cover image Ghost Bears: Exploring the Biodiversity Crisis

Ghost Bears: Exploring the Biodiversity Crisis

R. Edward Grumbine. Island Press, $45 (314pp) ISBN 978-1-55963-152-5

This important book serves as both a clear, comprehensive examination of a complex subject and a powerful plea for change. Grumbine, director of wilderness field studies at the Sierra Institute of the University of California-Santa Cruz, uses the reclusive grizzly bear of the Pacific Northwest as a symbol for all endangered species as he analyzes the decline of biological diversity. Current environmental laws and public land-management policies, he maintains, are inadequate because of their emphasis on individual species and ecosystems, in contrast to the holistic approach taken by conservation biology, which explores biodiversity and the dynamics of extinction. Advocating a moral and spiritual revolution of sorts, Grumbine urges that humanity enter into a greater partnership with nature, working with it rather than attempting to control it. (Oct.)