Moral Ground - by Kathleen Dean Moore & Michael P Nelson (Paperback)

About the Book

Eighty groundbreaking essays on why it's wrong to wreck the world

Book Synopsis

Moral Ground brings together the testimony of over 80 visionaries -- theologians and religious leaders, scientists, elected officials, business leaders, naturists, activists, and writers -- to present a diverse and compelling call to honor our individual and collective moral responsibilities to our planet. In the face of environmental degradation and global climate change, scientific knowledge alone does not tell us what we ought to do. The missing premise of the argument and much-needed centerpiece in the debate to date has been the need for ethical values, moral guidance, and principled reasons for doing the right thing for our planet, its animals, its plants, and its people. This book encourages a newly discovered, or rediscovered, commitment to consensus about our ethical obligation to the future and why it's wrong to wreck the world.

Contributors include: Fred W. Allendorf, Bartholomew I, Mary Catherine Bateson, Thomas Berry, Wendell Berry, Marcus J. Borg, J. Baird Callicott, Courtney S. Campbell, F. Stuart Chapin III, Robin Morris Collin, Michael M. Crow, Dalai Lama, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Brian Doyle, David James Duncan, Massoumeh Ebtekar, Jesse M. Fink, Dave Foreman, Thomas L. Friedman, James Garvey, Thich Nhat Hanh, Paul Hawken, Bernd Heinrich, Linda Hogan, bell hooks, Dale Jamieson, Derrick Jensen, John Paul II, Martin S. Kaplan, Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley, Stephen R. Kellert, Robin W. Kimmerer, Barbara Kingsolver, Shepard Krech III, Ursula K. Le Guin, Hank Lentfer, Carly Lettero, Oren Lyons, Wangari Maathai, Sallie McFague, Bill McKibben, Katie McShane, Curt Meine, Ming Xu, N. Scott Momaday, Kathleen Dean Moore, Hylton Murray-Philipson, Gary Paul Nabhan, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Michael P. Nelson, Barack Obama, Ernest Partridge, John Perry, Edwin P. Pister, Carl Pope, Robert Michael Pyle, David Quammen, Daniel Quinn, Kate Rawles, Tri Robinson, Libby Roderick, Holmes Rolston III, Deborah Bird Rose, Jonathan F. P. Rose, Carl Safina, Scott Russell Sanders, Lauret Savoy, Nirmal Selvamony, Ismail Serageldin, Peter Singer, Sulak Sivaraksa, Gary Snyder, James Gustave Speth, Brian Swimme, Bron Taylor, Paul B. Thompson, George Tinker, Joerg Chet Tremmel, Quincy Troupe, Mary Evelyn Tucker, José Galizia Tundisi, Brian Turner, Desmond Tutu, Steve Vanderheiden, John A. Vucetich, Kimberly A. Wade-Benzoni, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Alan Weisman, Terry Tempest Williams, E. O. Wilson, and Xin Wei.

Review Quotes

Named a "Top 10 Environmental Read" by Huffington Post

"Will light a righteous fire under those who are receptive to its message; the best we can do is hope that it spreads, and spreads, and spreads." -- Utne

Moral Ground seeks to inspire action through a recognition of our species' commitment to ethical behavior and a reminder that ideals such as love and justice must dictate all of our actions." -- Orion

"Because the message needs to be heard now more than ever, as we are on the brink of continuing to thoughtlessly, recklessly, destroy ourselves and the Earth, the combination of philosophy and science is especially effective." -- Chicago Examiner

"Taking ethical action to address global climate change worldwide is a bequest that will give life to people now and in the future." -- Eugene Register Guard

"An ambitious project that aims to make a rock-solid moral case for environmental action." -- Grist

"A call to cultivate and implement a sense of collective moral responsibility to the future of our planet." -- Isle Journal

"Solving climate change issues will come only from our openness to listen to each other, learn from each other, and seek mutual understanding in good faith." -- Portland Tribune

About the Author

A professor of of environmental ethics and philosophy, Michael P. Nelson holds the Ruth H. Spaniol Chair of Renewable Resources at Oregon State University and serves as the lead principal investigator for the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program. He is a senior fellow with the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word and the philosopher in residence for the Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project. He lives in Corvallis, Oregon.