Publishers Weekly (2 Feb 2009)
A Conservationist Manifesto
In these predictable but frequently insightful essays, Sanders (Writing
from the Center) muses on how to care for the Earth, local communities
and future generations. He condemns the mainstream “American way
of life” as an “infantile dream of endless consumption,
endless novelty, and endless play” and, calling for a “dream
worthy of grownups,” explores ways to realize this dream, such
as his own decision to stay put in one place and discover that his ambition
was not to “make a good career but to make a good life”
and remain attentive to nature and the present moment. Sanders offers
a 40-point “Conservationist Manifesto,” which, in its thoroughness,
thoughtfulness and inclusion of environmental justice issues would serve
the environmentalist community well. But the most original and intriguing
ideas in this book are Sanders's thoughts about words and their meanings,
as when he suggests that for a season we make explicit the meaning of
“consumers” by replacing it with “devourers,”
or that wilderness is a Sabbath of space rather than time, and we need
both kinds of Sabbath “because Earth could use a respite from
our demands.”
