The Love of Nature and the End of the World: The Unspoken Dimensions of Environmental Concern

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Summary: The unspoken Dimensions of Environmental Concern
Review: Shierry Nicholsen, a philosopher and teacher, demonstrates mastery of an astounding range of disciplines to reach beyond the usual places we look when contemplating the environmental crisis. Thankfully she accomplishes this in The Love of Nature and the End of the World with a sensitive and personal, rather than merely scholarly, voice.

The words and ideas of Paul Shepard, Ed Abbey, Gary Snyder and Jack Turner among many others are woven into this work, all thinkers who've considered deeply our flawed relationship with the rest of nature. But this book gently moves into new territory, ideawise when trying to grab hold of the ecological catastrophe we're living through (a crisis assumed by Nicholsen as a given). The author's stated premise is that fundamentally, contemporary humans live with an awareness of this crisis, yet nevertheless fail to act appropriately. Therefore it's no surprise and a wonderful gift that Nicholsen draws ideas from diverse fields, including psychoanalysis and aesthetics, and from writers who have considered human responses to other catastrophes, and from spiritual figures, including monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, to provide fresh vantage points from which to view our situation act accordingly.

As an advocate among many striving to ameliorate the destruction through greater protection of public lands, I occasionally muse upon big questions of the kind Nicholsen reflects on here, though hardly with her virtuosity. Most painfully, I contemplate these things because the battles over the land relentlessly remind me that even advocates (never mind the other players) struggle with little unity of background, perception or plan of action, yet the window of opportunity to protect much of anything is closing quickly.

Herein for me lie the chief values of this book - its insights into aspects of the psyche that impede individuals from more effectively coming together to form a greater whole, and into the dynamics of groups. Four sources stand out in this regard among those Nicholsen utilizes: D.W. Winnicott and Wilfred Bion from psychoanalytic thought, the aforementioned Thich Nhat Hanh, and writer Robert Jay Lifton, who visits the geography of apocalypse. To summarize one of Nicholsen's conclusions, though a single quote hardly does her nuanced treatment justice: "To endure the change that is occurring, we will need to suffer not only the pain of privation but also the pain of mourning and the pain of guilt, as well as the pain of understanding who we are" (p. 180).

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Summary: Nature, Hidden and Human
Review: Why do people destroy the environment that sustains them is a psychological question as well as a political one. This book probes the ways our feelings and past experiences can help or hinder our relationship with the natural world. Nicholsen does this through stories of people and their responses, and through meditations on the work of authors in many areas who have much to say on this subject. She teaches environmental philosophy, and this book lays groundwork for a better and deeper understanding of human thought, feelings, culture and human relationships, based on our collective and personal relationships with nature. Most of us feel so distant from nature in everyday life that we no longer realize how deep our feelings are, and how important nature is to how we live in the world. Just as importantly, understanding our relationship to nature can be a key to addressing many problems that seem to be impenetrable barriers to a better future. For example, empathy, altruism, even heroism as well as "why can't we all get along" make much more and much deeper sense when we reflect on our complex place within nature, and our relationship with the rest of life.

Many readers will find themselves reflecting on their own feelings and experiences with the natural world-and we all have them, wherever we are. Nature writers usually inspire us to experience our positive feelings about nature and to add to them, which this book also does. But as Jung wrote, "One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light but by making the darkness conscious." It is now very important to dig into our unconscious fears and other unconscious barriers to allowing the truth of our place in the natural world to determine our behavior. This book also gently explores some of that darkness.

Last but not least, the writers that Nicholsen quotes on nearly every page-including Paul Shepard, Jack Turner, Gary Snyder, James Hillman-are writers from different "fields" who have read and admired each other's work. Now their insights are combined, and the reader who doesn't know them has the bonus experience of being introduced to a host of powerful writers and original minds.
By bringing together so many other voices, including the perceptions that modern artists like Cezanne and Klee share with indigenous peoples, she brings to light many hidden relationships to nature we all have in common.