. 29
Beyond growth versus no-growth	p. 30
Measuring our progress with an eco-mind	p. 38
A clarification	p. 41
"Consumer Society" Is the Problem	p. 43
Born to buy?	p. 45
Materialism misdiagnosed?	p. 46
Inside "market demand"	p. 48
What is luxury?	p. 50
Out of the cafeteria line into the kitchen	p. 52
Waste before we buy. . . why?	p. 55
The "glory of the human"?	p. 57
We've Hit the Limits of a Finite Earth	p. 61
The limits of limits thinking	p. 62
Beyond limits to alignment	p. 63
Righting the balance	p. 68
"We stopped the desert"	p. 71
From ancient farmers, a soil secret	p. 73
Hunger as teacher of the eco-mind	p. 74
Flourishing as, or even because, we cut greenhouse gas emissions	p. 77
Have fossil fuels freed or enslaved us?	p. 80
And how else has oil enslaved?	p. 81
Distributing social power as we generate new and clean energy	p. 83
A different pathway, a different message	p. 85
We Must Overcome Human Nature to Save the Planet	p. 89
Six human traits we can count on	p. 91
Cooperation	p. 92
Empathy	p. 93
Fairness	p. 95
Efficacy	p. 96
Meaning	p. 99
Imagination and creativity	p. 100
If we're so great	p. 101
Speaking to our nature	p. 106
To Save Our Planet, We Have to Override Humanity's Natural Resistance to Rules	p. 111
Cues from nature	p. 113
Rule-making power: who, how, why	p. 14
Market mythology, market meltdown	p. 117
Only change is constant	p. 118
Possibility	p. 119
Good-bye to the fiction that corporations are persons	p. 121
Wildfires of common sense	p. 122
Rules that work	p. 124
Commons care	p. 126
Real freedom	p. 131
Humans Have Lost the Connection to Nature	p. 133
Soft-wired connection: The proof is in	p. 135
Humans meet nature, even in city centers	p. 136
Retrieving lives through the land	p. 140
"Teach them to long for the endless immensity"	p. 141
It's Too Late!	p. 145
The most worrisome deficit	p. 147
Why democracy now	p. 149
What works. . . what doesn't	p. 151
An ecology of democracy	p. 153
Who pays the piper	p. 156
If Deb can do it	p. 159
What accountable government can do	p. 159
Democracy, live it or lose it	p. 161
New ways of tapping the wisdom of crowds	p. 162
Democracy and dignity	p. 169
An Invitation--Thinking Like an Ecosystem	p. 173
The work of hope	p. 173
Our culture's food crisis through a relational lens	p. 174
Reconnecting, but this time with intention	p. 178
It's the context, stupid!	p. 180
Ready for surprises	p. 183
Upping our courage quotient	p. 186
Rethinking power	p. 191
Cultivating the EcoMind: Moving into Action	p. 195
Thought leaps for the eco-mind	p. 196
Lexicon for the eco-mind	p. 198
Upping our civil courage: The power of putting our eco-minds into action	p. 199
Making our own connections	p. 200
Connecting with organizations and campaigns that are . . .	p. 201
Engaging citizens in the work of planet healing	p. 201
Working to involve citizens and remove the power of private wealth in our democracy	p. 205
Engaging citizens in reclaiming our democracy	p. 206
Some favorite reading: Books, magazines, and websites for the eco-mind	p. 208
Acknowledgments	p. 211
Notes	p. 215
Index	p. 271
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