Green Politics [Paperback]

Charlene Spretnak (Author), Fritjof Capra (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Bear & Co (June 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939680289
• ISBN-13: 978-0939680283
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,838,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EARLY AND INFLUENTIAL WORK IN "GREEN POLITICS" IN THIS COUNTRY, July 21, 2011

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Green Politics (Paperback)

Charlene Spretnak (born 1946) is an author, activist, academic and feminist credited with pioneering work in ecological thought and social criticism, and was a co-founder of the Green Party of the United States. She also teaches in the philosophy and religion department at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and is the author/editor of books such as Relational Reality: New Discoveries of Interrelatedness That Are Transforming the Modern World, The Resurgence of the Real, Missing Mary: The Queen of Heaven and Her Re-Emergence in the Modern Church, The Politics of Women's Spirituality: Essays by Founding Mothers of the Movement, etc. Fritjof Capra (born 1939) is an Austrian-born American physicist, who is a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy and is on the faculty of Schumacher College. He is also the author of books such as The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture, etc.

In the Foreword to the paperback edition (1986) of this book, the authors write, "When we began working on 'Green Politics' in the fall of 1982 our motivation was twofold... We wanted to provide American readers with a comprehensive introduction to Green political thought, both in West Germany and in its global manifestations, as we hoped that the book would inspire American activists to form a Green movement in this country."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"'Visionary/holistic Greens' have as their central concern and guiding principle the evolution of a new society based on ways of thinking and being that reflect the interconnectedness of all phenomena... Eco-Greens ... focus their efforts primarily on protecting the natural world from toxic wastes, radiation, pollution, and other hazards... 'Peace-movement Greens' concentrate primarily on garnering public support for the Green party's peace program." (Pg. 6)

"Our policies are ... founded in four basic principles: ecology, social responsibility, grassroots democracy, and nonviolence." (Pg. 30)

"...it is a rare federal judge who even comprehends the meaning of their claims to small parcels of land onto which they have been pushed: 'The Earth is our church.'" (Pg. 55)

"One problem all wings of the party have in common is sexism, even though it is far less rampant than in other parties." (Pg. 151)

"For example, (some) books ... argue that because some of the projections in Limits to Growth were incorrect, we should ignore all warnings from ecologists and proceed with full-speed-ahead industrial growth and use of resources... (But) we are living in a biosphere with a finite amount of physical resources." (Pg. 223)

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must read on Green Politics, March 16, 2004

By 

K Scheffler (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Green Politics (Paperback)

If you are interested in Green politics, this is one of the books that you MUST read. It discusses the core issues of Green politics, and assesses the growing popularity (at the time) of the Green movement, which primarly took root in Europe--in particular the then West Germany.