This work is a large, powerfully illustrated interdisciplinary natural sciences volume, the first of its kind to examine the critically important nature ofecological paradox, through an abundance of lenses: the biological sciences, taxonomy, archaeology, geopolitical history, comparative ethics, literature, philosophy, the history of science, human geography, population ecology, epistemology, anthropology, demographics, and futurism. 

 

The ecological paradox suggests that the human biologicaland from an insular perspective, successfulstruggle to exist has come at the price of isolating H. sapiens from life-sustaining ecosystem services, and far too much of the biodiversity with which we find ourselves at crisis-level odds. It is a paradox dating back thousands of years, implicating millennia of human machinations that have been utterly ruinous to biological baselines. Those metrics are examined from numerous multidisciplinary approaches in this thoroughly original work, which aids readers, particularly natural history students, who aspire to grasp the far-reaching dimensions of the Anthropocene, as it affects every facet of human experience, past, present and future, and the rest of planetary sentience.

With a Preface by Dr. Gerald Wayne Clough, former Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and President Emeritus of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Foreword by Robert Gillespie, President of the non-profit, Population Communication.

Michael Charles Tobias is a global ecologist, anthropologist, historian, explorer, author and filmmaker. He obtained his Ph.D. in the Department of History of Consciousness from the University of California-Santa Cruz and has conducted field-research in nearly 100 countries.. Tobias is the author of more than 45 books (both fiction and non-fiction, as well as several edited anthologies). In addition to his numerous books and published research papers, he has written, directed, produced, executive produced or co-executive produced well over 100 films TV series, documentaries and dramas, most pertaining to environmental, cultural, social or scientific issues. A former Professor at Dartmouth, the University of California-Santa Barbara, the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque and elsewhere. In 1996, Dr Tobias received the "Courage of Conscience Award" for his commitment to nature and non-violence. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Parabola Focus Award for his long-standing body of work aimed at creating a better world. Dr. Tobias is the long-time President of the Dancing Star Foundation.

Jane Gray Morrison is an ecologist whose work has taken her to over 30 countries. As a filmmaker, Ms. Morrison has produced numerous films for such networks as Discovery, PBS (where she also Co-Directed "A Day in the Life of Ireland" for Irish Television and WNET/New York), Hotspots and Turner Broadcasting for which she served as Senior Producer for "Voice of the Planet," a 10-hour dramatic series based upon the history of life on Earth. Her books include "Sanctuary: Global Oases of Innocence"; Donkey: The Mystique of Equus Asinus; Gods Country: The New Zealand Factor; and No Vacancy. She has co-written five books published by Springer. Since 1999, Jane Morrison has served as the Executive Vice President of Dancing Star Foundation, a non-profit organization that focuses on the interdisciplinary humanities and social justice movements as they concern humankind's relationship to the natural world.

Foreword.- Preface.- Part 1. Tractatus Ecologia Paradoxi.- Introduction.- On the Nature of Paradox.- Ecological Problems and Paradigmatic Solutions.- Protected Area Dilemmas.- The Paradox of Protection.- The Ecclesiastes Factor.- Pathologies of Self-Image.- Paradoxical Frontiers.- The Obsolescence of Presuppositions.- Ecological Contradiction, Antinomy and Counter-Intuition.- Heavy and Light Contingencies of Consciousness.- The Paradise Paradox.- Codex Sinaiticus.- Russells Paradox as Ecological Proxy.- The Evolution of Innocence and Strategy.- Tatters and Poignancies.- The Echoes of Malhazine.- A Cave at Taranga.- A Village in Prince Christian Sound.- The Grampians.- The Yasuní Effect.- Sakteng.- A River Somewhere in Georgia.- Jan Van Goyens Exquisite Obsession.- Paradox of the Lamb.- Botanical Equations for Paradox.- Part 2. Ecological Memories and Fractions.- The Metaphysics of Photography.- The Consolations of a Château.- Book of the Dead.- Ecological Double-Binds.- The Temptation of the Catastrophe: Deep Structures of Suicide.- Cave Paintings of the Mind.- Moral Choices in an Epoch of Angst.- The Dream of Don Quixote.- The Ratiocinations of Rakiura.- Human Evolution at a Glance within Ryoan-ji.- The Paradox of Light.- The Last Numbers of Emptiness.- Shelleys Ecological Exile and His Utopia of Animal Rights.- The Zoosemiotic Paradox of Aesop.- The Conical Temple of Konawsh.- Does Natural Selection Select for Natural Selection?.- The Paradox of Solace.- Collodis Garden and the Misadventures of Pinocchio.- The Poetics of Biodiversity: Kazantzakis and Crete.- Famine in Bangladesh.- Sakya Coming Out of his Mountain Retreat.- The Mind of a Chicken.- The Christ Paradox.- Unthinkable Nullities, Negative Proofs.- Irrational Biomes.- The Extinction Probability Era.- Non-Linear Reciprocity.- The Unfettered Gaze.- No Equation for It: Numbers with No Attachment.- A Situational Animal Rights Ethic.- The Geography of Contradiction.- Metaphysical Landscapes.- Saverys Castle of Secrets.- Human Cruelty and SARS-CoV-2.- Part 3. A Natural History of Existentialism.- Strange Connectors.- The Synecological Conscience.- The Ecological Summons of Jain Mathematical Calculations.- Fundaments of Observation and Melancholy.- The Great Divergence.- Mismatches.- True Narcissism.- Caesuras of Certainty.- The Other.- Of Malignant Variables.- The Concept of Zero.- On the Nature of Equivalencies.- Metaphorical Realities.- Ecological Epistemology.- The Natural Selection of Indeterminacy .- Imagining Transitions.- The Finely-Honed Basis of Unknowing.- The Buddhist Obtuse and its Ecological Correlates.- Ecological Emptiness.- Temptational Obscurity That Brings Hope to Life.- Biological Proxies for the Individual.- Shifting Balance.- Comes Crashing Down Upon It.- Systems Paradox.- The Final Hermitage of Ideals.- The Paradox of Prayer.- Forgiveness.- Rebirth.- The Cycle of Alterities.- The Individual and the Circumference.- Non-Linear Ethics.- A Lost Species.- Ecological Idealism.- The Problem of Interdependency.- A Metaphysics of Naturalism.- The Phylogenetic Conundrum.- The Biosphere Beyond Humanity.- The Anthropic Syllogism.- The Last Island.- Coda: Liberation Ecosynthesis.- Index.