A Conservationist Manifesto - Softcover

As an antidote to the destructive culture of consumption dominating American life today, this book calls for a culture of conservation that allows us to savor and preserve the world instead of devouring it. . . . [Its] main message is that conservation is not simply a personal virtue but a public one. 2010 * Abstracts of Public Administration, Development, and Environment * Insightful essays . . . original and intriguing. . . . Sanders offers a 40-point Conservationist Manifesto, which, in its thoroughness, thoughtfulness and inclusion of environmental justice issues would serve the environmentalist community well.February 2, 2009 * Publishers Weekly * [Sanders] writes beautiful prose and never fails to stir our souls and imaginations. . . . In this awesome new book . . . Sanders outlines the practical, ecological, and ethical grounds for a conservation ethic.April 2009 -- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat * Spirituality & Practice * In a world that focuses relentlessly on consumer culture, it's refreshing to read Scott Russell Sanders's plea for 'a new vision of the good life' in A Conservationist Manifesto.September-October 2010 * Audubon * A Conservationist Manifesto is a rich book and like a rich wine or rich dessert, it is meant to be savored. Sanders sees beyond the mass destruction of consumerism and prophetically calls us to the redemptive work of conserving creation and connecting deeply with our neighbors and the places in which we live. Vol. 2, #22 -- Chris Smith * Englewood Review of Books * Sanders' style is full of the imagery and poetic prose of Aldo Leopold, the philosophic wanderings of Henry David Thoreau, and includes Wendell Berry's vital sense of place. A Conservationist Manifesto is sure to find its way on those treasured lists of must reads. May/June 2009 -- Lynn Jenkins * Indiana Living Green * There are others writing about sustaining the planet and ourselves who should be read. . . . But there is something more to A Conservanist Manifesto. Sanders wirtes on a literary level that places him with Henry David Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, Wallace Stegner, Annie Dillard, and Wendell Berry-to name a few. Summer 2010 * The Bloomsbury Review * In this beautifully poetic set of meditations on conservation, Sanders issues a clarion call for reversing society's present path of ecological devastation and offers reflections on ways that individuals and society might provide better stewardship of the earth now and for future generations to come. . . . [His] eloquent book is a must-read for anyone committed to taking care of the natural world and passing it along to future generations.March/April 2009 * ForeWord * This is a beautiful, right-minded, and reinforcing book for all who would be conservationists. . . . Scott Sanders gives us one of the most graceful tellings of our plight, with many examples of people protecting or restoring what counts. . . . We've never been more keenly in need of his loving manual for conserving what he calls 'the basic grammar of life.'May/June 2009 -- Robert Michael Pyle * Orion Magazine *

As an antidote to the destructive culture of consumption dominating American life today, Scott Russell Sanders calls for a culture of conservation that allows us to savor and preserve the world, instead of devouring it. How might we shift to a more durable and responsible way of life? What changes in values and behavior will be required? Ranging geographically from southern Indiana to the Boundary Waters Wilderness and culturally from the Bible to billboards, Sanders extends the visions of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Rachel Carson to our own day. A Conservationist Manifesto shows the crucial relevance of a conservation ethic at a time of mounting concern about global climate change, depletion of natural resources, extinction of species, and the economic inequities between rich and poor nations. The important message of this powerful book is that conservation is not simply a personal virtue but a public one.