Developing Ecological Consciousness: Becoming Fully Human

by Christopher Uhl, Jennifer Anderson (Editor)

Overview

Developing Ecological Consciousness is a unique introduction to environmental studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538116692
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/09/2020
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.92(w) x 9.04(h) x 0.49(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Christopher Uhl is a professor emeritus of biology at Penn State University and coauthor of Teaching as if Life Matters: The Promise of a New Education Culture and Awaken 101: Finding Meaning and Purpose in College and Beyond.

Jennifer Anderson is a program director at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center and an instructor in the biology department at Penn State University.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Laura Hake

Preface to Third Edition

Acknowledgments

Part I: Earth, Our Home

1 Humility: We Are a Part of Something Greater Than Ourselves

2 Curiosity and Connection: Seeing the World with New Eyes

3 Intimacy: Belonging to Earth

Part II: Assessing the Health of Earth

4 Listening: Gauging the Health of Earth

5 Courage: Facing Up to the Unraveling of the Biosphere

6 Living the Questions: Discovering the Causes of Earth Breakdown

Part III: Healing Ourselves, Healing Earth

7 The Old Story: Economism and Separation

8 Birthing a New Story: The Great Turning

Epilogue

Notes

Index

About the Authors

What People are Saying About This

Greg Lankenau

Christopher Uhl at once offers a loving, joyful invitation and a profound challenge to transform our relationships with Earth. With great clarity and insight, Uhl shows us that the ecological crisis is fundamentally about who we are, as individuals and as a people. I feature Developing Ecological Consciousness in my introductory environmental courses, and my students and I agree: this is a magnificent, one-of-a-kind book.

David W. Orr

Christopher Uhl provides a book that begins in wonder and concludes with applied hope. Developing Ecological Consciousness is a brilliant introduction to the complexities of ecology and mind, and a timely reminder that the world is still rich in possibilities.

Steven Lachman

Reading Chris's second edition of Developing Ecological Consciousness has been a homecoming, a reminder of who we are, a reminder of what's really important. It should be required reading for all, because it gives us pause to consider the road we will take. And for the sake of the Earth and for our peace of minds, that will make all the difference. Chris turns the environmental movement on its head by saying that the question is not how much stuff we can consume and still keep the Earth sustainable, but rather how our lives can nurture the Earth. He uses a variety of devices to accomplish this reorientation. Like Chris himself, the book is passionate yet gentle; using poignant quotations, revealing vignettes, and easy-to-understand descriptions of how our planet works. Because Developing Ecological Consciousness celebrates the potential of the human spirit, it is uplifting. It brings out the best in the reader.

F.T. Kuserk

Meant as both a textbook and as a general reader, this book effectively marries scientific content with a conviction that the way to solve environmental and social problems comes not from legislation or technology, but from humankind's awakened and caring hearts. Recommended.

Coleen O'Connell

I was so excited when I discovered the first edition of Developing Ecological Consciousness. It was exactly what I needed in a course book. I have used it every year since and in reviewing the second edition, it just got better.

Steve Lachman

Anyone who reads Christopher Uhl's writing will come away with something of value, but two groups will benefit most: people who already appreciate the environment, but want inspiration to take the next step toward sustainable living; and teachers and parents who want to reframe today's environmental issues in a way that reaches their students/children at the gut level.

Terry Link

Chris Uhl has been developing his own ecological consciousness since the first edition as is clear from this significant rewrite of that earlier gem. It is shorter, crisper, and significantly deeper, if that’s possible. There is sadness and hope woven in the pages that give us a portrait of the world we share and the relationships that will foretell our common future. He has dug deep to share his collected knowledge and wisdom and opened his heart to all that needs mended. A textbook for sure, but much, much more … guide to living.

Editorial Reviews

If you teach about the climate emergency, ecosystem collapse, or the extreme dysfunction of contemporary existence, you know that ordinary pedagogy does not work. The ‘Just the facts, ma’am’ approach terrifies or numbs students. This magical book turns the world upside down and connects students to their deep humanity, all the while teaching what they need to know about the world around them. A proven life changer, it should be required reading for faculty, students, and others who recognize the dangerous path we are currently on.

Juliet B. Schor

A field guide to our deep connection to earth, a story of why we need to care, and an invitation to walk the path towards healing the planet and ourselves.

Doug Wentzel

Developing Ecological Consciousness is a sober, empowering, learned and impassioned guide that summons us back to the fullness of our shared humanity. It is an agent of activation, helping us shake off the inertia we commonly feel when pitted against the monumental scale of our ecological crisis. It helps us understand what the crisis is specifically asking of us: to disentangle ourselves from the outmoded paradigms of thinking we are schooled in, from the half-life of stale relationships, from the narrow anxieties that bind us, and grow into a fully awakened relationship with the natural world. Full of surprises, this book brilliantly illuminates what I believe to be the only way we can move forward. Read it, and feel your life being enriched.

Philip Shepherd

A field guide to our deep connection to earth, a story of why we need to care, and an invitation to walk the path towards healing the planet and ourselves.

As a student of the humanities and an advocate for human rights, I've never considered myself an "environmentalist" or "eco"-anything. So an ecological textbook that begins with a quote from Vaclav Havel, and even makes room for poetry and religion, has my undivided attention. Indeed, if I'd read this book in college, I might have understood far earlier what that ecologist and radical abolitionist Henry Thoreau taught me years later--that we are all of us "part and parcel of Nature."

Christopher Uhl, in this third edition of his work, shows us what it means to evolve and become fully human. By his own story, told across two decades now, he continues to share with the world his growing understanding of our urgent need to reunite with the cosmological order of the universe. As someone who has traversed this same landscape, I cherish his clarity and now the clarity of his colleague and co-writer, Jennifer Anderson. Required reading in every school of education in our country.

Developing Ecological Consciousness is a sober, empowering, learned and impassioned guide that summons us back to the fullness of our shared humanity. It is an agent of activation, helping us shake off the inertia we commonly feel when pitted against the monumental scale of our ecological crisis. It helps us understand what the crisis is specifically asking of us: to disentangle ourselves from the outmoded paradigms of thinking we are schooled in, from the half-life of stale relationships, from the narrow anxieties that bind us, and grow into a fully awakened relationship with the natural world. Full of surprises, this book brilliantly illuminates what I believe to be the only way we can move forward. Read it, and feel your life being enriched.

If you teach about the climate emergency, ecosystem collapse, or the extreme dysfunction of contemporary existence, you know that ordinary pedagogy does not work. The 'Just the facts, ma'am' approach terrifies or numbs students. This magical book turns the world upside down and connects students to their deep humanity, all the while teaching what they need to know about the world around them. A proven life changer, it should be required reading for faculty, students, and others who recognize the dangerous path we are currently on.

In this thoroughly revised edition of Developing Ecological Consciousness, Christopher Uhl helps us answer one of the most critical questions of our time, "What gives you hope?". While Uhl's own answers are both wise and heartfelt, the essential contribution of this book is the guidance it gives readers in developing their own answers. Viewed as a "guidebook for hope" this should be required reading for anyone, from university faculty with their students to parents with their children, trying to discern, or reimagine, what it could mean to be fully human in these precarious and purposeful times.

Teachers and students can trust this remarkably wise, multifaceted, and stimulating book to guide them on a journey from head to heart. This is a book for those who not only want to understand the facts and the science of the ecological crisis but also crave the emotional, philosophical, and spiritual tools to make the personal and societal changes that our planet requires.

From the Publisher

Christopher Uhl, in this third edition of his work, shows us what it means to evolve and become fully human. By his own story, told across two decades now, he continues to share with the world his growing understanding of our urgent need to reunite with the cosmological order of the universe. As someone who has traversed this same landscape, I cherish his clarity and now the clarity of his colleague and co-writer, Jennifer Anderson. Required reading in every school of education in our country.

Coleen O'Connell

Teachers and students can trust this remarkably wise, multifaceted, and stimulating book to guide them on a journey from head to heart. This is a book for those who not only want to understand the facts and the science of the ecological crisis but also crave the emotional, philosophical, and spiritual tools to make the personal and societal changes that our planet requires.

Ian Mevorach

As a student of the humanities and an advocate for human rights, I’ve never considered myself an “environmentalist” or “eco”-anything. So an ecological textbook that begins with a quote from Vaclav Havel, and even makes room for poetry and religion, has my undivided attention. Indeed, if I’d read this book in college, I might have understood far earlier what that ecologist and radical abolitionist Henry Thoreau taught me years later—that we are all of us “part and parcel of Nature.

Wen Stephenson

In this thoroughly revised edition of Developing Ecological Consciousness, Christopher Uhl helps us answer one of the most critical questions of our time, “What gives you hope?”. While Uhl’s own answers are both wise and heartfelt, the essential contribution of this book is the guidance it gives readers in developing their own answers. Viewed as a “guidebook for hope” this should be required reading for anyone, from university faculty with their students to parents with their children, trying to discern, or reimagine, what it could mean to be fully human in these precarious and purposeful times.

Jeffrey Gerwing

I enjoyed Developing Ecological Consciousness so much, I am going to add it to my fall reading list for my Politics, the Environment, and Social Change. course I think so highly of this book for my students in this course that is usually so negative and depressing that having an upbeat book is refreshing and will enhance the course immensely.

Joel Kassiola

Meant as both a textbook and as a general reader, this book effectively marries scientific content with a conviction that the way to solve environmental and social problems comes not from legislation or technology, but from humankind's awakened and caring hearts. Recommended.

F. T. Kuserk

Christopher Uhl at once offers a loving, joyful invitation, and a profound challenge to transform our relationships with Earth. With great clarity and insight, Uhl shows us that the ecological crisis is fundamentally about who we are, as individuals and as a people. I feature Developing Ecological Consciousness in my introductory environmental courses, and my students and I agree: this is a magnificent, one-of-a-kind book.

Greg Lankenau

Christopher Uhl has been developing his own ecological consciousness since the first edition, as is clear from this significant rewrite of that earlier gem. It is shorter, crisper, and significantly deeper, if that’s possible. There is sadness and hope woven in the pages that give us a portrait of the world we share and the relationships that will foretell our common future. He has dug deep to share his collected knowledge and wisdom and opened his heart to all that needs mended. A textbook for sure, but much, much more … guide to living.

Terry Link

Reading Christopher's second edition of Developing Ecological Consciousness has been a homecoming, a reminder of who we are, a reminder of what's really important. It should be required reading for all, because it gives us pause to consider the road we will take. And for the sake of the Earth and for our peace of minds, that will make all the difference. Christopher turns the environmental movement on its head by saying that the question is not how much stuff we can consume and still keep the Earth sustainable, but rather how our lives can nurture the Earth. He uses a variety of devices to accomplish this reorientation. Like Christopher himself, the book is passionate yet gentle; using poignant quotations, revealing vignettes, and easy-to-understand descriptions of how our planet works. Because Developing Ecological Consciousness celebrates the potential of the human spirit, it is uplifting. It brings out the best in the reader.

Steven Lachman

Anyone who reads Christopher Uhl's writing will come away with something of value, but two groups will benefit most: people who already appreciate the environment, but want inspiration to take the next step toward sustainable living; and teachers and parents who want to reframe today's environmental issues in a way that reaches their students/children at the gut level.

Steve Lachman

Christopher Uhl, professor of biology at the Pennsylvania State University, has written an intriguing book that tackles perhaps the most fundamental issues of our times, specifically, how to achieve sustainable societies that integrate, as opposed to alienate, the ecological world upon which we depend. Whether or not the reader agrees with Uhl's individual points or not is immaterial. It is the connections drawn throughout the book which, like ecology, make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Conservation Biology - Mark A. Cochrane

Christopher Uhl, professor of biology at the Pennsylvania State University, has written an intriguing book that tackles perhaps the most fundamental issues of our times, specifically, how to achieve sustainable societies that integrate, as opposed to alienate, the ecological world upon which we depend. Whether or not the reader agrees with Uhl's individual points or not is immaterial. It is the connections drawn throughout the book which, like ecology, make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
— Mark A. Cochrane, Michigan State University

Conservation Biology

Christopher Uhl's Developing Ecological Consciousness is an engaging book that, to its credit, does not sit squarely within any particular academic field or school of thought. Part science text, part philosophical treatise, its main lines of argumentation are remarkably similar to those of the Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess and other figures in the deep ecology movement. Uhl himself is a scientific ecologist and not a philosopher, but he plays both roles well here as he encourages his readers to re-assess their proper place in nature. . . .[I]t surely would be a very useful course book, especially for more general courses covering topics in environmental studies and environmental education. . . .Developing Ecological Consciousness is a fine book. It is, moreover, one that is eminently readable and that carries an optimistic message. Thus it does precisely what it appears to be intended to do: speak to a wide audience, engage students, and bring hope to twenty-first century environmentalism.

Biological Conservation

A remarkably useful contribution to the literature on the crisis in human relations with Earth and the whole debate over creating sustainability. Developing Ecological Consciousness is a book for the college classroom and for community groups of all kinds. It is a useful resource in terms of its information content, which is provided in sensible amounts for the layperson to take in. But this information is seen as feeding into an experiential process. That is the whole mission of the book: to help us form new contours in the landscape of our greatest asset—our consciousness. This book can be used to support the journeys of all individuals who are venturing onto the path of building a sustainable world. Christopher Uhl has a beautiful style of writing and writes with a quality of deep authenticity that is very refreshing.

Earthlight

If you only read one book about sustainability, make it Developing Ecological Consciousness by Christopher Uhl. This readable and inspiring book has remarkable scope, literally from the Big Bang to the practice of loving kindness. It also ranges from well-grounded science clearly explained to philosophy and personal reflection.

Trends

[Uhl] combines ecological information with anecdotes from his personal life, and employs a narrative style that is quick to read and easily accessible.

Ecology

Developing Ecological Consciousness powerfully blends information, insight, and inspiration.

Friends Journal

Christopher Uhl provides a book that begins in wonder and concludes with applied hope. Developing Ecological Consciousness is a brilliant introduction to the complexities of ecology and mind, and a timely reminder that the world is still rich in possibilities.

David W. Orr

From the first edition: The book's greatest potential may be as an innovative textbook for the professor of introductory ecology who wants to motivate students to internalize the web of life into their psyches.

Environment

This book's title proclaims the author's purpose. An important chapter discusses economism and separation. According to Uhl, economism is central to the life stories of people today. Individuals see things in terms of money, without understanding the consequences of their actions on the Earth and on others. The author sees economism as a pseudo religion and believes the present time is an "age of separation." Uhl attempts, by description and by suggesting experiences to participate in, to point the way toward changing society so that people are no longer as separated and see the world through a non-economistic worldview. This edition (1st ed., 2004) is 100 pages shorter than the original, with new content added and outdated material removed. The first edition, says the author, concentrated on sustainability. However, he came to believe that even working hard toward sustainability will not get people out of the environmental mess they are plunging into. Radical changes are needed. He is probably right, and absorbing this book would help that. Although there is some scientific ecology in the book, it is an environmental stewardship work, not an ecology text. It is well edited, with a good index and documentation. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.

CHOICE

This book's title proclaims the author's purpose. An important chapter discusses economism and separation. According to Uhl, economism is central to the life stories of people today. Individuals see things in terms of money, without understanding the consequences of their actions on the Earth and on others. The author sees economism as a pseudo religion and believes the present time is an "age of separation." Uhl attempts, by description and by suggesting experiences to participate in, to point the way toward changing society so that people are no longer as separated and see the world through a non-economistic worldview. This edition (1st ed., 2004) is 100 pages shorter than the original, with new content added and outdated material removed. The first edition, says the author, concentrated on sustainability. However, he came to believe that even working hard toward sustainability will not get people out of the environmental mess they are plunging into. Radical changes are needed. He is probably right, and absorbing this book would help that. Although there is some scientific ecology in the book, it is an environmental stewardship work, not an ecology text. It is well edited, with a good index and documentation. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries.

Choice