The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature Book

Sat somewhere on that uneasy continuum between commonplace book and New Scientist magazine article, David Suzuki's The Sacred Balance disguises its serious intent behind the tricksiness of its presentation. But the aggregate effect of its box- outs, pull-quotes and sub-headings is undeniably powerful: a many-pronged effort to stake out some common ethical ground between the increasingly polarised worlds of environmentalism and big business. Suzuki's diagnosis of the late Capitalist condition is one in which our adaptive behaviours have become dangerously divorced from the environmental conditions in which they evolved. "The definitions of 'cost' and 'benefit' have changed", Suzuki writes. "Whereas in the past the most important factor was the long-term survival or well-being of the family or group, today decisions are made based on the implications for a company, job, market share or profit. So we assess costs and benefits within a very different framework of values, ignoring, for example, the health of the community or ecosystem. We have gotten out of the habit of thinking about things that really matter to us ... The Sacred Balance is an eloquent expression of the general yearning for a closer connection to our planet--the kind of ill-understood urge that makes more people visit zoos than attend all major sports events combined. "Through us [the world] becomes conscious", writes Suzuki's co-author Amanda McConnell. This book is a timely reminder of that simple and revolutionary fact. --Simon IngsRead More