The Wooing of Earth

by René Dubos

Dubos, an eminent microbiologist and experimental pathologist, offers new insights into man's relation to the natural world, stressing that man has the knowledge and technology to enrich rather than despoil

Genres: Science, Ecology

183 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

René Jules Dubos was an American microbiologist, experimental pathologist, environmentalist, and humanist. He is credited as an author of the maxim, "Think globally, act locally".

Reviews

[Scott Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

While acknowledging that humans have caused much environmental damage, biologist René Dubos argues that we also have the capacity to enhance landscapes. Among the many examples he cites is the French countryside he knew as a boy, where he observed a "quality of blessedness that emerges from long periods of intimate association between human beings and nature." To achieve such a harmony, he insists, we must respect ecological limits. "We shall continue to intervene in nature, but we must do it with a sense of responsibility for the welfare of the Earth as well as of humankind, and we must therefore attempt to anticipate the long-range consequences of our actions.”

[Maria Hrickova · Rating 3 out of 5]

some parts 4, some parts 2-3