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Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth/Healing the Mind
This pathfinding collection has become a seminal text for the burgeoning ecopsychology movement, which has brought key new insights to environmentalism and revolutionized modern psychology. Its writers show how the health of the planet is inextricably linked to the psychological health of humanity, individually and collectively.
Contributors to this volume include the premier psychotherapists, thinkers, and eco-activists working in this field. James Hillman, the world-renowned Jungian analyst, identifies as the “one core issue for all psychology” the nature and limits of human identity, and relates this to the condition of the planet. Earth Island Institute head Carl Anthony argues for “a genuinely multicultural self and a global civil society without racism” as fundamental to human and earthly well-being. And Buddhist writer and therapist Joanna Macy speaks of the need to open up our feelings for our threatened planet as an antidote to environmental despair.
“Is it possible,” asks co-editor Theodore Roszak, “that the planetary and the personal are pointing the way forward to some new basis for a sustainable economic and emotional life?” Ecopsychology in practice has begun to affirm this, aided by these definitive writings.
Contributors to this volume include the premier psychotherapists, thinkers, and eco-activists working in this field. James Hillman, the world-renowned Jungian analyst, identifies as the “one core issue for all psychology” the nature and limits of human identity, and relates this to the condition of the planet. Earth Island Institute head Carl Anthony argues for “a genuinely multicultural self and a global civil society without racism” as fundamental to human and earthly well-being. And Buddhist writer and therapist Joanna Macy speaks of the need to open up our feelings for our threatened planet as an antidote to environmental despair.
“Is it possible,” asks co-editor Theodore Roszak, “that the planetary and the personal are pointing the way forward to some new basis for a sustainable economic and emotional life?” Ecopsychology in practice has begun to affirm this, aided by these definitive writings.
366 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Lester R. Brown
115 books70 followersLester Russel Brown is an American environmentalist, founder of the Worldwatch Institute, and founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C. BBC Radio commentator Peter Day calls him "one of the great pioneer environmentalists."
In the mid-1970s, Brown helped pioneer the concept of sustainable development, during a career that started with farming. As early as 1978, in his book The Twenty-Ninth Day, he was already warning of "the various dangers arising out of our manhandling of nature...by overfishing the oceans, stripping the forests, turning land into desert." In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”
He has been the recipient of many prizes and awards, including, the 1987 United Nations Environment Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize for his "contributions to solving global environmental problems."
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
In the mid-1970s, Brown helped pioneer the concept of sustainable development, during a career that started with farming. As early as 1978, in his book The Twenty-Ninth Day, he was already warning of "the various dangers arising out of our manhandling of nature...by overfishing the oceans, stripping the forests, turning land into desert." In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”
He has been the recipient of many prizes and awards, including, the 1987 United Nations Environment Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize for his "contributions to solving global environmental problems."
Excerpted from Wikipedia.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 15, 2011
Every era throughout history goes through a kind of insanity. Perhaps the psychopathology of modernity is the disconnect between the psyche of nature and the human psyche. We are living in an era where the material aspects of nature are emphasized and exploited for short term economic gain. This is most likely due to our modern disenchanted world view. Technology is the crown of the Enlightenment, but when man removes himself from the Tao, he steps into a void, where human nature begins to resemble something artificial. Cultural and individual wholeness can only take place when we recognize that we are an integral part of the environment. This book provides dozens of perspectives on how this can be accomplished.
January 9, 2009
I first got this book in college when I was writing my honors thesis for my environmental studies certificate and English degree. I believe it's out of print now. I decided to re-read it because I'm interested in studying this more in depth now.
The book is composed of many essays that deal with the psychological component of the environmental movement, including how our physical distance from the natural world and knowledge of its destruction affects our psyche.
Not the most entertaining read, as the essays are very scholarly. But it is filled with ideas and interesting concepts. There was only one essay I strongly disagreed with: it was all about technology having a negative impact on the environment. This essay showed the age of the book. It was written about ten years ago, I believe.
The book is composed of many essays that deal with the psychological component of the environmental movement, including how our physical distance from the natural world and knowledge of its destruction affects our psyche.
Not the most entertaining read, as the essays are very scholarly. But it is filled with ideas and interesting concepts. There was only one essay I strongly disagreed with: it was all about technology having a negative impact on the environment. This essay showed the age of the book. It was written about ten years ago, I believe.
July 24, 2021
The book is an excellent primer to the field of ecopsychology from a varied amount of perspectives of experts who are working within or adjacent to it. It also does a good job of including voices who provide necessary critiques of ecopsychology as a predominantly Western field. I would recommend this to any person who has some familiarity or adjacency with psychology as a good introduction to its intersection with ecology and a more cosmological worldview.
December 1, 2007
This book gives insight into the psychological relationship between humans and the earth. It's essential for one to understand their relationship with the world and animals around them and to recognize the connections between all them. One cannot live without the other.
November 13, 2021
Filled with much wisdom
August 17, 2018
An excellent compilation of forward thinking observations.
Jungian Psychology and the World Unconscious -Stephen Aizenstat-
"The time has come to move beyond the wildly held belief that psychological health is solely a function of individual wholeness and nurturing human relationships. Although this view has obvious therapeutic usefulness, it exists within a framework that perpetuates the separation of person from world and that denies the essential importance of an individuals surroundings."
The Wilderness Effect And Ecopsychology -Robert Greenway-
"The experience of separation is an essential context for domination; domination is the root of exploitation. And thus we destroy our habitat, the very basis of our survival as a species."
Jungian Psychology and the World Unconscious -Stephen Aizenstat-
"The time has come to move beyond the wildly held belief that psychological health is solely a function of individual wholeness and nurturing human relationships. Although this view has obvious therapeutic usefulness, it exists within a framework that perpetuates the separation of person from world and that denies the essential importance of an individuals surroundings."
The Wilderness Effect And Ecopsychology -Robert Greenway-
"The experience of separation is an essential context for domination; domination is the root of exploitation. And thus we destroy our habitat, the very basis of our survival as a species."
August 29, 2011
This book is what my heart's been trying to tell me since I was born.
December 31, 2022
Overall, a fantastic introduction to the field of Ecopsychology. I will say that it feels a bit dated at this point. I'm glad they introduced issues around race and the authors are certainly aware that the developing world can't simply decide to stop developing, because we already profited off their exploitation for literally hundreds of years. However, the overall tone of the book is definitely a bit of what I'd call a Romantic White ecology: kind of a "why'd they cut down the trees here, I liked the trees" attitude. When, of course, they are ALL very economically comfortable, upper-class bourgeois folks who like using all of the infrastructure that was initially made from the forced labor of African and Chinese folks.
Again, overall, you can't do better than this book as an introduction to the field. But it did make me glad that the field has progressed, and there's more awareness of the privilege a lot of eco psychologists are coming from.
Again, overall, you can't do better than this book as an introduction to the field. But it did make me glad that the field has progressed, and there's more awareness of the privilege a lot of eco psychologists are coming from.
December 29, 2021
Ecopsychology, in essence, is similar to how it sounds: as opposed to conventional psychology (which focuses on studying the bond between the mind and behavior), ecopsychology focuses on studying the bond between humans and the planet. It shows how there is more ecology in psychology than we think, and more psychology in ecology than we think.
I read this book for my Ecopsychology class, and it is a book written in the 1990s that gives a great introduction to the field. As other reviews allude to, it does not provide the most interesting narrative, but it is still a very interesting read that deeply explores the interdependence between humans and the Earth - and provides a basis for how we need to address the psychological implications of climate change (how did we get here / how can we get out of this mess).
I read this book for my Ecopsychology class, and it is a book written in the 1990s that gives a great introduction to the field. As other reviews allude to, it does not provide the most interesting narrative, but it is still a very interesting read that deeply explores the interdependence between humans and the Earth - and provides a basis for how we need to address the psychological implications of climate change (how did we get here / how can we get out of this mess).
December 28, 2020
Primary text for my undergraduate thesis in Environmental Studies!
June 4, 2022
Although I would like to see new version updated to address current events, written 27 years ago so many of the essays in this book speak directly to today.
May 12, 2007
this book is a catalog of various attempts or approaches to understanding the psychology of the current human - eco relationship - including the feminist theory that taught masculinity and domination remove "man" from a healthy relationship with nature or that we must understand that the our dying earth must be cared and mourned for - a clear reminder that we cannot just recycle and buy hybrids but that we must remove ourselves from our cosumption obsession and sustainably grow and produce with and within the world and its limits
September 7, 2007
ben took a class at MIAD that encompassed the ideas in this book. we've had this book since he took that class...i loved it then, and i have sort of "re" discovered lately. i think this book is what drove ben and i to apprentice on an organic farm after graduation of college.....feeling somewhat detatched from the cycles of nature.
September 26, 2007
Ecopsychology, environmental psychology, environmental sociology, conservation psychology - Jesus. It's all documentation of this rare drama onfolding around us now. namely, how we live and how we die.
it's just happening faster than we ever thought.
it's just happening faster than we ever thought.
October 2, 2011
Every essay had a gem buried in it. And, where are the Ecopsychology training programs in this country??? Jeanette Armostrong (Okanagan elder) wrote the last essay and every word spoke to my heart -- what an amazing woman!
October 10, 2014
Four or five of the essays were fascinating but overall I can't really recommend this book. It doesn't even answer the basic question, What is ecopsychology? Apparently there is no single answer to that seemingly simple question.
February 21, 2017
Interview on the book here;
http://www.williamjames.com/transcrip...
http://www.williamjames.com/transcrip...
October 10, 2008
My textbook from the Ecopsychology course at Naropa.
August 20, 2009
It's not an easy read by any means, but a valuable book. I think it's important that we include our connection with nature as a vital part of mental health. So easy to forget in the city...
August 2, 2011
I am forcing myself to finish this book. i don't like it at all, but figured it would be a good read, yeah not so much.
December 21, 2012
My Ecopsychological Bible:)
October 29, 2011
I read this for a class in undergrad. I was completely stunned with my emotional reaction to the information in this book. It is a must-read for people that care about the environment.
January 27, 2013
Straight up: waste no time, as every page must be understood if we are to change our culture for the better! LOVED the Eco-centric insight of a variety of academics. Read it!
November 16, 2015
Yet another book that helps me heal and saves my life, over and over
January 19, 2016
environmentalist, planner, person...you've gotta read this.
Read
February 24, 2018This pathfinding collection has become a seminal text for the burgeoning ecopsychology movement, which has brought key new insights to environmentalism and revolutionized modern psychology. Its writers show how the health of the planet is inextricably linked to the psychological health of humanity, individually and collectively.
Contributors to this volume include the premier psychotherapists, thinkers, and eco-activists working in this field. James Hillman, the world-renowned Jungian analyst, identifies as the “one core issue for all psychology” the nature and limits of human identity, and relates this to the condition of the planet. Earth Island Institute head Carl Anthony argues for “a genuinely multicultural self and a global civil society without racism” as fundamental to human and earthly well-being. And Buddhist writer and therapist Joanna Macy speaks of the need to open up our feelings for our threatened planet as an antidote to environmental despair.
“Is it possible,” asks co-editor Theodore Roszak, “that the planetary and the personal are pointing the way forward to some new basis for a sustainable economic and emotional life?” Ecopsychology in practice has begun to affirm this, aided by these definitive writings.
Contributors to this volume include the premier psychotherapists, thinkers, and eco-activists working in this field. James Hillman, the world-renowned Jungian analyst, identifies as the “one core issue for all psychology” the nature and limits of human identity, and relates this to the condition of the planet. Earth Island Institute head Carl Anthony argues for “a genuinely multicultural self and a global civil society without racism” as fundamental to human and earthly well-being. And Buddhist writer and therapist Joanna Macy speaks of the need to open up our feelings for our threatened planet as an antidote to environmental despair.
“Is it possible,” asks co-editor Theodore Roszak, “that the planetary and the personal are pointing the way forward to some new basis for a sustainable economic and emotional life?” Ecopsychology in practice has begun to affirm this, aided by these definitive writings.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews