The Left Hand of Eden: Meditations on Nature and Human Nature
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By William Ashworth.
**Literary Arts Winner Oregon Book Award**
1999. 6 x 9 inches. 256 pages.
ISBN 0-87071-460-0. Paperback, $19.95.
Table of Contents
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This important contribution to the growing debate over the protection of wilderness areas comes from an unusual perspective--that of an environmentalist arguing against preservation.
A longtime activist, William Ashworth grew frustrated with the environmental movement and its efforts to preserve wilderness. In this provocative book he explores "the disharmony that exists between the laws of nature and the laws we use to protect it." Ashworth argues that wilderness preservation is a form of separation from the land and, as such, is as harmful to nature as logging or mining. Treating nature as something "other"--whether to preserve it or destroy it--creates a false dichotomy, from which all modern environmental battles arise: use versus preservation, civilization versus wilderness.
Ashworth presents his bold and original ideas in a series of linked nature essays. In these powerful, poetic writings he shows that proper care for the land requires not just use or reverence, but use with reverence. "Careful use of resources is the key to preserving them," he writes. "It not only works: it is the only thing that ever has."
"Forthright, lucid, and as in love with the universe as his heroes" -- Booklist
Thoreau and Edward Abbey, Ashworth explains why efforts to protect individual species and officially designated patches of wilderness do nothing to change the attitudes that caused the mess or ensure a more sensible future. "Each finely honed and provocative essay prepares the ground for the next..."
"Ashworth's prose is as poetic as it is informative and insightful, and life a good poet, Ashworth never once settles for the easy conclusion. This is as inviting and provocative a read as I have encountered in a long time."
--Alan Reder, author of 75 Best Business Practices for Socially Responsible Companies and co-author of Investing from the Heart
About
the Author
William Ashworth is the author of numerous books on the environment and natural history, including
The Economy of Nature,
The Late, Great Lakes, and
The Wallowas: Coming of Age in the Wilderness, a volume in the Oregon State University Press
Northwest Reprints series. He lives in Ashland, Oregon.
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