In a Dark Wood: A Critical History of the Fight Over Forests

by Chase,Alston

• ISBN13: 9780765807526
• ISBN10: 0765807521
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In a Dark Wood presents a history of debates among ecologists over what constitutes good forestry, and a critique of the ecological reasoning behind contemporary strategies of preservation, including the Endangered Species Act. Chase argues that these strategies, in many instances adopted for political, rather than scientific reasons, fail to promote biological diversity and may actually harm more creatures than they help. At the same time, Chase offers examples of conservation strategies that work, but which are deemed politically incorrect and ignored. In a Dark Wood provides the most thoughtful and complete account yet written of radical environmentalism. And it challenges the fundamental-but largely unexamined-assumptions of preservationism, such as those concerning whether there is a "balance of nature," whether all branches of ecology are really science, and whether ecosystems exist. In his new introduction, Chase evaluates the response to his book and reports on recent developments in environmental science, policy, and politics. In a Dark Wood was judged by a recent national poll to be one of the one hundred best nonfiction books written in the English language during the twentieth century. A smashing good read, this book will be of interest to environmentalists, ecologists, philosophers, biologists, and bio-ethicists, and anyone concerned about ecological issues.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Transaction Edition	xi
Preface	xxvii
Prologue	xxxiii
The Search for Nature	1	(12)
PART I CRISIS: WHAT IS NATURE? 1960-1972
Cork Boot Fever	13	(12)
Mr. Redwood	25	(15)
The Eco Raiders	40	(12)
Rebels with a Cause	52	(15)
Life in the Peace Zone	67	(12)
PART II DISCOVERY: NATURE IS AN ANCIENT FOREST, 1973-1981
Building an Ark	79	(15)
A Law for All Seasons	94	(11)
A New Metaphor for Nature	105	(14)
The Birth of Biocentrism	119	(12)
The Owl Shrieked	131	(17)
The Reluctant Researchers	148	(17)
The New Forestry	165	(14)
PART III RESPONSE: THE BIOCENTRIC REVOLUTION, 1982-1990
Night on Bald Mountain	179	(13)
The Network	192	(11)
Wall Street Forestry	203	(12)
Occurrence at All Species Grove	215	(14)
The Age of Extremism	229	(15)
The Paradigm Shift	244	(17)
Wobblies and Yellow Ribbons	261	(13)
The Easter Sunday Massacre	274	(16)
Forests Forever	290	(18)
Fred, the Walking Rainbow	308	(14)
Stepping on an Anthill	322	(12)
Redwood Summer	334	(19)
PART IV CONSEQUENCES: THE SEASON OF OUR UNCERTAINTY, 1991-
Diaspora	353	(17)
Home, Sweet Home	370	(13)
The Forest Summit	383	(12)
The Inferno	395	(14)
In a Dark Wood	409	(16)
Notes and Sources	425	(84)
Index	509