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Book Review: The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth. By E. O. Wilson. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co., 2006. Pp. x + 175. Paper, $13.95

In this impressive work, Michael Northcott skillfully weaves together insights from climate science, global politics, economics, biblical interpretation, and environmental ethics to paint a multifaceted picture of the tragedies and challenges of global climate change. The scope and depth of this project is formidable, but Northcott does not shrink from the magnitude of his task. Readers interested in a litany of doleful facts and grim predictions relating to global warming will not be disappointed. In each chapter, Northcott offers a specific case study from a different continent or region; together these illustrate the mounting evidence of catastrophic global climate change from every corner of the globe. Also in each chapter, he draws upon biblical sources to inform his understanding of climate change, relying most heavily on Jeremiah, whom he characterizes as “the first ecological prophet” (12). Northcott may see himself as a present-day Jeremiah, given his support for the importance of prophecy or “truthful witness” and the morally pointed thrust of his work (39). He interprets global warming as “the earth’s judgment on the global market empire, and on the heedless consumption it fosters” (7). Like Jeremiah, he interprets ecological collapse and the related human tragedy as God’s judgment. And like the prophet, he offers hope for redemption in the form of confession, restitution, and repentance (40–43). In the first five chapters, Northcott establishes the scope and details of the problem; in the ensuing three chapters he treats specific topics (energy generation, transportation, and agriculture), concluding with a final chapter exhorting reform and hope. Northcott offers pointed and provocative criticisms of market-based efforts at carbon reduction and decries the disconnect between production and consumption activities. This disconnect has, in Northcott’s view, led to “the moral perversion of making”—his diagnosis of the ethical shortcomings that underlie the current planetary crisis (37). (Northcott does, like many environmentally-minded writers, take a dim view of the free market, embracing greater government regulation as a solution to problems created by the market; his defense of this position is cursory and may not convince unsympathetic readers.) Northcott takes a variety of specific, pointed ethical positions in this work— positions not unfamiliar to readers of related literature. He advocates observing a weekly Sabbath, partly for the reduction in energy use that such rest would entail (187). Humans can and should, he asserts, radically reduce the amount of energy we use to heat, cool, and light our living spaces (201). Cities and neighborhoods should be arranged so as to minimize transportation needs and maximize neighbor-interactions (208). The high value currently placed on speed and mobility should be replaced with a reverence for slowness, memory, and the values of the pilgrim over those of the tourist (230–231). Industrial food consumption must cease its attack on the topsoil and be replaced by responsible farming for local consumers (246 ff). Northcott’s ethical reasoning relies largely on duty-based concepts of rights and responsibilities. He speaks of a “clear and urgent moral duty” to curb emissions (22), the right to a stable climate (160), and responsibility for carbon-consumption choices that harm others (183). Northcott urges ethical action that is (to borrow a phrase from Martha Nussbaum) “finely aware and richly responsible”: he exhorts “careful attendance” to “myriad daily actions” that impact others (283). Efforts to curb carbon consumption on the individual level are called for, he argues, not because of their effectiveness, but simply “because it is right” to do so (284, emphasis in original). Northcott’s most brilliant moments occur when he makes creative connections between religious concepts and environmental realities. For example, he links “the geochemical interconnection of all human actions and all life” to the doctrine of the Communion of Saints, “a cloud of witnesses” (163). His discussion of the ethics of the Eucharist is helpful and enlightening: Northcott declares, “a Eucharistic practice which fails to challenge the profanation of the creation represented by modern agronomy is . . . flawed” (257). His interpretations of the Eden, Noah, and Joseph stories as climate-related events is useful and enlightening (72, 75, 234). At times the book seems overburdened by the magnitude of its own agenda, and readers who are interested in the biblical or ethical components may grow weary of the extensive political and scientific elements of Northcott’s discussion. Overall, however, Northcott succeeds as a modern-day Jeremiah, offering not only judgment but also the chance for repentance and the hope of redemption if his “fearless speech” is heard (39). Laura M. Hartman University of Virginia Charlottesville VA 22903