Becoming Good Ancestors How We Balance Nature, Community, and Technology

by Ehrenfeld, David

• ISBN13: 9780195373783
• ISBN10: 0195373782
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

A brilliant writer and gifted "big picture" thinker, David Ehrenfeld is one of America's leading conservation biologists. Becoming Good Ancestors unites in a single framework themes spanning ecology, economics, technology, and culture, and illuminating the forces in modern society that thwart our efforts to solve today's problems.

Author Biography

David Ehrenfeld is Professor of Biology at Rutgers University and holds degrees in history, medicine, and zoology. He is the founding editor of the journal Conservation Biology and the author of The Arrogance of Humanism and Beginning Again.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Bookmap	p. xiii
In Search of Honesty
Pretending	p. 3
Brainstorming Has Its Limits	p. 18
Nothing Simple	p. 22
The Comforts of Fantasy	p. 27
Keeping Track of Our Losses
Rejecting Gifts	p. 37
The Uses and Risks of Adaptation	p. 42
When Machines Replace People	p. 47
Pseudocommunities	p. 51
Obsolescence	p. 58
Accelerating Social Evolution	p. 63
Writing	p. 69
Toward a Sustainable Economics
Affluence and Austerity	p. 77
Energy and Friendly Fire	p. 82
Durable Goods	p. 87
Preserving Our Capital	p. 91
Conservation for Profit	p. 97
Hot Spots and the Globalization of Conservation	p. 106
Putting a Value on Nature	p. 121
The Downside of Corporate Immortality	p. 127
Relating to Nature in a Human-Dominated World
Wilderness as Teacher	p. 137
An Opposing View of Nature	p. 141
Death of a Plastic Palm	p. 147
Scientific Discoveries and Nature's Mysteries	p. 151
I Reinvent Agriculture	p. 157
Thinking about Breeds and Species	p. 163
Strangers in Our Own Land	p. 169
Teaching Field Ecology	p. 176
The Ubiquitous Right-of-Way	p. 181
A Walk in the Woods	p. 186
Old Growth	p. 190
Intimacy with Nature	p. 196
Restoring the Community
The Utopia Fallacy	p. 203
Traditions	p. 210
Jane Austen and the World of the Community	p. 216
Universities, Schools, and Communities	p. 222
What Do We Owe Our Children?	p. 229
Epilogue: A Call for Fusion and Regeneration	p. 240
Notes	p. 259
Credits	p. 291
Index	p. 293
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