The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy

New York: New York Review Books, 2015. First ed., first printing (full number line). Hardcover. As new in fine jacket. Small quarto in white illus jacket; 262 pages; 24 cm; index. Beautifully written. New York Review Books Classics (series)

Contents: 1. A singular window -- 2. Stumbling upon wilderness -- 3. The bond and the losses -- 4. The great thinning -- 5. Joy in the calendar -- 6. Joy in the beauty of the Earth -- 7. Wonder -- 8. A new kind of love.

"The moth snowstorm, a phenomenon Michael McCarthy remembers from his boyhood when moths 'would pack a car's headlight beams like snowflakes in a blizzard, ' is a distant memory. Wildlife is being lost, not only in the wholesale extinctions of species but also in the dwindling of those species that still exist. The Moth Snowstorm records in painful detail this rapid dissolution of nature's abundance and proposes a radical solution: that we recognize our capacity to love the natural world. Arguing that neither sustainable development nor ecosystem services have proven adequate as defenses against pollution, habitat destruction, species degradation, and climate change, McCarthy asks us to consider nature as an intrinsic good and an emotional and spiritual resource, capable of inspiring joy, wonder, and even love. An award-winning environmental journalist, McCarthy presents a clear, well-documented picture of what he calls 'the great thinning' around the world, while interweaving the story of his own early discovery of wilderness and a childhood saved by nature. Drawing on the truths of poets, the studies of scientists, and the author's long experience in the field, The Moth Snowstorm is part elegy, part ode, and part argument, resulting in a passionate call to action

Wildlife conservation -- Philosophy. Wilderness areas -- Philosophy. Joy -- Environmental aspects. Philosophy of nature. Nature -- Effect of human beings on. Endangered species. Environmental degradation. Environnementalisme -- Philosophie. Faune -- Protection -- Philosophie. Réserves de la vie sauvage -- Philosophie. Joie -- Aspect de l'environnement. Philosophie de la nature. Homme -- Influence sur la nature. Environnement -- Dégradation. NATURE -- Environmental Conservation & Protection. NATURE -- Ecosystems & Habitats -- General. Endangered species. Environmental degradation. Environmentalism -- Philosophy. Nature -- Effect of human beings on. Philosophy. Philosophy of nature. Wildlife conservation -- Philosophy. Environmentalism -- Philosophy. Wildlife conservation -- Philosophy. Wilderness areas -- Philosophy. Joy -- Environmental aspects. Philosophy of nature. Nature -- Effect of human beings on. Endangered species. Environmental degradation.