Ecopsychology

<b>An ecopsychology that integrates our totemic selves--our kinship with a more than human world--with our technological selves.</b><p>We need nature for our physical and psychological well-being. Our actions reflect this when we turn to beloved pets for companionship vacation in spots of natural splendor or spend hours working in the garden. Yet we are also a technological species and have been since we fashioned tools out of stone. Thus one of this century's central challenges is to embrace our kinship with a more-than-human world--our totemic self--and integrate that kinship with our scientific culture and technological selves.</p><p>This book takes on that challenge and proposes a reenvisioned ecopsychology. Contributors consider such topics as the innate tendency for people to bond with local place; a meaningful nature language; the epidemiological evidence for the health benefits of nature interaction; the theory and practice of ecotherapy; Gaia theory; ecovillages; the neuroscience of perceiving natural beauty; and sacred geography. Taken together the essays offer a vision for human flourishing and for a more grounded and realistic environmental psychology.</p>