Jun 19, 2014 | Carolyn's Books
Extinction Dialogs is a candid conversation between Guy McPherson and Carolyn Baker. The text addresses the scientific research regarding abrupt climate change as well as how humans who grasp the likelihood of near-term human extinction can prepare emotionally and spiritually for the demise of many species on Earth, including ours. Synthesizing scientific and psycho-spiritual perspectives, McPherson and Baker provide a manual for understanding our terminal status and therefore allow this knowledge to shape every aspect of our relationships and behavior in humanity’s last hours.
Mar 30, 2014 | Climate Change/Environment
The pace of climate change continues to accelerate, and it now appears inevitable that the Great Anthropocentric Extinction currently unfolding will include the end of life as we know it. Characterizing this ‘Great Dying’ as equivalent to a terminal diagnosis for the human race, and assuming an ecopsychological perspective that sees a close relationship between planetary health and mental health, the author applies the stages of grief to this Great Dying, exploring connections retroactively and prospectively between societal mental health trends in the U.S., our awareness of the severity of the threat we pose to the planet, and the stages of grieving the loss of life, and questions the role mental health professionals should play in this context. Looking ahead from this same perspective, the author asks if it is possible to alleviate the pain and suffering that will be associated with the widespread extinctions, mass mortality, and forced migrations that are anticipated by scientific experts as a result of climate disruptions, beginning with the idea of what a “good death” would look like in relation to the end of life as we know it, applying principles from hospice and palliative care. Finally, he offers a hopeful vision that, with an expanding planetary hospice movement and appropriate containing myths, it might be possible to re-cast this Great Dying as a difficult, but spiritually progressive, death/rebirth experience for homo sapiens.
Jan 1, 2011 | Feature Articles
Mankind’s introduction of invasive species across the globe and destruction of natural habitats threatens to destroy the diversity of species essential to the natural world, researchers claim. The modern biodiversity crisis, a lack of variation in life forms,...