Invisible Nature

June 3, 2013
This dense, solution-oriented study by U.C. Santa Cruz lecturer Worthy suggests that an empathetic reconnection to nature, both physical and social, is possible if people can grasp the outcomes of their actions. By having no proximity to our impact on the environment, and only abstract ideas of its consequences, ecological destruction becomes a banal, daily activity. Worthy explores how our approach to nature has changed, from the ancient Greek concept of the self as a separate entity to the modern concept of a passive “machine world.” The author argues that the obfuscation of our relation to the natural world is the route to emotional crisis, anxiety, and stress. Worthy attempts to understand the gulf between our desire to stop destroying the environment and our ability to do so, rather than simply condemning Americans as “cogs in the machine.” He offers realistic suggestions to bridge the gap, like adopting animals from shelters, community gardening, and providing schoolchildren with much-needed contact with natural landscapes. Worthy acknowledges that even though trying to change the routine of destruction may feel futile and the important transitions need to happen on a grand scale, individuals can still make a difference. Agent: Kimberly Cameron, Kimberly Cameron & Associates.

August 1, 2013
When pressed on the issue, most will readily proclaim they are pro-environment and antipollution, although lately only scant gains have been made in counteracting rapidly escalating climate change and damage to ocean habitats. In this incisive analysis of modern society's detrimental impact on global ecology, University of California environmental studies professor Worthy attributes this inconsistency between good intentions and dismal results to civilization's built-in dissociation from nature. When the food we eat and clothes we wear are produced in remote farms and factories, our connection with the natural world from which they spring becomes just as remote and inevitably neglected. In eight sweeping chapters filled with sobering examples, Worthy traces the origins of this environmental disconnect to the industrial world's idea of nature as a collection of separate parts requiring careful supervision. He then offers a variety of prescriptions, including growing food locally, for reestablishing awareness of the interconnectedness of nature and our utter dependence on it. Worthy's book is a superbly written clarion call to reformat our lifestyles and embrace a deeper connection with the living world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)