Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives on the Natural World

Abstract

I was asked by the editors of the Integral Review to review the book Integral Ecology. While reading it I alternately felt impressed, stimulated, irritated, curious, skeptical, intrigued, and appreciative. Through this review, I will offer an overview of the structure of the book and elaborate on some of the book’s main themes, offering some commentary, inquiries, and alternative views. I will begin with a description of the book’s intended audience and position my background as a reviewer in reference to those criteria. The authors say they are writing the book “as an advanced introduction to Integral Theory in general and Integral Ecology in particular ” (p. 13), hoping this is beneficial for those new to integral applications and studies of ecology and to those who are long-term scholar-practitioners of integrative efforts. Since the mid 1980s, I was engaged in the environmental field, offering workshops on bioregionalism, conservation, despair and empowerment, sustainability indicators, and climate change. I was involved in two international projects focusing on community sustainability using participatory action research. In my search for a way to find meaning and respond to the growing challenges, I embraced many of the ecological perspectives and methods named in this book, from blaming modernity to eco

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