Written By:

Recent Books by Ecozoans

Herman Greene

• Meg Lowman, The Arbornaut: A Life Discovering the Eighth
Continent in the Trees above Us (New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, 2021)
• Stefano Panzarasa, Terraluna: A Second Chance—Dream, Love,
Adventure, Ecotopia (Caivano-Napoli, Italy: LFA Publisher, 2021
• Robertson Work, Society, Spirit, and Self: Essays on the One Dance
(Swannanoa, NC: Compassionate Civilization Press, 2021)

We have received notices of three books recently published by our constituents. (We
use “constituents” to describe people who are on the CES email list and receive copies of
the New Ecozoic Reader.) Please let us know if you have recently published a book or have other significant ecozoic news.

Meg Lowman, The Arbornaut: A Life Discovering the Eighth Continent in the Trees above Us

One of the bridges on the skywalk in Costa Rica
Photo by Haadon S. Kron, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Margaret “Meg” Lowman, PhD, as she describes herself in her website, is one of the world’s foremost “arbornauts”—someone who explores and studies the vast forest canopies that make up what Meg has termed the Earth’s “eighth continent.” A tireless educator, a strong advocate for girls, women, and minorities in science, Meg has published numerous books, is a sustainability advisor, contributes to boards, and speaks widely and frequently to diverse groups, schools, and international symposiums and conferences. In her own words, Meg describes her passion for the treetops:

“Saving trees and all that live in them”

What causes me to leap out of bed each morning is the opportunity to explore, research, and conserve global forests; mentor the next generation (especially women and minorities) in sustainability and forest stewardship; and educate diverse audiences through advising and storytelling. . . .

. . . Founding a new science, I designed hot-air balloons and walkways [such as the one shown above] for treetop exploration to solve mysteries in the world’s forests, especially insect pests and ecosystem health.

And in promoting her latest book, she writes,

The Arbornaut is much more than the story of another scientist’s life. It’s the culmination of so many experiences: as a pioneering female scientist in an historically male-dominated field; as an explorer and arbornaut who spent half of her lifetime in the treetops; as a single, working mother figuring out how to balance and integrate career and home; and as a bug-loving, tree-hugging, snake-escaping champion of trees and forests everywhere.

My greatest hope now is that The Arbornaut will serve as a call to action to young people, particularly girls and women considering careers in the sciences. I hope it will spur individuals, organizations, and corporations everywhere to join together to save our planet’s last remaining high-biodiversity forests— for ourselves, for our children, and for future generations!

Stefano Panzarasa, Terraluna: A Second Chance—Dream, Love, Adventure, Ecotopia

Stefano Panzarasa, geologist, lives in Moricone, Italy and has been working since 2001 at the Regional Park of the Lucretili Mountains as coordinator of the Environmental Education Service and the Giardino dei Cinque Sensi. He deals with nature conservation, environmental and ecological education, photography, ceramics and ecopacifist music.

Stefano’s brief synopsis of his book follows:

  • Silvia lives on Earth. She is a good mother and is generally happy but is saddened by all the current environmental and social problems and by her seeming inability to address them meaningfully.
  • Crass lives on the planet Flux, the planet of the two moons and ecological awareness. Like others of his world, he is a dreamer. He travels the whole universe bringing help where it is needed and now gives special attention to the planet Earth.
  • The Great Circle of the Elders of Flux devised an important project based on chaos theory to try to save Earth from catastrophe. This project and a small ceramic object loaded with a special power unite Silvia and Crass in the dream leading them to live an adventure in a parallel world and in particular in the school of the Terraluna ecovillage where Thomas Berry’s ideas and bioempathy are taught and lived. Luce will be born in Terraluna. She will be given the dream of a better world based on peace, solidarity, sharing, equality, love, and respect for nature, a world without violence and oppression.
  • Terraluna covers a time span of about 60 years. In the novel, fantasy, eco-pacificism, and hope are intertwined. The characters reflect on the meaning of life, its sacredness, and the fact that if it is not possible to cure the wounds of the past, one can still believe, even by engaging personally, in a better future, of the realization of an ecotopia, of the Ecozoic era.

Robertson Work, Society, Spirit, and Self: Essays on the One Dance

Robertson “Rob” Work, describes himself on his website, as follows:

As an author and activist, Robertson serves people and planet and calls others to join in catalyzing compassionate-ecological communities, organizations, nations, and global society. [In Rob’s more than fifty-year career,] he worked in over fifty countries . . . . [He] was [the United Nations Development Program’s] principal policy adviser of decentralized governance, [New York University] Wagner Graduate School of Public Service adjunct professor of innovative leadership, and Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) executive-director in four countries [where] he conducted organizational, community, and leadership development initiatives.

Rob’s latest book is described on Amazon.com as follows:

  • In this book, you may enjoy essays on societal, spiritual, and personal reinvention and transformation. In these three collections, sixty-five essays written over fifty-six years (1966 – 2021) provide you with helpful insights, challenges, guidance, inspiration, models, and methods. You will encounter ideas and experiences of the author and also those of UNDP, the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jean Houston, Ken Wilber, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joseph Mathews, Norman O. Brown, Angeles Arrien, Landmark Forum, Humberto Maturana, Willis Harman, Paul Tillich, Rudolph Bultmann, and others. You will explore nine themes of whole systems change, sustainable human development, visionary social activism, demythologized Christianity, progressive Buddhism, worldly spirituality, and intimate reflections on the author’s vocation, awareness, and presence. Individual topics include 9/11, Venezuela, Order Ecumenical, HIV/AIDS, governance, urbanization, urban development, the movement of movements (MoM), democracy, social artistry, seminar design, personal grief and joy, and pandemic living. In our time of crisis and opportunity, this book can bring peace, happiness, and understanding and help strengthen your compassion for self, others, and the Earth-community. Enjoy being part of the One Dance! “At the still point of the turning world . . . there the dance is . . . . Except for the point, the still point, there would be no dance, and there is only the dance.”—T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets