Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist [Paperback]

Mitchell Thomashow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

Mitchell Thomashow, a preeminent educator, shows how environmental studies can be taught from different perspective, one that is deeply informed by personal reflection. Through theoretical discussion as well as hands-on participatory learning approaches, Thomashow provides concerned citizens, teachers, and students with the tools needed to become reflective environmentalists.What do I know about the place where I live? Where do things come from? How do I connect to the earth? What is my purpose as a human being? These are the questions that Thomashow identifies as being at the heart of environmental education. Developing a profound sense of oneself in relationship to natural and social ecosystems is necessary grounding for the difficult work of environmental advocacy. In this book he provides a clear and accessible guide to the learning experiences that accompany the construction of an "ecological identity": using the direct experience of nature as a framework for personal decisions, professional choices, political action, and spiritual inquiry.Ecological Identity covers the different types of environmental thought and activism (using John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and Rachel Carson as environmental archetypes, but branching out into ecofeminism and bioregionalism), issues of personal property and consumption, political identity and citizenship, and integrating ecological identity work into environmental studies programs. Each chapter has accompanying learning activities such as the Sense of Place Map, a Community Network Map, and the Political Genogram, most of which can be carried out on an individual basis.Although people from diverse backgrounds become environmental activists and enroll in environmental studies programs, they are rarely encouraged to examine their own history, motivations, and aspirations. Thomashow's approach is to reveal the depth of personal experience that underlies contemporary environmentalism and to explore, interpret, and nurture the learning spaces made possible when people are moved to contemplate their experience of nature.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Through theoretical discussion as well as hands-on participatory learning approaches, Thomashow provides concerned citizens, teachers, and students with the tools needed to become reflective environmentalists.

About the Author

" Ecological Identity is an ecological manifesto, a must read foranyone interested in changing the ways human beings exist in the world,and a pedagogy for the environmental movement of the "90s" Katie Hennessey , Utne Reader

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262700638
• ISBN-13: 978-0262700634
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Science & Math > Environment > Environmentalism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist, December 3, 1999

By 

Deana M. Crumbling (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist (Paperback)

Clearly and concisely written, the author deftly probes psychology, sociology, and the multifaceted history of environmental thought, activism, and theory.

The book is a deeply compassionate, insightful discussion that helps environmentalists reflect upon their motivations and resolve internal struggles. A "must read" for all trying to balance realism and the accompanying pain of loss (when viewing the ecological destruction happening around us) with the optimism necessary to keep on fighting positively for societal change.

This book could serve as a guiding text for an environmental discussion group, or for opening communications and building community understanding and consensus in the face of conflict.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eco-Awakenings, September 24, 2000

By 

Vincent M. Silenzio "progressive.doc" (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist (Hardcover)

Thoughtfully written, and carefully capturing the wonder of his learners --- and their nurturing teacher --- "Ecological Identity" is a superb book. Although the prose can be a little slow at times, the arguments are cogently presented and the style is generally helpful and lucid.

Beginners will enjoy this journey that Thomashow leads, and find the exercise well worthwhile. But this book is by no means only for the neophyte. Long-time environmentalists, eco-activists, or simply environmentally concerned readers will find a wealth of new insights each and every time they return. This is a book you will read again and still find small treasures and new directions to explore.

It's not easy being concerned for the environment or keeping a sustainable outlook life in a consumption-prone, techno-rah-rah society. Yet this is exactly the kind of contradiction swirling around and festering within each and every one of us. Learning to identify these contradictions, embrace them, and move beyond them is a formidable task. Explored so well in these chapters, Thomashow again and again strives to break through these contradictions. He leads the reader along on the quest to develop wider and wider circles of identification while simultaneously exploring one's individuality. The journey is a long one, but with guides like the author, it is a path well worth taking.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sound but not artful prose, March 18, 2005

By 

William Chaisson "microfossilboy" (Trumansburg, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ecological Identity: Becoming a Reflective Environmentalist (Paperback)

Mitchell Thomashow has written a thought-provoking book. I had trouble getting through it, in part because I kept putting it down to think about what I had just read.

Thomashow presents imaginative ways of teaching students of all ages and backgrounds to reflect upon their relationship to Nature, but he is not telling the story of any particular person's exploration, which I think would have been a more compelling way of conveying his ideas. Rather this is a textbook and is written mostly in the form of "assertion - information that backs up the assertion - summary of argument that backs up assertion" REPEAT. Thought-provking, but dry.

I found myself gliding through the personal passages wherein Thomashow describes is own realizations about his relationship to Nature and also breezing through the passages wherein in he gives you some background information on the personal perspectives and lives of his students. Only to come to a stuttering halt when he switches to expository mode.

There is something inorganic about the structure of the chapters. Background information about the diametrically opposed views of John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt (prevervation vs. conservation) does not lead smoothly into a discussion of who occupies those pole positions in the contemporary setting. Rather we get a quick once-over of the contemporary scene that claims that it's all much more complicated now. From there Thomashow proceeds to a description of a classroom exercise that forces students to think about the discrepancy between their own convictions and what position their profession forces them to take. All of this is interesting, but it does fit together neatly.

The reader will find a lot of really well thought out and clearly described teaching techniques here. The book seems largely intended for other teachers rather than for individuals who wish to reflect upon their own environmentalism in private.