Discordant harmonies : a new ecology for the twenty-first century
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Discordant harmonies : a new ecology for the twenty-first century
（Oxford paperbacks）
Oxford University Press, 1992, c1990
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Global warming, acid rain, the depletion of the rainforests, the polluting of our atmosphere and oceans - the threats to our environment are growing at an alarming pace. It's certainly easy to indulge the kinds of desperate, hand-wringing environmentalism that point to problems without suggesting solutions. Thankfully, however, Daniel Botkin is able to pinpoint areas of concern and suggest potential cures. In his groundbreaking study of environmental issues, Discordant Harmonies, Botkin suggests that the real barrier to solving the crisis in the environment is not lack of scientific knowledge but the persistance of mythological and metaphoric ways of perceiving the natural world. A seasoned scientist (and pioneer of the use of computers to predict ecological trends), Botkin draws on some revealing case-studies - of predator/prey relationships; of forests evolving over centuries; of species nearing extinction; of examples of well-intentioned mistakes in conservation - in order to illuminate his argument. Radical, stimulating, and insightful, Discordant Harmonies suggests a manifesto for environmentalism in the coming decade and beyond.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- PART I: THE CURRENT DILEMMA: A view from a marsh: myths and facts about nature
- Why the elephants died: breakdown in the management of living resources
- Moose in the wilderness: stability and the growth of populations
- Oaks in New Jersey: machine age forests
- PART II: BACKGROUND TO CRISIS: Mountain lions and mule deer: nature as Divine Order
- Earth as a fellow creature: organic views of nature
- In Mill Hollow: nature as the great machine
- PART III: EVOLVING IMAGES: The forest in the computer: new metaphors for nature
- Within the moose's stomach: nature as the biosphere
- Fire in the forest: managing living resources
- PART IV: RESOLUTIONS FOR OUR TIME: Winds on Mauna Loa: how to approach managing the biospehere
- The moon in the nautilus shell: nature in the 21st century
- Postscript: A guide to action
- Chapter notes
- Key concepts and terms.
by "Nielsen BookData"
