Natural Born Heroes

Everyone worships nature—they just don't call it that. In fact, when most people think of nature worship, they picture shamans in the forest or an indigenous tribe performing a rain dance. This book, by contrast, draws on fieldwork with naturalists—forest rangers, bird-watchers, animal ethologists and their ilk—as well as research in economics, sociology and religious studies to show how deeply nature has infiltrated modern life. Author Alan Levinovitz follows the thread of belief from dogmatic high priests to ordinary consumers, who display their submission at malls across the country. He demonstrates that our belief system about the natural world is not only inaccurate but also harmful—not just to our understanding of the environment but to our physical and economic well-being as a species.