A Reenchanted World: The Quest for a new Kinship with Nature, by James W. Gibson

[whatis42]

Gibson, James William. 2009. A Reenchanted World: The Quest for a new Kinship with Nature. New York: Metropolitan Books.

Comments

[whatis42]

The main thing about the disconnect between behavior and beliefs is that there is a good body of literature on the fact that many people claim to support the environment (their attitudes/beliefs), but their behaviors don't match their supposed attitude. This obviously isn't true for all, I believe it's pretty common (and has been demonstrated by research that I'm not very familiar with). It's like saying you "support the children" - everybody says it, but for many it's kind of meaningless. Supporting the environment can be similar, in that everybody support clean air and nobody wants dirty air, even if few people do anything to prevent air pollution. I'm not sure how widespread these kind of "shallow" environmental attitudes are today, but they have been well-documented in earlier research. However, this book did not reference any of the literature on this gap between attitudes and behavior, and this weakened the overall argument. (I just now found an entire journal issue devoted to the gap: Environmental Education Research 2002,

[whatis42]

That's exactly my assessment. I did enjoy reading it though (it was a quick read), especially for the stories. Like that story about a bear that would come and hang out in this family's suburban hot tub (swimming pool? One or the other). The family was concerned at first, but then got used to it, named the bear, and liked the companionship. Or that town that had a elk who'd come and wander around (right through the town), and liked it so much he brought his harem. A poacher later shot the elk, and the whole town was pissed off and saddened by the loss of their local herd. Sad, but a good story.

It has quite a few other stories along those lines, and those were my favorite parts of the book.

Re: Now for something completely different...

[whatis42]

Thanks!

That does seem kind of.....weird and specific. Interesting though. I tend to think it's good to know that these kinds exist, even if you have no immediate use for them.