Nature's Web: Rethinking Our Place on Earth

Enlightening and valuable
“An enlightening and valuable survey of ecological thought throughout the ages—massive in scope—that makes clear why preservation of the earth is our only essential task.”—Kirkpatrick Sale, author of Dwellers in the Land

Earthy and approachable
“For all its learning, this book is earthy and approachable, and I think essential. No similar guide exists, no ecologist can fail to deepen the roots of her understanding...”—Walter Schwarz, The Guardian

An extraordinary book of great learning and intellectual insight
“Nature’s Web will do much to reconnect us to our roots and help us develop a rather more convincing ethical foundation to the initiatives we are involved in. It’s an extraordinary book, of great learning and intellectual insight...written at a cracking pace to cover the whole gamut of the history of ideas.”—Jonathon Porritt, Resurgence

Clearly written and highly documented
“An important contribution to the development of a new ecological world view.... This clearly written and highly documented encyclopedic work...deserves to be a standard work.”—Edward Goldsmith, The Ecologist

Powerful and intellectual
This powerful book provides the first comprehensive overview of the intellectual roots of the worldwide environmental movement—from ancient religions and philosophies to modern science and ethics—and synthesizes them into a new philosophy of nature in which to ground our moral values and social action. It traces the origins and evolution of the dominant worldview that has built our industrial, technocratic, man-centered civilization, and brought us to the current ecological crisis.
At the same time, it uncovers an alternative cultural tradition in the world’s different religions and philosophies and describes how these ideas are now surfacing and coalescing to form an ecological sensibility and a new vision of nature which recognizes the inter-relatedness of all living things.
Finally, this book integrates these varied traditions with modem physics and the science of ecology into a larger philosophical whole that provides the environmental movement with a comprehensive vision of an organic and sustainable society in harmony with nature.
As ecological disasters continue to threaten our planet, becoming worse with every passing moment of indifference, it has become clear that we must take action. We must change our relationship with nature, and return to the days when our lives were intimately connected to and dependent upon the natural world. Nature’s Web lays the foundations for that change by explaining where our complex ideas about nature come from, why they are wrong, and what we can do to change them.
Edward Goldsmith of The Ecologist writes that Nature’s Web is an “important contribution to the development of a new ecological worldview . . . [that] deserves to be a standard work.” Bill McKibben affirms that “This book will help - help a lot.”

PETER MARSHALL has a doctorate in the History of Ideas and has taught philosophy and literature at several British universities. His previous books include William Goodwin, Journey Through Tanzania, Into Cuba, Cuba Libre: Breaking the Chains?, William Blake: Visionary Anarchist, and Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism. He lives in Gwynned, Wales.