Why Life Matters

Dr. Michael Charles Tobias and Jane Gray Morrison are world-renowned ecological philosophers and activists, interdisciplinary social and environmental scientists and broad-ranging, deeply committed humanists. This collection of fifty essays and interviews comprises an invigorating, outspoken, provocative and eloquent overview of the ecological humanities in one highly accessible volume. The components of this collection were published in the authors' "Green Conversations" blog series, and pieces in the Eco News Network from 2011 to 2013 and feature luminaries from Jane Goodall to Ted Turner to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to the former head of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Stunning color photographs captured by the authors and contributors make Why Life Matters: Fifty Ecosystems of the Heart and Mind a feast for the eyes as well as the mind and soul.

Ethics, science, technology, ecological literacy, grass-roots renaissance thinkers, conservation innovation from the U.S. to the U.K.; from India to Ecuador; from Bhutan to Haiti; from across Africa, the Neo-Tropics, Central Asia and Japan, to Rio, Shanghai and Manhattan this humanistic ode to the future of life on earth is a relevant and resonating read.

Michael Tobias and Jane Gray Morrison , partners who between them have authored some 50 books and written, directed and produced some 170 films, a prolific body of work that has been read, translated and/or broadcast around the world, have been married for more than a quarter-of-a-century. Their field research across the disciplines of comparative literature, anthropology, the history of science and philosophy, ecology and ethics, in over 80 countries, has served as a telling example of what two people deeply in love with one another can accomplish in spreading that same unconditional love to others of all species.

Interviews conducted by ecology luminaries Michael Charles Tobias and Jane Gray Morrison An accessible trade book that gives solid background to beginning readers and important insights to experienced ecologists and environmentalists Essays can be read one at a time and form an enlightening whole Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

The three authors have tremendous Bhutanese experience: Dr. Tshewang is Bhutanese and lives in Thimphu. He grew up in the eastern province of Pemagatshel and was the first PhD from Bhutan's Ministry of Agriculture, dealing specifically in the ecodynamics affecting livestock and populations. He went on to become the highest ecological official in the Bhutanese government, founding the National Biodiversity Centre, the country's National Gene Bank and the National Herbarium. Dr. Tshewang was Governor of the nation's eastern-most province, Trashiyangtse, as well as being the Secretary of the National Environment Commission. He led the task force representing multiple stakeholders to develop the Biodiversity Act of Bhutan while leading the National Biodiversity Center of Bhutan. Dr. Tobias led one of the very first outside expeditions to Bhutan in the mid-1970s and has been returning ever since. In 2007 he led a 140-kilometer ecological survey of the most recently consecrated scientific reserve in the country's far-east, Sakten(g). Highly respected global ecologists, Dr. Tobias, and his partner, Jane Gray Morrison have for nearly 20 years run the Dancing Star Foundation -DSF (www.dancingstarfoundation.org; www.dancingstarnews.com) which is devoted to international conservation biology, animal protection and environmental education. DSF was a major donor for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2008 in Washington D.C., - following upon Dr. Tshewang's proposal to the Royal Government of Bhutan that Bhutan be part of that festival. The event succeeded in bringing nearly 150 Bhutanese for ten days to the National Mall in Washington where, among other things, in conjunction with NASA, a Bhutanese monk (and Director of Bhutan's National Museum) had a discussion with an astronaut on inner and outer space. Tobias and Morrison have authored, co-authored and edited over 50 books between them.

Inhalt
Part One: Nature & Human Economics.- 1) ** Technology, Business and Nature: An Economic Primer on Winners and Losers.- 2) Women, Wall Street and Mitigating Climate Change: The Critical Importance of WOCAN.- 3) The New Business of Business: Evolution of Culture and the Survival of Humankind.-4) Wall Street After Rio: A Discussion With Calvert Investments' Senior Sustainability Research Analyst, Ms. Ellen Kennedy".- 5) Investing in the End-Game: An Earth Day Post-Mortem.- 6) Just When You Thought You Could Bank On It.- Part Two: The Carbon-Negative Ideal .- 7) Super Grid.- 8) Ecuador's Imperiled Paradise: One of the World's Most Important, If Least Known Battles A Conversation with Dr. Ivonne Baki.- 9) Native American Tribes Get a Seat at the Climate Table.- 10) Climate Shock: UC-Berkeley Scientist Dr. John Harte Puts the World On Notice.- Part Three: Human Health and a Living Earth .- 11) Occupy Your Diet: A Discussion About Food, Health and Kindness With Dr. Neal Barnard".- 12) Eating You Alive: Environmental Cancer.- 13) Food That Might Protect Your Brain and Save Your Life: A Discussion About the Ecology of Alzheimers With Dr. Neal Barnard.- 14) Biological Shock-Treatment: A Discussion With 'Deadly Monopolies' Author Harriet A. Washington.- 15) Bioeconomics: A New National Blueprint.- Part Four: Ecology and the Human Population Explosion .- 16) Six Billion or Fifteen Billion People: A Discussion With Environmental Scientist Leon Kolankiewicz.- 17) A King's Speech That Could Help Save The World: A Discussion With UC-Berkeley's Dr. Malcolm Potts.- 18) Planet Under Siege: Family Planning Critics Soon to See Global Population Reach 7,000,000,000.- 19) China's Demographic and Ecological Conundrum.- Part Five: Ecological Heroes .- 20) One Woman's Remarkable Quest to Save Africa's White Lion.-21) A Discussion With UNOPS Luminary Ms. Maria-Noel Vaeza.- 22) Down To Earth: The World According to Ted Turner.- 23) How the Life of a Chipmunk in Michigan Came to Save Elephants and a Million Acres in Cambodia.- 24) Helen Clark: UNDP's Pragmatic Visionary.- 25) A Jain Leader Addresses the World.- 26) A Discussion With Jane Goodall.- Part Six: The State of the World .- 27) China Declares Global State of Emergency: An Urgent Telegram from Taihu.- 28) Japan's Tragedy: Global Ecological Uncertainty.- 29) Before the Fall: Syria's Ecosystems.- 30) Sir Simon Jenkins, England's National Trust, and the Future of Conservation in Great Britain.- 31) Extinction: Poachers Test the Right to Life.- Part Seven: Animal Rights .- 32) Compassionate Conservation: A Discussion From the Frontlines with Dr. Marc Bekoff.- 33) Animal Rights in China.- 35) Why Insects Sing: A Discussion With David Rothenberg.- 36) Protecting Bambi With Drones: PETA's Ingrid Newkirk on Hunters, Horsemeat and More.- Part Eight: Why Your Neighbor Is Important: New Strategies for a Bright Future .- 37) The Heart of Education: A Discussion With Zoe Weil.- 38) Journey to the Center of the World: An Interview With Dr. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian".- 39) How A Single National Park Might Help Transform a Nation: Haiti's Pic Macaya.- 40) Conservation International: Stemming the Tide of Environmental Crises.- 41) The Future of Life on Earth.- 42) On Parrots, Eagles and Fighting Species Extinction.- Part Nine: Ecological Paradise?** .- 43) An Ecological Paradise in Southern India: A Discussion About the Todas With Dr. Tarun Chhabra.- 44) J. P. Morgan, Edward Curtis and Christopher Cardozo: An Inspired Collaboration.- 45) A New Natural History Blueprint for Universities: A Discussion With Graham Arader.- 46) God's Country: TheNew Zealand Factor.- 47) New Territories: Artist Astrid Preston Celebrates the Earth in a Landmark Nature Exhibition.- 48…