Whole Earth Discipline: an Ecopragmatist Manifesto, by Stewart Brand, Viking Adult, 2009, 336 pages.
National Book Award winner Stewart Brand (Whole Earth Catalog, 1972) has been working on the environmental front lines for decades, but he seems to have missed the meeting on the politically correct message of conservation. He's not pulling any party line. Whole Earth Discipline instead exhorts all those who care for and manage the resources of the earth to consider the needs of people, while following scientific principals rather than popular sentimental ideology.
Brand's writing is enticing, and optimistically organized around stewardship opportunities, including controversies such as urban farming and nuclear power. It isn't a given that environmentalists will agree with everything he says. But his work is so rich in historic, scientific, and cultural context that readers will likely stay engaged and listen. And isn't that what the movement needs-more impassioned listening and cooperation with those holding differing points of view? The intelligence, scope, and passion of Whole Earth Discipline are gifts born of many decades of caring and scientific dedication to the health of a people-sustaining planet.
Amy Lou Jenkins is the author of .jpg)
Every Natural Fact: Five Seasons of Open-Air Parenting
"If you combined the lyricism of Annie Dillard, the vision of Aldo Leopold, and the gentle but tough-minded optimism of Frank McCourt, you might come close to Amy Lou Jenkins...I, for one, would follow her anywhere."—Tom Bissell author of The Father of All Things
"Jenkins' polished literary style makes it, sentence by sentence, a joy to read." - Phillip Lopate, author of Waterfront 
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