As social ecologists, we trace the roots of today's ecological crisis to an irrational society - and not to the biological makeup of human beings, nor to any particular religion, nor to reason, science, or technology.

On the contrary, we advocate for the significant role of reason, science, and technology in creating both a progressive ecological movement and an ecological society. A specific set of social relations - primarily, the competitive market economy - is what is currently destroying the biosphere.

Mysticism and biologism, at the very least, divert public attention away from such social causes. By presenting these essays, we aim to preserve the immensely important progressive and liberating implications of ecological politics.

More than ever today, an ecological commitment requires people to avoid the mistakes of the past, so that the ecological movement is not absorbed by the mystical and anti-humanist trends that abound today.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]