This is an eye opening discussion of the real consequences of humans impact on this earth and the ecological crisis we face.
The benefits of Chan practice are focused on as a way of addressing the crisis. This is one I recommend for everyone. If humans can return to a deep kinship with the natural world, a relationship our ancestors had, we can make a difference and save our planet.

Reading much of this book felt like browsing through my own bookshelves—Jeffers, Snyder, Thoreau, Leopold, Taoism, Deep Ecology. Fun, but I felt I was reading a lot that I already knew. The book would probably be appreciated more by people just becoming interested in the topics.

A later approach to viewing human-caused extinction as natural because it’s just people being people left me cold though. I get where the author’s going—detachment, acceptance, everything’s temporary, and so on—but that view makes it hard to accept all the judgmental “[sic]”s he inserts into old quotes because they’re not politically correct in some current opinions. Wouldn’t unintentional sexism be natural too, or are we supposed to believe it’s worse than extinction?

There are also a lot of “we” and “our” statements about supposedly ongoing transformation which are just opinions of a certain section of the choir. I think most people never even consider what he presents as truths, much less agree with him. He does often state that it may be too late to change the future, and on that point, I’ll agree.

Thanks to Shambhala Publications and NetGalley for the advance copy to review.