New E-ssential | Thinking Like a Mountain
An Ecological Perspective on Earth
Praise for Ghost Bears:
“This important book serves as both a clear, comprehensive examination of a complex subject and a powerful plea for change…. Advocating a moral and spiritual revolution of sorts, Grumbine urges that humanity enter into a greater partnership with nature, working with it rather than attempting to control it.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Grumbine weaves together colorful strands of conservation biology, natural history, environmental policy, law, ethics, and grassroots activism into a story that is rigorous, inspiring, and fun to read.”
— Reed Noss
Washington, D.C. (October 11, 2012)—Six decades ago, Aldo Leopold called on humans to “think like a mountain,” to appreciate the grand scale of entire ecosystems rather than losing the forest for the trees. As the planet warms, forests are razed, and species disappear, it’s clear we have yet to embody the mountain’s perspective. Conservation biologist R. Edward Grumbine believes that before we can manage our world responsibly, we must understand the basic tenets of ecology and that in the past 20 years U.S. policy has failed to keep up with science.
Thinking Like a Mountain is an excerpt from Grumbine's previous book, Ghost Bears, in which he explains the development of conservation biology and traces its conflicts with policymakers. He has enhanced and updated the chapter with new photographs and an introduction that analyzes what has happened—and what hasn’t—since Ghost Bears was originally published.
He focuses particularly on the needs of the grizzly bears roaming the Pacific Northwest, which, as he describes in the new introduction, have seen few reasons to celebrate the passage of the past two decades. Grumbine explores concepts like population viability, habitat fragmentation, and fire’s role in shaping ecosystems and concludes that our current system of nature reserves will never be sufficient to protect the iconic large mammals so many of us associate with America. He also shows how, for all of conservation biology’s reliance on data, efforts are also profoundly shaped by human and societal values.
Grumbine offers a succinct and evocative description of why we should all care about biodiversity, protected lands, connectivity, and extinction rates.
R. Edward Grumbine has been involved in integrating conservation science into resource management planning and policy since the 1980s. Currently on leave from Prescott College in Arizona, he is serving as a senior international scientist at the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yunnan Province. His current work includes dam development impacts in the Mekong River, hydropower issues in the India Himalaya, and defining environmental security on China's western borders. He is the author of numerous academic papers and several books, including Where the Dragon Meets the Angry River: Nature and Power in the People's Republic of China, Ghost Bears: Exploring the Biodiversity Crisis and editor of Environmental Policy and Biodiversity.
