‘Ecological Intelligence…’
Title: Ecological Intelligence: Rediscovering Ourselves in Nature
Author: Ian McCallum
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-55591-687-9
Pages: 256
Cost: US$16.95
Publisher: 2005 Africa Geographic, South Africa; 2008 Fulcrum Books 2008, USA
Reviews:
A best seller in Africa, Ecological Intelligence defines a new way of thinking about the unprecedented environmental pressures of our day. McCallum offers a compelling argument that we must think differently about ourselves and the earth if we are to take seriously the survival of wilderness areas, wild animals, and the human race. Ecological Intelligence explores the relationship between humans and nature from both a biological and poetic perspective, arguing that understanding and reinforcing the evolutionary bonds that connect all life will lead to a greater sense of our place in the world. The notion of ecological intelligence is a wild and ethical imperative an urgent reminder that we are inextricably linked to the land, that the history of every living creature is within us, that we are, above all, a mindful species that must not be the creatures of our own undoing.
Ecological Intelligence defines a new way of thinking about how we ought to address these pressures. Combining his expertise as a physician, a Jungian practictioner, and a poet, he urges us to look at the link between humans and nature from a biological as well as a poetic perspective, arguing that understanding this connection will lead to a greater sense of our place in the world. Ultimately, he says, this understanding must come from several sources of expression.
Ecological Intelligence explores where we have come from and our vital link to nature. It calls into question our survival as an interdependent species an dlooks ahead at how humans must change to repay the debt we owe Nature for our own evolution.
McCallum defines ecological intelligence as a rediscovering of ourselves in nature, a greater awareness of what it means to be a human being on this earth. We are linked to the land and all the creatures on it, and we are the only species capable of deciding what to do about its future. We are the keepers of the zoo, and the welfare of the wild is a global responsibility.
Ian McCallum is a medical doctor, psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, and a director of the Wilderness Foundation Africa. He is the author of the novel Thorns to Kilimanjaro and a poetry collection, Wild Gifts.
