The Green Boat: Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture

Description

"Mary Pipher takes on our planet's greatest problems with the skills of a truly gifted therapist. She knows why we avoid and deny the truth and she knows how we can heal ourselves and our communities even as we try to heal the earth. This book is a deep and true gift."-Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth In Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher offered a paradigm-shattering look at the lives of adolescent women. Now Pipher is back with another ground-breaking examination of everyday life, this time exploring how to conquer our fears about the major environmental issues that confound us and transform them into a positive force in our lives. Pipher emphasizes the importance of taking small, positive steps to preserve what's important, drawing from her own experiences as part of a group fighting energy company TransCanada's installation of the Keystone XL oil pipeline across the Midwest, which will sit atop the Ogallala Aquifer, the source of 40% of the United States' fresh water. The challenges she confronts reveal surprising answers to the critical questionswe face- How do we mobilize ourselves and our communities to work together to solve global problems? How do we stay happy amid very difficult situations? And what is the true meaning of hope? Both profound and practical, The Green Boat explains how we can attend to the world around us with calmness, balance, and great love.

Mary Pipher, Ph.D., is a psychologist and the author of nine books, including the New York Times bestsellers Reviving Ophelia, The Shelter of Each Other, and Another Country, as well as Seeking Peace and Writing to Change the World. She lives in Nebraska.

"Compassionate, beautiful, and personal... this could be the most effectively inspirational book available about an individual's relationship to the global environmental crisis."-Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Mary Pipher takes on our planet's greatest problems with the skills of a truly gifted therapist. She knows why we avoid and deny the truth and she knows how we can heal ourselves and our communities even as we try to heal the earth. This book is a deep and true gift."-Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth "Let this strong, honest book be your companion now in these tough times, as you make real your love for our planet home. Mary Pipher spares us moral sermons and apocalyptic scenarios. Instead she shares her own journey. So we learn with her how to survive despair, how to feed the heart with beauty and the company of others, how to find balance together in the face of uncertainty and even moments of failure."-Joanna Macy, author, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess we're in Without Going Crazy "Mary Pipher has been our wise and steadfast guide through the worlds of adolescence, aging and how families can teach humane values in a culture where everything is for sale. Now she's tackling the hardest question--how we can get past denial to reverse the human caused climate change that jeopardizes the habitability of the world. As we'd expect, she does it thoughtfully, passionately, and ultimately with hope."-Paul Loeb, author Soul of a Citizen "Take a courageous, moving and inspiring journey aboard this green boat. Discover how hopefulness and empowerment and joy grow, and how to pass honorably through heartache to the vast love that connects us all." -Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart "Mary Pipher has a genius for illuminating in plain and poetic language the fundamental challenges we face in our complex and often overwhelming world. She maps out how we should wrestle with the realities of climate change and then shows us practical ways to both savor and help serve our planet. This is a life-affirming book full of clarity, compassion and hope."-Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., author of Mindsight and The Developing Mind "This book is filled with wisdom, compassion, and the reminder that we are all still tuned to relationship. It personifies the hope and solidarity that comes from action, reminds us that one of our most effective skills is sticking together, and is a fantastic revelation of the big tent that we can be in. If you believe in honesty, balance, democracy and taking care of the land, please read this book. It will be a tonic." - Peter Forbes, senior advisor, Center for Whole Communities, and author of Our Land, Ourselves "With penetrating psychological wisdom and great heart, Mary Pipher invites us on a journey of deepening awareness that can save our planet. This book is a passionate and eloquent wake-up call: Please read it, and share it with anyone you know who cares about our living world."-Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge "A therapeutic analysis of global crises and enthusiastic ideas on how to implement changes."-Kirkus Reviews