| Popis: |
“And here Wendy was quite clear: if the cleanup helps the animals, fine. But we don't do it for the animals; we only do it for the people. Only people count. Is that the way we all feel?”Richard could hear the impatience in Erica's voice. “This ain't your seminar, Doc, so don't start with questions for everybody else. What do you think?”“Me? Oh, I don't know,” he sighed, as if he couldn't carry a heavy weight any further. “I try to love the oak trees and my neighbor both. In a way, the oak tree is my neighbor as much as old Mr. Taubman who lives next door or that gorgeous widow Sarah Griffith who lives across the street. I don't see why we can't all get along.“Mostly I hate the waste, the stupidity. Why do we have to choose between cleaning up the ghetto and saving the polar bears? Who says that's the choice? Who? Maybe we could do both and skip the new bombers or the new makeup or a whole season of American Idol.” He opened his eyes wide in mock horror.—adapted from an excerpt from Chapter TwoOur ecological dilemmas provoke powerful emotions and deeply contested views. How should we think about them? And how can we live together, or even talk together, when we cannot listen to people who think differently? In a lively and at times very funny book, Roger S. Gottlieb (A Greener Faith, This Sacred Earth, A Spirituality of Resistance) explores these questions in a collection of distinct but related philosophical short stories. Fictional characters with personalities, individual histories, and strong opinions wrestle with the meaning of life, the value of nature, animal rights, the roles of science and religion in environmentalism, and political choices facing environmental activists--as well as their own anger, fear, despair, and close-mindedness. Encountering forcefully articulated positions and engaging characters, readers will be moved to reconsider their own beliefs--and to examine personal barriers to truly listening to those'on the other side.' |
