There is No Point of No Return

In twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement. 
 
Emphasizing joy in the world, human cooperation and the value of all living things, this selection of Arne Naess' philosophical writings is filled with wit, learning and an intense connection with nature. 
 
Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

Arne Naess (1912-2009) was a philosopher and mountaineer who developed the concept of 'deep ecology' while living in a wooden hut high in Norway's Hallingskarvet mountain range.

Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As humans have driven the living planet to the brink of collapse, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend it. Their words have endured, becoming the classics that define the environmental movement today. 
 
Emphasizing joy in the world, human cooperation and the value of all living things, this selection of Arne Naess's philosophical writings is filled with wit, learning and an intense connection with nature.

Ecology of Wisdom

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'The smaller we come to feel ourselves compared with the mountain, the nearer we come to participating in its greatness.' 
 
 
Philosopher, mountaineer, activist and visionary, Arne Naess's belief that all living things have value made him one of the most inspirational figures in the environmental movement. Drawing on his years spent in an isolated hut high in the Norwegian mountains, and on influences as diverse as Gandhi's nonviolent action and Spinoza's all-encompassing worldview, this selection of the best of his writings is filled with wit, charisma and intense connection with nature. Emphasizing joy, cooperation and 'beautiful actions', they create a philosophy of life from a man who never lost his sense of wonder at the world. 
 
'Arne Naess's ideas ... inspired environmentalists and Green political activists around the world' The New York Times

Arne Naess's ideas about promoting an intimate and all-embracing relationship between the earth and the human species inspired environmentalists and Green political activists around the world

Arne Naess was born in Slemdal, Norway, in 1912. After earning his Ph.D. at the age of 27, he became the University of Oslo's youngest professor, and Norway's only Professor of Philosophy. 
 
Naess was a keen mountaineer, environmentalist and social activist. In 1938, he finished building an isolated wooden hut high in the Hallingskarvet mountains, where he would spend a quarter of his life. It was here that he developed his concept of 'deep ecology,' and his lifelong commitment to the environmental movement. His activity within the movement ranged from grassroots protest, to candidacy for political office with the Green Party, to a post as the first chairman of Greenpeace Norway in 1988. 
 
His achievements as a philosopher, ecologist and activist were widely recognised during his lifetime. In 2005 he was knighted and made a Commander with Star of the Royal Norwegian order of St. Olav First Class. He died in Oslo in 2009.

Greta Thunberg

Naomi Klein

Timothy Morton

George Monbiot

Bill McKibben

Amitav Ghosh

Tim Flannery

Terry Tempest Williams

Michael Pollan

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Dai Qing

Wangari Maathai

Jared Diamond

Wendell Berry

Edward O. Wilson

James Lovelock

Masanobu Fukuoka

Arne Næss

Rachel Carson

Aldo Leopold

Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As humans have driven the living planet to the brink of collapse, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend it. Their words have endured, becoming the classics that define the environmental movement today. 
 
From art, literature, food and gardening, to technology, economics, politics and ethics, each of these short books deepens our sense of our place in nature; each is a seed from which a bold activism can grow. Together, they show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

Arne Næss

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