Introduction

Introducing…

• Purpose
• Approach
• How to read this e-Book

Purpose

Climate change is a global anthropogenic threat to cultural continuity.  Climate change adaptation demands that we radically change how we are, how we know, how we act and how we learn. It calls for a new ethic of caring for nature – for living with the world we inhabit.  A paradigm shift is underway – a shift toward ‘conscious participation with nature’ that relies on imagination to envision a new way of being, knowing and living in our world.  We need a new language for making sense of the emerging reality.  We need to tell new stories that express the ecocentric cultural imaginary. This e-book is my unique contribution to the paradigm shift.   I hope it provokes your creativity to generate your unique contributions to transforming our world with hope.

Approach

This transdisciplinary work moves across and beyond several disciplines: philosophy, environmental ethics, ecofeminism, culture studies, new materialism, indigenous studies and post-colonial studies.  No single discipline is adequate for solving the complex problem of climate change adaptation, and for that reason, a transdisciplinary approach is necessary.  I defer to scientists for the scientific explanations of climate change.  My background is in critical cultural studies, so I offer a social and cultural perspective on climate change adaptation. This e-book is organized in three parts

• Part 1 presents the problem of climate change adaptation from a human perspective.
• Part 2 deconstructs the necrophilic Western paradigm by critiquing its attributes that caused the climate problem.
• Part 4 proposes a paradigm of natality as a culture of creativity
• Part 3 navigates the space in-between by focusing on change processes for making the paradigm shift from necrophilia to natality.

How to read this e-book

I welcome your interaction with the ideas in this e-book.

• Click on blue keywords to look up the definition of the word in the Keywords Page.
• Click on citations (for example, Wolfstone, 2014, p.5) to go to the Reference page where you locate the title and publisher.
• Some pages contain links  to related videos, poetry and other creative expressions on external websites. The Storytelling icon links to a cultural story that illustrates a key concept.
• Use the Home Page to write a comment, insight or question related to the content.  I will try to reply within 48 hours.
• Share a webpage with your network by email or Facebook.
• Future features include a Ceremony icon for a ritual and/or reading related to a sacred concept, deity or archetype.  and a

 

 

 

 

Please report broken links to my email address: wolfston(at)mts.net.