The Decline of Nature : Environmental History and the Western Worldview - Hardcover

Gilbert Lafreniere

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1933146400 ISBN 13: 9781933146409

Publisher: Academica Press, 2007

Synopsis

This work is a radical rethinking of the key currents of intellectual and environmental history. The Decline of Nature is an account of Western attitudes and behavior toward nature, from the deforestation of Western Europe during the High Middle Ages through the Scientific Revolution and the technological exploitation of nature in the 19th and 20th centuries, and on to the Environmental Movement. The destruction of European and colonial ecosystems parallels the rise of modern mechanistic science and a science-based idea of progress which has been perverted by economic ideologies into a belief in unlimited development of nature-as-resources into the amenities of the consumer society. Ecosystems and species diversity have declined to isolated and shrinking remnants subject to further degradation due to global warming resulting from human intervention in global climate cycles. These massive changes will have a catastrophic effect upon evolutionary processes, mankind and the survival of the Earth. The Decline of Nature is an environmental history of ideas embedded in a compact account of Western civilization s ecological impact upon the planet, particularly in Europe and its colonies. The major thesis presented is the idea that two speculative philosophies of history (attempts to understand the meaning of history) and their associated worldviews have been largely responsible for destructive attitudes and behaviors towards nature. They include the idea of providence (i.e. the Christian worldview) and the idea of progress (the science and technology-based vision of unrestrained economic development and material accumulation since the 17th century). Some scholars understand the idea of progress as a secularization of the Christian millennium, the creation of a new Eden through science and technology. A third, alternative philosophy of history, the idea of history as multiple cycles of civilizations rising, flourishing, and declining, was popular in both classes.

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About this title

About the Author:

Gilbert LaFreniere is a graduate of Williams College and holds a Ph.D from UCSB. He has for many years been a senior professor of Environmental Sciences and History at Willamette University in Salem,Oregon. He is also a trained geologist with service in the USCGS.

Review:

No book could be more timely than The Decline of Nature. LaFreniere offers an in-depth analysis of the fundamental issues that must be faced if solutions for environmental crisis are to be found. His arguments are a refreshing alternative to the superficial policy proposals of politicians and the glib reporting of the mass media.
From the Foreword by Professor Max Oelschlaeger, Northern Arizona University

The virtue of his book is threefold: it ingeniously connects the latest findings of environmental science to the broad stream of cultural history; exposes the flaws inherent in western attitudes about nature, especially the destructive, providential ''idea of nature'' and revives the much neglected field of speculative philosophy of history.
From an appreciation by Professor Klaus Fischer, author of Oswald Spengler and the Decline of the West and Nazi Germany: A New History

...Sweepingly brilliant! Professor J.Donald Hughes
--Dr Max Oelschlaeger

...Sweepingly brilliant!
--Professor J.Donald Hughes

The virtue of his book is threefold: it ingeniously connects the latest findings of environmental science to the broad stream of cultural history; exposes the flaws inherent in western attitudes about nature, especially the destructive, providential ''idea of nature''; and revives the much neglected field of speculative philosophy of history --Professor Klaus Fischer

...Sweepingly brilliant! --Professor J.Donald Hughes

The virtue of his book is threefold: it ingeniously connects the latest findings of environmental science to the broad stream of cultural history; exposes the flaws inherent in western attitudes about nature, especially the destructive, providential "idea of nature; and revives the much neglected field of speculative philosophy of history From an appreciation by Professor Klaus Fischer, author of Oswald Spengler and the Decline of the --Professor Klaus Fischer

About this edition

• Publisher: Academica Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1933146400
• ISBN 13: 9781933146409
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 364