Nothing Lowly in the Universe: An Integral Approach to the Ecological Crisis

The world is facing an existential crisis. Looming climate breakdown and ecological collapse could lead to the "sixth extinction" event in Earth's history, this time by our own hand, and the massive loss of human life and of many other life-forms with which we share the earth. How did we get here, and how can we transform our ways of thinking and living to avoid catastrophe? And what really sustains us?

In a wide-ranging and comprehensive analysis, based on decades of experience as an environmental research scientist, activist and Quaker, Jennie M. Ratcliffe explores the interconnected scientific, technological, economic, religious and psychological causes of our predicament and shows how the ecological crisis is, at its heart, a spiritual and moral crisis. Drawing primarily on Quaker testimonies, on Gandhian, Buddhist, and other wisdom traditions, and the work of Thomas Berry, Arne Naess, E.F. Schumacher and others, she explores the underlying principles by which we-particularly those of us in the wealthiest countries-can radically transform our ways of life. The principles of integrity, reciprocity, nonviolence, simplicity, and equality, rooted in a realization of the unity and interdependence of, and love for, the whole earth community, are the foundation of an integral deep ecology, deep economy, and deep peace. Far from being utopian, they can and are being translated into spiritually-grounded practices around the world, offering transformational paths to the long-term sustainability of a more just and peaceable world for the commonwealth of life and the emergence of a new Ecozoic era.

Includes illustrations, comprehensive footnotes, full bibliography, and index.

Jennie M. Ratcliffe is an environmental research epidemiologist, activist, and Quaker. Her lifelong concern has been to make connections between peace, justice and ecological sustainability as interdependent spheres of morality, spirituality and social responsibility; to integrate thinking and practice in science, religion, and ethics; and to join inward contemplation with outward action. After completing a Master's degree in pollution studies at Manchester University, a doctorate in environmental epidemiology and postdoctoral research in toxicology at the University of London in the U.K., she has worked as a research epidemiologist for almost 40 years, including with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and at the Universities of London and North Carolina, and has served as an advisor for the World Health Organization, the European Union and other international bodies. She has also worked with Friends of the Earth, the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science, and Physicians for Social Responsibility, among other organizations, and helped found and participate in numerous local groups advocating for a more peaceable, equitable, and ecologically sustainable world. A long-time member of Durham Friends Meeting in North Carolina, she has been active in peace, social and earthcare concerns within the Quaker community for many years, and was the Henry J. Cadbury Scholar in Quaker Studies at Pendle Hill in 2005-6. She has also traveled widely in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia and elsewhere to study the impacts of ecological destruction on human societies and the wider natural world, and to learn about ways we can preserve the commonwealth of life, grounding responses in spiritual and moral principles that can be put into practice in diverse cultures and communities.