Deep Ecology

by Murray Bookchin, James Dickey, Galway Kinnell

Book by Murray Bookchin, James Dickey, Galway Kinnell, Paolo Soleri, Arne Naess, Eric Davis

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Ecology, Anarchism, Nature, Research

303 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Murray Bookchin was an American libertarian socialist author, orator, and philosopher. A pioneer in the ecology movement, Bookchin was the founder of the social ecology movement within anarchist, libertarian socialist and ecological thought. He was the author of two dozen books on politics, philosophy, history, and urban affairs as well as ecology. In the late 1990s he became disenchanted with the strategy of political Anarchism and founded his own libertarian socialist ideology called Communalism.

Bookchin was an anti-capitalist and vocal advocate of the decentralisation of society along ecological and democratic lines. His writings on libertarian municipalism, a theory of face-to-face, assembly democracy, had an influence on the Green movement and anti-capitalist direct action groups such as Reclaim the Streets.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

A introduction to —then followed by a relentless critique of— deep ecology. I particularly enjoyed Brian Morris', and Murray Bookchin's essays. The former describes how deep ecology falls short in its critiques of current society, while the latter is as ruthless as ever, laden with humor:


"Deep ecology, eco-theology, and air-headed spiritualists have found more 'secret harmonies' between humanity and nonhuman nature that I know what to do with."

[axegrinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright it's just there was too much off-topic ranting and quarrels between the writers involved.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an intriguing collection of ecological writings. I was surprised by the editor's choice in the selection of texts to include. Indeed they are all ecology and nature focused texts, but approaching from various different angles, including scientific, aesthetic, poetic and spiritual. I certainly enjoyed the breadth of this book. However, I found that despite the book's title, not many of the contributions actually handled the topic of deep ecology. For this reason, I felt as though the concept had not been properly grasped, defined, explained or explored. I would not recommend this book as an introduction to deep ecology. In fact, one of the texts seemed to be in contradiction to deep ecology, favouring anthropocentric justification.

With that said, the somewhat "strange" compilation of texts, that at times left me frustrated with the feeling that the book was meandering around deep ecology instead of tackling it straight on, certainly had some highlights and helped to adjust my perspective of deep ecology. Although I felt that at times the book was missing the point, maybe if the author had focused on the more "fleshy" deep ecology it wouldn't have achieved this end. Tobias' collection frames the context of deep ecology very concisely. I could see where deep ecology fits into the wider map of history, and how it was almost a revolt reformation of traditional conservationism. I understood in a way that no other deep ecology book has achieved where the deep ecology piece fits in the bigger picture. I appreciated being able to view deep ecology from various different lenses and perspectives in one book, amazingly, without even addressing the subject it happens to be framing!

For these reasons, I would recommend Tobias' Deep Ecology as additional and advanced Deep Ecology reading, once a strong basic understanding of the philosophy and its most influential contributors are known. I particularly enjoyed LaChapelle's Sacred Land, Sacred Sex and Naess' "Identification as a Source of Deep Ecological Attitudes". I enjoyed the variation, from highly scientific essays to poetry and illustrations (This is something that seems to be characteristic of deep ecology texts, and somehow seems to be a metaphor for Deep Ecology itself). I appreciate that this book was very early for its time, and perhaps the accessibility of Deep Ecological literature today has spoiled me, but there are easier and more accessible ways to form an understanding for and appreciation of deep ecology. That is said without undermining how this booked helped to develop my understanding in a broader and more contextual way.