Preserving Planet Earth: Changing Human Culture with Lessons from the Past

Jane Roland Martin argues that human-centeredness is a learned behavior and that we can unlearn it. She looks to history for examples of large-scale cultural change and encourages readers to take action to avert a looming tragedy of Aristotelian proportions.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 190 pages
Publication date: 31 May 2024
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book encourages readers to recognize humanity's role in the environmental crisis and proposes a path forward by examining the power of ordinary people to bring about significant cultural change. Is it possible for humankind to abandon the belief that the planet is ours to exploit as we see fit? Jane Roland Martin, an internationally acclaimed philosopher of education, argues that humanocentrism is a learned behavior, and what is learned can be unlearned. Looking back to history to understand how large-scale cultural change has occurred, she identifies a pattern in the achievements of historical figures such as Martin Luther, Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, and Greta Thunberg that we can emulate. Drawing on history, philosophy, literature, the natural and social sciences, and aiming to mobilize readers to effective action, Martin employs accessible and powerful rhetoric, with each chapter beginning with a scene from history written in dialogue form.

This book urges young and old to prevent a looming tragedy of Aristotelian proportions—the demise of the "Mother Nature" that enabled our species to thrive. Thoroughly interdisciplinary in its approach, it will appeal to students and teachers as well as general readers interested in environmental studies, philosophy, and education.

Weight: 318g
Dimension: 156 x 233 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032660080