Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia

In Animate Earth Stephan Harding explores how Gaian science can help us to develop a sense of connectedness with the "more-than-human" world. His work is based on careful integration of rational scientific analysis with our intuition, sensing and feeling - a vitally important task at this time of severe ecological and climate crisis. Stephan Harding replaces the cold, objectifying language of science with a way of speaking of our planet as a sentient, living being rather than as a dead, inert mechanism. The book is a contemporary attempt to rediscover anima mundi (the soul of the world) through Gaian science. Animate Earth argues that we need to establish a right relationship with the planet as a living entity in which we are indissolubly embedded - and to which, in the final analysis, we are all accountable. The book inspires the reader to connect with a profound sense of the intrinsic value of the Earth, and to discover what it means to live as harmoniously as possible within a sentient creature of planetary proportions. This expanded second edition includes a new chapter on fungi, new contemplative exercises and an update on the global climate situation.