Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind [Paperback]

Theodore Roszak (Editor), Mary E. Gomes (Editor), Allen D. Kanner (Editor), Lester R. Brown (Foreword), James Hillman (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995 | Series: Sierra Club Books Publication

This pathfinding collection has become a seminal text for the burgeoning ecopsychology movement, which has brought key new insights to environmentalism and revolutionized modern psychology. Its writers show how the health of the planet is inextricably linked to the psychological health of humanity, individually and collectively.
Contributors to this volume include the premier psychotherapists, thinkers, and eco-activists working in this field. James Hillman, the world-renowned Jungian analyst, identifies as the “one core issue for all psychology” the nature and limits of human identity, and relates this to the condition of the planet. Earth Island Institute head Carl Anthony argues for “a genuinely multicultural self and a global civil society without racism” as fundamental to human and earthly well-being. And Buddhist writer and therapist Joanna Macy speaks of the need to open up our feelings for our threatened planet as an antidote to environmental despair.
“Is it possible,” asks co-editor Theodore Roszak, “that the planetary and the personal are pointing the way forward to some new basis for a sustainable economic and emotional life?” Ecopsychology in practice has begun to affirm this, aided by these definitive writings.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A breakthrough book. It makes crystal clear that the natural world is not just an `environment' around us, but it is us, existing inside our souls and minds."--Jerry Mander

"A very exciting book of enormous interest for everyone concerned with the future of our species--environmentalists and legislators, industrialists and educators, you and me. Its message should become part of Western thought."--Jane Goodall

About the Author

Theodore Roszak was a professor of history at California State University, Hayward, and is the author of many distinguished books, including The Voice of the Earth and Person/Planet. Mary E. Gomes teaches ecopsychology at Sonoma State University. Allen D. Kanner is a Bay Area clinician who teaches ecopsychology at the Wright Institute in Berkeley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Sierra Club Books; 1st Edition, 5th Printing edition (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871564068
• ISBN-13: 978-0871564061
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Science & Math > Environment > Environmentalism
  • #67 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Environmental Science
  • #67 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Ecology

More About the Author

Theodore Roszak (1933-2011) was the author of fifteen books, including the 1969 classic "The Making of a Counter Culture." He was professor emeritus of history at California State University, and lived in Berkeley, California.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It will open your eyes, heart,and mind February 3, 2000

By Tom the Bike Guy

Format:Paperback

Page 12, "if the self is expanded to include the natural world, behavior leading to the destruction of this world will be experienced as self-destruction". I think I have been somewhat of an ecopsychologist for some time now, but haven't realized it. This book brought to an organized sense, ideas, thoughts and feelings I already had. More importantly it introduced me to MANY new insights and thoughts about our planet and how we view it and treat it as NOT ME, when in fact, not only is it part of ME, but moreso, we are part of it. This is a very comprehensive book that takes us from theory, into practice, then to cultural and political issues, and onward with over 150 titles of suggested reading. Ecopsychology is a growing somewhat underground movement, a movement however, that many believe will come to fruition in this day and age of our concrete jungles, addiction to science and technology, and our general detachment from our original mother, the Earth. There are approximately 25 contributors to this book, a few, I must admit offer very dry reading. Overall however, this is one of the most enlightening books I have read. If you have even a general interest in Nature or Psychology, you would enjoy this book.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Mother Earth Indeed! January 9, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book has provided me with a greater scope of how we are affected by the Earth and how we affect it. I am sad to see it is out of print, because the information it presents is vital for the future of us and our planet. I intend to pass on this book to friends and relatives to make them aware of the spiritual power that becoming more acquainted with the Earth provides. I feel like in this day and age we seemed to have lost interest and respect for our surroundings and our roots. What this book tries to do is get us back to those roots to get a deeper understanding of life, which, I'm sure, many of us have often wondered about. It celebrates the mystery, wildness and beauty that nature holds.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars still the classic December 22, 2001

By Craig Chalquist, PhD, author of TERRAPSYCHOLOGY and DEEP CALIFORNIA

Format:Paperback

Assembled here are some of the leading lights of ecopsychology, with papers and excerpts from the books they've written: Roszak himself, Aizenstat, Hillman, Gomes, Glendinning, and on and on. A rare collection of important voices.

The idea of ecopsychology is to open up awareness to the unheard voice of the Earth. "Animism" is a 19th century assumption that assumes the world lives only to the degree we project into it. The authors here realize that animism is a reductionistic and outdated concept that only serves to justify the ongoing rape and dematerialization of the natural world--a world that in fact projects her presence into those of us who can learn to hear her.

This is not a back-to-nature project but a necessity if we are to preserve what's left of the Earth from our greed, haste, and the global warming of the psyche endemic to a society of rapacious and immature consumers too bent on private advantage to do what our ancestors did for a million years of history and prehistory: recognize and respect her personhood. And today, we can do so with all our critical faculties intact and a bit of help from green technics.