A Good That Transcends: How US Culture Undermines Environmental Reform

A Good That Transcends is a multi-disciplinary exploration of the ways in which US culture itself is causing failure in environmental reform, and a work that charts a pragmatic path to change. The United States is in a much-different place than it was in 1970 with the birth of the modern environmental movement, and the subsequent differences in equality, or ecological viewpoints, or policy since then all contribute to an increased resistance to new environmental initiatives. But the causes or sources of the differences run deeper, and these deeper sources, not their more obvious manifestations, are what the environmental movement needs to address in order to create a viable path forward. Each chapter in this work converges on aspects of modern culture that make it hard for people to see environmental problems, to appreciate their severity, and to support reform measures. The efforts turn up important evidence of root causes as well as ideas for how we might move ahead today. Probing the writings of Aldo Leopold, Wendell Barry, David Orr, the Pope s Encyclical, and concepts from property rights to wilderness, Freyfogle leads readers on an illuminating and reflective journey to find the common good that can transcend the institutional and cultural challenges truly inspire environmental reform. "