The Ecology of Eden: Humans, Nature and Human Nature

by Evan Eisenberg

Once Eden is lost, can it ever be recovered? In this magisterial contribution to the literature of ecology and the environment, our nostalgia for the myth of paradise - the primeval, self-sufficient, nurturing garden where mankind was born - is the starting point of a brilliant inquiry into what our place in Nature has been and ought to be.An encyclopedic survey of efforts to heal the dangerous rift between culture and nature, The Ecology of Eden is a landmark work - one that is enormously suggestive, informative and a joy to read.

Genres: Ecology, Nonfiction, Science, Reference, Sustainability, History, Environment

624 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 1999

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This history of our relations to the environment makes you think and dream. It covers major concerns, but also gets down to how we personally make our spaces a bit closer to our notion of an earthly paradise. For many modern people, a garden is a personal statement, which shows the owner’s relation with the earth like a wardrobe shows the wearer’s relation to society. The exploding growth of the gardening business suggests a popular dream, and the dream is of nature and culture growing together. Eisenburg comments that, “for some people, that is what paradise is: a small piece of the earth’s surface that can be made over to match our dreams.” Perhaps that is the most practical thing most of us feel able to do for the Earth — to beautify whatever plot of land we can call our own. In the rather unlikely case that a dedicated gardener issued a vision statement, it might read like this: “I want the place I live to be green and beautiful. When I leave this place, the ground will be more fertile than when I came. Year by year I will make it richer and more beautiful here, because it pleases me.” If such sentiments sound familiar, perhaps it is because they echo the attitudes of traditional villagers around the world.

[Rohan Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eisenberg explores our troubled relationship with the pristine asking why our every attempt to return to it, preserve it, revere it, takes us ever further away from Eden. In attempting to characterise our place in relation to nature, Eisenberg sets up what he sees as archetypal opposites - Fetishers and Managers fighting over the right distance to be between the Mountain (Pristine Nature) and the Tower (Pure Urbanity) while trying to preserve both nature and culture. These are caricatures of course, but Eisenberg draws on an admittedly large - perhaps too large - canvas to drive home his point. But it is unsurprising, when set up this way, that Eisenberg's solutions lie in seeking the middle ground while keeping the best of the extremes. If we cannot aspire for Eden, let us strive for Arcadia, but make sure it does not descend into the no-man's-land of shallow suburbia. The lessons will be familiar to many of us - maintain plurality, maximize resilience, increase adaptability (Earth Jazz, he calls it), cultivate biophilia and abiophilia, learn from nature and learn from culture.
The book ambles through creation myths, ecological theory, agricultural practice, all of human history, evolution, urban planning, biotechnology, the semiology of gardening, climate change, and plenty more, looping back over these themes repeatedly in case you missed them the first time around. There is a lot to like in this book but much of it is smothered under Eisenberg's slightly purple phrasing and all-too-florid etching. The canvas that emerges is a strangely incomplete, with mixed proportions and unfilled patches, as though the artist was called away on business (a person from Porlock, perhaps?) before he could properly finish his masterpiece.

[Juliet Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a history of the changing human relationship with nature, starting out with our beginnings and encompassing religious attitudes to nature; and explorations of the development of agriculture and technology and how that changed our relationship with nature. How do images of Eden (and other representations of paradise) fit with reality?

The author's central argument is that our relationship with nature cannot help but be complicated:

The love of nature and the urge to master nature have always, I am sure, been basic to the human mind. And they have always gone hand in hand, as they seem to do in the cave paintings of Lacaux. Yet there has always been a tension between them - a tension expressed, for example, in the rituals by which some indigenous hunters placate the spirit of the animla they have just killed.

It is a beautifully written book, always readable and thought provoking, though often deeply depressing as the realisation hits just how disfunctional our relationship with nature has become.

The chapter on climate change feels dated now (the book was written in 1998), but apart from that it feels like a classic of ecological philosophy.

[Carrol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book--really two books in one. The first half was very informative by giving a full overview of the idea of Eden throughout history. The second half is about how we can use these ideas as we face the changes that will come about due to global warming. Many great ideas, which are cause for deep thinking. The bibliography is incredible, and almost mirrors our own bookshelves!

[Deidre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little hard to start, but pretty fascinating once you get going.

[Deep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading

[Lyds · Rating 3 out of 5]

scattered. mildly nonsensical. three books in one - the first is a good ethnobotanical history of civilization.
my suggestion? read book one - skip the second two.

[Daniel Burstyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books. It's really expansive and beautiful. It also provides a very deep understanding of the human relationship with nature.