Becoming good ancestors [[electronic resource] ] : how we balance nature, community, and technology / / David Ehrenfeld

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910454494203321
• Autore: Ehrenfeld David
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Oxford ; ; New York, : Oxford University Press, 2009
• ISBN: 1-282-05389-2; 9786612053894; 0-19-970611-5
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (321 p.)
• Altri autori (Persone): EhrenfeldDavid
• Disciplina: 304.2
• Soggetti: Human ecology; Nature - Effect of human beings on; Environmental degradation; Civilization, Modern - 21st century; Technology - Social aspects; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Rev. ed. of: Swimming lessons / David Ehrenfeld. 2002.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. [259]-290) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Pretending -- Brainstorming has its limits -- Nothing simple -- The comforts of fantasy -- Rejecting gifts -- The uses and risks of adaptation -- When machines replace people -- Pseudocommunities -- Obsolescence -- Accelerating social evolution -- Writing -- Affluence and austerity -- Energy and friendly fire -- Durable goods -- Preserving our capital -- Conservation for profit -- Hot spots and the globalization of conservation -- Putting a value on nature -- The downside of corporate immortality -- Wilderness as teacher -- An opposing view of nature -- Death of a plastic palm -- Scientific discoveries and nature's mysteries -- I reinvent agriculture -- Thinking about breeds and species -- Strangers in our own land -- Teaching field ecology -- The ubiquitous right-of-way -- A walk in the woods -- Old growth -- Intimacy with nature -- The utopia fallacy -- Traditions -- Jane Austen and the world of the community -- Universities, schools, and communities -- What do we owe our children? -- Epilogue: A call for fusion and regeneration.
• Sommario/riassunto: A brilliant writer and gifted ""big picture"" thinker, David Ehrenfeld is one of America's leading conservation biologists. Becoming Good Ancestors unites in a single, up-to-date framework pieces written over two decades, spanning politics, ecology, and culture, and illuminating the forces in modern society that thwart our efforts to solve today's hard questions about society and the environment. The book focuses on our present-day retreat from reality, our alienation from nature, our unthinking acceptance of new technology and rejection of the old, the loss of our ability to discriminate betw