Product Description

Kay Milton considers why some people in Western societies grow up to be nature lovers, while others seem indifferent or intent on destroying these things. She draws on ideas from anthropology, psychology and philosophy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3498122 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Review
'Intriguing, thought-provoking ... environmentalism treated from a cultural perspective.' - Paul Richards, Wageningen University

'Are nature-lovers emotional? Of course, says Milton, so are we all! Born of personal and lifelong engagements with our surroundings, emotions are the power-house of thought and action. This accessible and courageous book explodes the myth that attitudes to nature are divided between emotion and rationality, opening up a more inclusive debate on environmental protection.' - Tim Ingold, University of Aberdeen, UK

'Loving Nature provides some inspirational ideas to disentangle the links between environment, emotion and political performances.' - Monica Degen, Open University

From the Back Cover
As the full effects of human activity on Earth's life-support systems are revealed by science, the question of whether we can change, fundamentally, our relationship with nature becomes increasingly urgent. Just as important as an understanding of our environment, is an understanding of ourselves, of the kinds of beings we are and why we act as we do. In Loving Nature Kay Milton considers why some people in western societies grow up to be nature lovers, actively concerned about the welfare and future of plants, animals, ecosystems and nature in general, while others seem indifferent or intent on destroying these things.
Drawing on findings and ideas from anthropology, psychology, cognitive science and philosophy, the author discusses how we come to understand nature as we do, and above all, how we develop emotional commitments to it. Anthropologists, in recent years, have tended to suggest that our understanding of the world is shaped solely by the culture in which we live. Controversially Kay Milton argues that it is shaped by direct experience in which emotion plays an essential role. The author argues that the conventional opposition between emotion and rationality in western culture is a myth. The effect of this myth has been to support a market economy which systematically destroys nature, and to exclude from public decision making the kinds of emotional attachments that support more environmentally sensative ways of living. A better understanding of ourselves, as fundamentally emotional beings, could give such ways of living the respect they need.

About the Author
Kay Milton is Reader in Social Anthropology at Queen's University Belfast. Since the mid-1980s she has specialzed in research on environmental issues. Her publications include Environmentalism and cultural theory (Routledge 1996) and the edited collection Environmentalism: the view from anthropology (Routledge 1993).