"Kathleen Dean Moore is a writer whose senses, heart, generosity, and intellect open in every direction. This book, filled with knowledge of the natural and human worlds, is a superb naturalist's handbook. It is also a praise book: an illuminated manuscript whose life overspills its own borders. In its grounded wisdoms, humility, curiosity, and in the kaleidoscope beauty of its descriptions, Wild Comfort reminds how to seee, how to sing; how to welcome with equal gravity and grace, whatever asks entrance into our lives. It is destined to become a classic."
Wild Comfort explores how the beauty and mystery of nature can help move us from sorrow to gladness or gratitude. We have posted excerpts from the book at a new, interactive website, "Words of Comfort," www.wordsofcomfort.us. You can go there to find quotes about sorrow, gladness, patience, courage, and joy. Here is where we will soon post discussion guides for book clubs and study groups, and writing prompts for those interested in the personal essay.
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Watch for the release in August of MORAL GROUND: Ethical Actions for a Planet in Peril, edited by Kathleen Dean Moore and Michael P. Nelson and published by Trinity University Press. The book gathers testimony from eighty global moral leaders, all calling us to honor our obligations to leave to the future a world as rich in possibility as the world we inherited. Why should we protect the Earth? Here are answers from President Obama, Thich Nhat Hahn, Oren Lyons, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Thomas Berry, Gary Snyder, E.O. Wilson, and many others. Each section is followed by a creative, joyful set of ideas about how we might answer their call.
The press plans a national book tour in the fall of 2010, bringing Kathleen and Michael to public "town hall" meetings, where they will read selections from the book and lead townspeople in free-wheeling discussion of our moral obligation to the future. The premise is that environmental emergencies are a moral crisis, as well as economic or technological problems, and they call us to lives of justice, integrity, and compassion. If you or your group would like to host a town hall meeting, please contact Meredith Rowan at Trinity Press, meredith.rowan@trinity.edu.
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Three new INTERVIEWS with Kathleen Dean Moore are now posted on the web:
Susan Tweit's interview is featured on the front page of Story Circle Book Reviews under "Our Favorite Authors" with a link to the specific page (http://www.storycirclebookreviews.org/interviews/moore2.shtml).
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Also posted is Ken Rose’s “What’s New” interview, which turned into an hour-long exploration of the role of humanity in the unfolding of time. That interview can be found at www.pantedmonkey.org.
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Moore's Advice to Students in a Time of Environmental Emergency
Kathleen has recently returned from a month in New Zealand, where she served as the William Evans Visiting Fellow at the Science Communication Centre of the University of Otago. There, she spoke about climate change ethics and worked with film and creative writing students on their projects. If you'd like to hear the interview she recorded with Otago student Kavi Chetty, you'll find it at http://sustainablescarfies.wordpress.com/. In the interview, Kavi asks how students can find a moral grounding and reason for acting, in a situation often presented as hopeless. A transcript of the interview can be found on the Talks, Workshops page of this website.
Moore on the Necessity of Science-Humanities Collaborations
Look in Essays and Articles for the text of "Science and the Humanities: the Logical Necessity of Collaboration in the Face of Environmental Threats to the Future," by Kathleen Dean Moore and Michael P. Nelson. It is a call to bridge the gap between studies of what is and what ought to be. This is the foundation of the work Kathleen and Michael are doing to establish a global moral consensus on climate change.
Moore: The Work of the Writer in a Wounded World
People who heard Kathleen speak at the AWP meetings in Chicago asked for the text of her speech about the need for nature writers to act on behalf of the thriving of the natural world they write about with such affection. So we've posted the talk here, on the "talks and workshop" page.
This year, Kathleen delivered the Edelman Lecture at Portland's Pacific Northwest College of Art. She spoke about "The Work of a Writer in a World Gone Wrong." If you'd like to hear the podcast of her talk, you can find it at http://www.pnca.edu. Barry Johnson, a writer for the Portland Oregonian, featured her talk in his blog on March 11. Here's a link to his comments: http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandarts/2009/03/are_these_the_best_of.html