The Trumpeter - Journal of Ecosophy (Athabasca University)

Arnold, Richard

The Trumpeter  
Volume 19, Number 3 (2003) 
ISSN: 0832-6193 
 
Book Review  
 
Review of The Essential Spiral: Ecology and Consciousness After 9/11, 
by Ian Prattis. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2002, 
280 pp. 
Review by Richard Arnold 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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1Richard Arnold, a native of Alabama, has lived on Vancouver Island, B.C. 
since 1985. He is a long-time explorer and defender of wilderness, belongs to 
several ecological societies, and teaches English and Environmental Literature 
at Malaspina University-College. His first collection of poetry was published 
in 2002 by Leaf Press (Lantzville, B.C.). Recent journal and anthology 
publications include The Wayward Coast, Wind Magazine, Sunstone, 
Terrain.org, and the Trumpeter. an Prattis, Professor of Anthropology and Religion at Carleton 
niversity in Ottawa, has published a multi-disciplinary book with a 
itle which will resonate for anyone who has been following current 
vents—particularly as regards “terrorism”—for the past two years.  
n fact, the title is, in my opinion, the only real weakness of the book; it 
hooks” the post-9/11 reader and promises something it fails to deliver. 
ronically, what the book does deliver is far superior to any “news” 
tories, et cetera, about the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks on 
eptember 11, 2001. If Prattis publishes a second edition, I would 
uggest he either delete “After 9/11” from the title, or say more in the 
ook about this topic. After all, a reader does expect certain things from 
 title, especially one as fraught as this one.   
 will pick at two more nits that need to be fixed before the book goes to 
 second edition: first, the annoying use of the words “lead” and 
mislead” when the correct spelling should be “led” and “misled” (past 
ense). I noted this throughout the book. And I wonder why the 
ublisher did not use recycled paper? Surely we have come to the point 
here every ethical publisher should at least try to employ recycled 
aper. (New Society, in British Columbia, is one who does.)  Other-
ise, this is an attractive and satisfying production. The book begins, as 
oes each chapter, with an abstract or overview of the subject matter. A 
The Trumpeter 16
 
 
bibliography follows each chapter, and there is a comprehensive and 
helpful index. The layout is functional and sturdy. 
 
Although one picks this book up expecting to read about the terrorist 
events of 2001, what one really finds is a book on “mindfulness.” The 
author stresses that we must attempt to cultivate this virtue in every 
aspect of our daily lives. He frequently cites the Buddha, and other 
teachers from the ancient as well as present world. The application to 
“9/11” thus gradually becomes revealed as the book goes on: the best 
way, perhaps only way, to combat evil in any form is to develop an 
extreme “mindfulness” about things. Prattis reinforces the theme—at 
least as old as Buddha—that any meaningful action must start with the 
self. If we really want to heal the earth’s ecological and political 
wounds, each individual must first heal him/herself.  
 
Actually, this is a fascinating book, perhaps more so because, as earlier 
stated, it turns out to be different from what one expects on first seeing 
the cover. Ian Prattis explains the choice of title: “The Essential Spiral 
insists that Ecology and Consciousness are inseparable, akin to the 
double helix of DNA. To separate the double helix eliminates life. The 
same portent applies to Ecology and Consciousness” (viii). The 
“walking meditation” (30–35) is an exercise which I have already 
begun using, and is simple enough for virtually anyone to use every 
day. The crux of the book is Chapter 4: Meditation for Gaia. Here, the 
author stresses the theme of self-healing, saying that no matter how 
discouraged, angry, or dejected he gets over the current state of Earth, 
his “first choice is to be still.” The final chapter, Guidelines to Recreate 
our World, will be most interesting to students and practitioners of 
Deep Ecology.    
 
This is an effective and useful synthesis of Buddhism, meditation, and 
the global political climate of the twenty-first century.  The book 
concludes with a short parable entitled “The Merchant and the 
Diamond,”  in which a rich man is given an unexpected gift that 
changes his life. If I may employ the language of that story, The 
Essential Spiral is the diamond, and Ian Prattis has the great heart that 
gave it to us. Thank you, good sir!  
 
Volume 19, Number 3 117


The Essential Spiral: Ecology and Consciousness After 9/11, by Ian Prattis

The paper examines a representative internet/computer based Education for Sustainability (EfS) learning program aimed at teacher training. Looking at the concept of culture in the program, it provides a critical reading of its implicit and explicit attitudes to science and technology. In order to assess these attitudes, an understanding of science and technology is presented that should form the framework of educational programs committed to sustainability. In addition, the program’s understanding of and attitude towards science is measured against its own criteria. The analysis uncovers a startlingly uncritical attitude to Western science and technology and its associated progress myths, as well as an even more far-reaching, naive advocacy of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and internet as learning tools for EfS. This not only leads to contradictions with the program’s stated aims and some of its content, but is hardly conducive to sustainability. The paper argues, therefore, that we need a far more critical approach to Western myths of development and scientific progress if we are to encourage a move towards sustainability through education

Jucker, Rolf

UNESCO's Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future: A critical evaluation of underlying unsustainable progress myths

Morito, Bruce

 
 
Volume 19,  Number 1 3
The Trumpeter  
Volume 19, Number 1 (2003) 
ISSN: 0832-6193 
 
The Trumpeter 
Editorial 
 
Volume 19, Number 1 (2003), finds us in the enviable position of being 
able to present the deep ecology community with an issue of diverse 
articles. Although these articles tend to be somewhat on the long side, 
their authors provide well-developed and innovative analyses that will 
appeal to a wide range of interests. From connecting post modernism to 
quantum physics (Opperman) to examining E. O. Wilson from a deep 
ecological perspective (Bowers), and from an examination of 
pragmatism and the stages of environmental awareness (Low) to an 
exploration into the idea of an Earth jurisprudence (Bell), the present 
issue provides challenges to cross-disciplinary and perspectival 
analyses that could be described as deeply innovative and penetrating. 
They serve, among other things, to engage the deep questioning process 
as they shed new light on different ways to approach that process, as 
initially envisaged by Arne Naess. 
Ellen Laconte's “Next things After Surrender” is this issue's narrative. 
Her’s is a particularly valuable and timely article for me, since it goes a 
long distance in helping me find ways of envisaging a means for 
addressing a theory/praxis problem, which has bothered me for many 
years. I have been increasingly concerned about the problem of the 
disconnect between theoretical rigour and experiential attunement as it 
pertains to understanding the human/environment relationship. I see our 
community as one that struggles to find ways to articulate this 
connection in the attempt to promote greater participation in both 
aspects of deep ecological awareness. In a way, what appears to be the 
split between theoreticians and those advocating experiential awareness 
that mirrors the split in Buddhism soon after the Buddha's death. This 
anciently rooted struggle continues today in environmental philosophy 
and particularly in the deep ecology community. For those who share 
this struggle, Ellen Laconte's narrative and David Low's article help to 
shape innovative approaches to addressing this problem. 
 The Trumpeter 4
Serpil Opperman's treatment of contemporary physics and post 
modernism challenge another divide, that between science and the 
human arts. In the spirit of such writers as Capra and David Bohm, 
Opperman shows how much of the environmental problem is the result 
of failing to appreciate the ideas of interconnectedness and 
interdependency of all things, resulting in confused thinking. This 
confusion operates at institutional and disciplinary levels, so that 
thought needs to be transformed at these levels before significant 
change will occur. Enter here the integration with post modernism. 
Using the concept of rhizome, Opperman proceeds to offer a conceptual 
means through which a more integrated, but non-totalizing, approach to 
thought in the disciplines can be developed through a transformative 
learning process. 
Chet Bower's critique of E. O. Wilson’s influence on environmental 
thought and environmentalism ferrets out dangers in Wilson's genetic 
explanation of our moral sense as expressed in his efforts to develop the 
discipline of sociobiology. The confidence and focus on science and 
humanity's engineering capacities as the primary means to understand 
and rectify environmental problems brings Bowers to accuse Wilson of 
a contradiction, in light of Wilson's attempt to avoid accusations of 
genetic determinism. Connecting this reliance on science and its form 
of rational explanation leads to a further championing of Western 
cultural norms and the denigration or devaluing of other cultural norms. 
In turn, these connections are further connected to the educational and 
economic norms of Western culture, which in effect entrench 
nineteenth-century cultural and industrial expectations. Without a more 
thoroughgoing self-critique and dialectical understanding of the place 
of science, Wilson turns out to champion scientists as the repositories of 
wisdom for social values and norms, thereby deepening the 
environmental problem.  
David Low brings us a comparison between Frank Fisher's three stages 
of environmental concern and Charles S. Pierce’s three grades of 
clarity, which aids in addressing the possibility of integrating the 
different approaches to environmentalism, that is, the relationship 
between feeling and thought. As he sorts out the various types and 
levels of response to environmental problems, Low connects this 
analytical framework to Arne Naess’s idea of deep questioning as a 
process of gaining ever evolving clarity and understanding in the 
interest of developing a ever deepening cooperative community.  
For this issue, we are trying something innovative in the interest of 
advancing a work in progress. Mike Bell explores the idea of an Earth 
jurisprudence, based on Thomas Berry’s work and modelled on Inuit 
 
 
Volume 19,  Number 1 5
jurisprudence systems. For this exploratory essay, we are attempting a 
different feedback mode. Bell’s explication and application of Berry's 
concerns for a Earth derived system of justice invites commentary, 
especially of the kind that contributes to the development of the idea. 
For this reason we publish Bell’s essay as exploratory and use the Web 
capacity to introduce a way for readers to contribute their ideas. We are 
asking Mike Bell to monitor the discussion for the duration of the time 
this issue is current, after which we ask that he provide a synopsis of the 
feedback he received. In the event that this leads to greater discussion 
on the issue, we may publish similar “exploratory essays” that the deep 
ecology would find of interest. 
Ellen LaConte’s, “The Next Things After Surrender,” is our lone 
narrative this issue. While previously published, her desire to engage 
the Trumpeter readership is received with pleasure. Her expressions of 
encountering the forest, comparing and contrasting it with her 
encounter with church, illuminate and draw attention to the immediacy 
of becoming attuned to the living world of the forest.  
We are also thankful for the contributions to our poetry section by 
Daniel Boland and Mark Frutkin. As I become increasingly exposed to 
the poetic through my editorship, I find myself exploring the analytical 
mind quite differently. “Demeter,” “A Beechwood Poem,” (Boland), 
“Badminton Net,” “A Walk in the Quebec Countryside,” and “Spark” 
(Frutkin) by these poets further enhance this experience.  
Appreciation also goes out to our book reviewers: Chet Bowers, Susan 
Turner, and Richard Arnold. 
Lastly, you will notice a new PDF format for this issue. We hope this 
change will facilitate easier access and use of the Trumpeter. When 
funds become available we hope to bring our back issues into line with 
this format, although previously published issues in the hard copy 
version are unlikely to be similarly converted. 
Bruce Morito 
Editor 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Trumpeter 6
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Editorial

 
 
The Trumpeter  
Volume 19, Number 3 (2003) 
ISSN: 0832-6193 
Book Review  
 
Review of Managing for Healthy Ecosystems, edited by David J. 
Rapport, William Lasley, Dennis E. Rolston, N. Ole Nielsen, Calvin O. 
Qualset, Ardeshir B. Damania. Washington, DC: Lewis Publishers, 
2003, 1510 pages. 
Review by Bruce Morito 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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VBruce Morito is a philosopher with Athabasca University and the editor of the 
Trumpeter. Much of his work is focused on Aboriginal thought and rights. 
Policy and decision-making process are primary research areas in applied 
ethics and philosophy. His latest book is Thinking Ecologically: Environmental
Thought, Values and Policy (2002). 
 his tome, while its editors self-consciously deny that it is an 
ncyclopedia (preface) of ecosystem health, resembles one in 
ppearance and, to some extent, in organization. Occupying 1510 pages 
nd 137 articles, the book appears to be a compilation of the key 
oncepts, problems, and applications concerning ecosystem health and 
ntegrity. It is organized under three large thematic areas: conceptual, 
ssues and methods regarding the assessment and monitoring of 
cosystem health, and case studies. 
he papers were taken from the 1999 “Managing for Ecosystem 
ealth” conference at the University of California, Davis, under the 
uspices of the International Society for Ecosystem Health. If the 
esulting book is any indication of the volume of papers presented 
here, it is no wonder that it took six editors to compile it. 
he deep ecology community should be interested in Managing for 
ealthy Ecosystems because it brings together proponents of the 
cosystem health model and proponents of the ecosystem integrity 
pproach, groups which have, at one time, been considerably at odds 
ith one another. Laura Westra, who contributes to this book and was 
lso engaged in the organization of the conference, heavily criticized 
he health approach in her own work (An Environmental Proposal for 
thics, 1994). Westra, among others supporting this approach, look to 
he deep ecology tradition for much of their perspective and ethical 
irection. The book, therefore, gives some indication of how the deep 
olume 19, Number 3 121
ecology movement has influenced some of the current thinking and 
policy making that attempts to direct us toward ecological 
sustainability. 
To actually read the entire book and give a credible critique would take 
an exorbitant amount of time. My review, therefore, is based on a 
selective reading of the technical sections and a focus on the conceptual 
articles. 
These relatively short, conference-oriented papers are of the sort that 
provide an indication of how people are thinking in the area. Some are 
synopsis accounts of the work the writers have been engaged in, such as 
Westra’s article on ecological integrity and Rees’s on ecological 
footprint analysis. Others are synopses of work done in various areas 
(e.g., ambient air quality objectives). As a result, the book gives an 
overview of many people’s work in their respective areas, which leaves 
the impression that many contributors are using the collection and the 
conference principally as marketing mediums for their other work, or 
that the book is designed to capture as many issues as possible under 
the rubric of ecosystem health.  
Many of the authors, after reviewing what they take to be the most up-
to-date developments in their areas, pose challenges to research or 
policy. Many articles read like opinion pieces on environmental 
problems concerning sustainability. There are a few more-detailed and 
well-developed arguments, but the general length of articles precludes 
them from establishing well-formulated arguments. If readers are 
looking for such arguments, or for deeply informative articles, they will 
not find it in this collection. Some of the bibliographies lead readers to 
a rich body of literature, but many are so minimal that they do not serve 
even this purpose. 
If readers are looking for an in-depth discussion on ecosystem health, 
this is not their book. If they are looking for a comprehensive 
representation and synopsis account of the area, and related areas, then 
this book can serve as a valuable tool. 
The Trumpeter 122


Review of Managing for Healthy Ecosystems

Milliken, Emily

The Trumpeter  
Volume 19, Number 2 (2003) 
ISSN: 0832-6193 
 
The Empty Cellar 
Emily Milliken 
We broke  
all Dad's wine glasses 
when he died. 
      No room 
   in our grief 
   for crystal. 
  
We wanted to keep 
the cellar, though— 
      walked down 
   the grey stone steps 
   turned the wrought iron handle 
      chose carefully from the walls 
   of wine,  
        as if he had left us his tongue's memory. 
 
Drink white when it's hot. 
 
We sat heavy on the summer 
patio looking out at the fields 
and the fences and the garden. 
      Chardonnay and heat bugs 
are the last things any of us 
remember for certain. 
The day's heat rolled 
into a dusty light, crickets  
joined the heat bugs. 
Dusty light calmed into  
a warm dark: fireflies  
joined the crickets.  
 
We were still, 
watched the landscape change  
with the light,  
listened to the bugs.  
A vibration filled the space between us 
The Trumpeter 112
 
 
until it seemed we were each other  
and the bugs 
and the flagstones at our feet  
and the flowers and the fields 
and the popping of the corks.  
 
We woke up the next morning, 
having never been asleep— 
hazy but not hung over.  
 
A cork mountain.  
 
Bottles reflecting the sun. 
 
The cellar empty, 
though none of us remembers drinking. 
 
Volume 19, Number 2 113


The Empty Cellar

Wainio-Theberge, Gabriel

 
 
The Trumpeter  
ISSN: 0832-6193 
Volume 19, Number 3 (2003) 
 
Hymn to Gaia 
 
Gaia, green earth, 
bountiful mother, 
everywhere is her sacred land, 
the sea, the air, the earth, 
she is all. 
 
Gaia, great mother, 
green as the green leaves. 
You dance with the seasons, 
play with the sun. 
 
Gaia, you are earth, 
you are all. 
You are the wind, the sky, 
the damp soil, 
every wolf running through the woods. 
 
Gaia, you are the world, 
you are the elements, 
you are all, 
all the world. 
 
Protect us, give us 
good bounty, Gaia, 
we will protect earth –  
you. 
 
 
Gabriel Wainio-Théberge 
 
Volume 19,  Number 3 107


Hymn to Gaia

Oppermann, Serpil

Toward an Ecocentric Postmoderm Theory: Fusing Deep Ecology and Quantum Mechanics

 
 
The Trumpeter  
ISSN: 0832-6193 
Volume 19, Number 3 (2003) 
 
Editorial 
 
The self or person has formed the core of many philosophical queries in 
the West, the East, Aboriginal traditions, biomedical ethics, law; it is no 
less so in environmental philosophy. In this issue, two articles, one by 
Barbara Davy and the other by Christian Diehm, present us with further 
perusals into the nature of the self in relation to others, an otherness that 
includes non-human ecosystem members. While Davy’s “Being 
Implicated in the World,” adopts a postmodern approach reflecting on 
Emmanuel Levinas’ ethic, Diehm focuses on the deep ecology vs. 
ecofeminism debate in addressing the nature of the person-in-relation. 
Dylan Wolfe’s, “The Common Erasure of Space and Nature: 
Communication as a Bridge Between the Discourses of Designed Space 
and Ecocentred Identity,” brings these considerations into line with our 
conceptions of space. 
This continuous struggle in the deep ecology community to address the 
well-entrenched idea of the self as isolated individual is closely related 
to a plethora of issues as articulated in various disciplines, ranging from 
philosophy, through psychology, education, biomedical ethics et cetera. 
As editor of the Trumpeter, I see many submissions and receive many 
announcements concerning the self-other, self-environment 
relationship, most of which seem not to be informed of similar concerns 
formulated in other disciplines and arenas. Recent issues of the 
Trumpeter have represented this concern particularly from those in the 
area of ecopsychology, some, but not many, of whom seem to be 
familiar with developments in transformative learning circles. This 
apparent coincidence, or perhaps synchronicity, suggests to me that the 
Trumpeter could serve to integrate or at least disseminate views from 
these diverse areas of concern. In so doing, these scattered concerns 
could perhaps become a more unified and directed response to the crisis 
of personhood, as many in the deep ecology community see it. 
Supporters of deep ecology can be characterized in some ways as 
leading analysis, imagination, perception, and experience toward a 
recognition and embracing of the spiritual. Chet Bowers’ article, “The 
Environmental Ethic Implicit in Three Theories of Evolution,” takes us 
there by means of a critique of ethical theories influenced by 
Volume 19 Number 3 3
evolutionary theory. His worry about the threat to mythopoetic 
foundations of ethics points us, like our three other authors, back to 
grounding our moral lives in the results of deep inquiry. 
In our narratives section, Tim Rogers’ “Kwalt” uses a creative writing 
genre to advance further recognition of a need to investigate, experience 
more deeply, by placing us in a quandary over whether the colour kwalt 
exists and how we are to give an account of it. Tara Todesco writes in 
“Healing Through Wilderness” about many of the themes in 
ecopsychology, relating her experience as a wilderness experience 
therapist to the conception of wilderness as healer. 
Richard Arnold (“fragment” and Lesson for a God) and Gabriel 
Wainio-Théberge (“Hymn to Gaia”) contributed our poetry in this 
issue. Many thanks for helping the Trumpeter retain its poetic presence. 
Thanks go out once again to our book reviewers: Annie Booth, Sherilyn 
MacGregor, Richard Arnold, and Rolf Jucker for their reviews. My 
contribution as reviewer in this issue is due to a longstanding interest 
and involvement in the area covered by the review. 
 
Bruce Morito 
 
The Trumpeter 4


Todesco, Tara

Healing Through Wilderness

The Trumpeter  
ISSN: 0832-6193 
Volume 19, Number 3 (2003) 
 
Lesson for a God 
 
“The first precaution of 
intelligent tinkering is 
to save the cogs and wheels.” 
               --Aldo Leopold 
 
 
Starflowers out in thousands on the trail, 
Badges of northwest spring, with ringing thrush 
And robin and the keen fresh beams 
That slant to me this early Sunday morning. 
I drop to my knees in bright new bracken fern 
 
To ponder the flowers, their five-point petals 
On spidery filament, wondering whimsically 
What system of invisible beings might 
Need them for shelter, food, even beauty. 
I snip one off for the vase above my sink: 
 
Instantly a tiny tremor in my hand, 
Woods go hushed, the light seems dimmer 
As if somebody’s sun had just exploded. 
I drop it, rise, move on. Much later 
The broken peace of forest heals behind me. 
 
Richard Arnold 
 
The Trumpeter 106


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The Essential Spiral: Ecology and Consciousness After 9/11, by Ian Prattis

UNESCO's Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future: A critical evaluation of underlying unsustainable progress myths

Editorial

Review of Managing for Healthy Ecosystems

The Empty Cellar

Hymn to Gaia

Toward an Ecocentric Postmoderm Theory: Fusing Deep Ecology and Quantum Mechanics

Editorial

Healing Through Wilderness

Lesson for a God

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