In this impassioned
polemic, radical environmental philosopher Derrick Jensen debunks the
near-universal belief in a hierarchy of nature and the superiority of
humans. Vast and underappreciated complexities of nonhuman life are
explored in detail—from the cultures of pigs and prairie dogs, to
the creative use of tools by elephants and fish, to the acumen of
caterpillars and fungi. The paralysis of the scientific establishment
on moral and ethical issues is confronted and a radical new framework
for assessing the intelligence and sentience of nonhuman life is put
forth.
Jensen attacks
mainstream environmental journalism, which too often limits
discussions to how ecological changes affect humans or the
economy—with little or no regard for nonhuman life. With his
signature compassionate logic, he argues that when we separate
ourselves from the rest of nature, we in fact orient ourselves
against nature, taking an unjust and, in the long run, impossible
position.
Jensen expresses
profound disdain for the human industrial complex and its ecological
excesses, contending that it is based on the systematic exploitation
of the earth. Page by page, Jensen, who has been called the
philosopher-poet of the environmental movement, demonstrates his deep
appreciation of the natural world in all its intimacy, and sounds an
urgent call for its liberation from human domination.