The Left Hand of Eden
Subtitle: Meditations on Nature and Human Nature
Publisher: Oregon State University Press
Published: March 1999
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 194
ISBN-13: 9780870714603
Subjects: Philosophy of nature; Land Conservation; Nature; Nature/Ecology; Essays; Human ecology; Ecology
Description: The Left Hand of Eden contributes to the growing, often contentious debate on wilderness and forest practices, but does so from an unusual perspective - that of an environmentalist advocating abandonment of wilderness preservation.

Ashworth argues that wilderness preservation is a form of separation from the land and, as such, is as harmful to nature as logging or mining. Treating nature as something "other" - whether to preserve it or destroy it - creates a false dichotomy, from which all modern environmental battles arise: use versus preservation, civilization versus wilderness.

Ashworth presents his ideas in a series of linked nature essays. In these writings he shows that proper care for the land requires not just use or reverence, but use with reverence.