A Conservationist Manifesto [Paperback]

Scott Russell Sanders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 20, 2009

As an antidote to the destructive culture of consumption dominating American life today, Scott Russell Sanders calls for a culture of conservation that allows us to savor and preserve the world, instead of devouring it. How might we shift to a more durable and responsible way of life? What changes in values and behavior will be required? Ranging geographically from southern Indiana to the Boundary Waters Wilderness and culturally from the Bible to billboards, Sanders extends the visions of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Rachel Carson to our own day. A Conservationist Manifesto shows the crucial relevance of a conservation ethic at a time of mounting concern about global climate change, depletion of natural resources, extinction of species, and the economic inequities between rich and poor nations. The important message of this powerful book is that conservation is not simply a personal virtue but a public one.

(2009)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In these predictable but frequently insightful essays, Sanders (Writing from the Center) muses on how to care for the Earth, local communities and future generations. He condemns the mainstream American way of life as an infantile dream of endless consumption, endless novelty, and endless play and, calling for a dream worthy of grownups, explores ways to realize this dream, such as his own decision to stay put in one place and discover that his ambition was not to make a good career but to make a good life and remain attentive to nature and the present moment. Sanders offers a 40-point Conservationist Manifesto, which, in its thoroughness, thoughtfulness and inclusion of environmental justice issues would serve the environmentalist community well. But the most original and intriguing ideas in this book are Sanders's thoughts about words and their meanings, as when he suggests that for a season we make explicit the meaning of consumers by replacing it with devourers, or that wilderness is a Sabbath of space rather than time, and we need both kinds of Sabbath because Earth could use a respite from our demands. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

How should we act in response to alarming environmental havoc? As with every great endeavor, such as the abolition of slavery, what’s needed is a declaration of values and intent. A manifesto. Sanders, a proven voice of reason and clarity, offers exactly such a document in the hope of shaping an effective green movement. But first he has some stories to share, terms to define, and fresh perspectives to establish. Writing lucidly and stirringly from his home base in Indiana, Sanders views preserving wilderness as a Sabbath in space instead of in time. People who practice an “ethic of restraint” are ark builders because their simpler ways of living are “vessels” holding the wisdom we need to survive the “rising flood” of environmental concerns. Sanders writes crisply about what it really means to call a place home; reminds us of our “common wealth,” the living world; and decries “endless consumption.” Generosity of spirit and love of life underpin Sanders’ 40-point blueprint for ecological health. --Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (March 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253220807
• ISBN-13: 978-0253220806
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Note from the Author, March 11, 2009

By 

S. R. Sanders (White River Valley, Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Conservationist Manifesto (Paperback)

A Conservationist Manifesto envisions a path toward a materially simpler and spiritually richer way of life. At present, merchants and mass media, politicians and pundits, agree in defining us as consumers, as if the purpose of life were to devour the world rather than to savor and preserve it. However appealing consumerism may be to our egos, and however profitable it may be for business, it is ruinous for our planet, our communities, and our souls. What I propose instead is that we imagine ourselves as conservers, as stewards of the earth's bounty and beauty.

We need to embrace a conservation ethic if we are to address such threats as the disruption of global climate, the tattering of the ozone layer, the clear-cutting of forests, the poisoning of lakes by acid rain, the collapse of ocean fisheries, the extinction of species, the looming shortages of oil and fresh water, and the spread of famine and epidemic disease.

How might we shift to a more durable and compassionate way of life? What models do we have for a culture of conservation? What changes in values and behavior would be required to bring it about? Where can we see it emerging in practice?

This book seeks answers to those questions. Ranging geographically from my home ground in southern Indiana to the Mount St. Helens volcano and Alaska's Glacier Bay and Minnesota's Boundary Waters Wilderness, and ranging culturally from the Bible to billboards, it maps the practical and ecological grounds for a conservation ethic. The roots of conservation go deep in America, back through such visionaries as Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Henry David Thoreau; back through the frugal habits of the Depression and wartime rationing, through agrarian thrift and frontier ingenuity and the prudent advice of Poor Richard's Almanack; back through Quakers and Puritans, with their emphasis on simplicity; and even farther back to the indigenous people who inhabited this continent before it was called America. Drawing on this heritage, I seek to show that the practice of conservation is our wisest and surest way of caring for our neighbors, for this marvelous planet, and for future generations. --SRS

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Call to Simplify Our Lives for a More Sustainable Existence, August 14, 2010

By 

Bugs "Patrick" (Los Angeles, Ca.) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Conservationist Manifesto (Paperback)

I am always interested in what people have to share about reducing our personal and collective environmental footprints especially in such a mad dog material consuming society as we have in most western countries and I was quite impressed with Scott Sanders' take on this. Sanders is Professor of English at Indiana U of Bloomington and writes/teaches quite extensively on conservation utilizing the lives of such thinkers as Henry David Thoreau, et al. to impress simplifying our existence by walking the walk. Sanders relates how he and his wife have settled into a life of community involvement by shopping locally, growing some of their own food and doing without much of the gadget trappings of the consumerist society. I was impressed by Sanders' explanation of expanding a frugal yet satisfying existence beyond himself to the community- "sustainable arks" and time is of the essence because of the "exponential" growth and decay of our hyper-consuming, resource depleting and polluting society. Much of Sanders ideas concur with Bill McKibben (End Of Nature, etc.), Gary Snyder (The Practice of the Wild, etc.), Barry Lopez (Arctic Dreams, etc.) and others. A good portion of this fine book covers writing about the ethics of sustainability. Kindred spirits make for expanding sustainable community arks- and the concept is catching on all over the globe.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Thought provocative, June 14, 2009

By 

Christian Peterson (Frankton, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Conservationist Manifesto (Paperback)

I was in Bloomington at a bookstore and a friend recommended it to me during a weekend of camping at a near by state park. Very beautiful writing style, evocative, but not wordy. The topic is needed and Prof. Sanders adds another powerful voice to the argument for finding an alternative to mindless devourism.