LAUSR

History tells us that facts and evidence alone have seldom been successful in changing minds. Cultural and religious beliefs maintained the orthodoxy of the Aristotelian universe for centuries, long after the Copernican model had been accepted as fact. Today the overwhelming evidence is that human activity is causing serious damage to our environment, yet there is political and cultural resistance to the changes required by this crisis. It is not sufficient for the wider public to be told the facts. They need an appeal to the heart [1]. Rebecca Young’s book concerns the teaching of literature in an environmental context. Referencing a range of literary genres and from her own experiences as an educator, she provides guidance for those planning curricula and for teachers to engage with students on this complex subject. Young approaches this firstly by showing how empathy with fictional characters can help readers to think more deeply about the personal pain and impact caused by environmental degradation. In Chapter 2, Young goes on to explore the concept of the Taker-Leaver paradigm, referencing novels such as Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael (1992) where the narrator is the main character responding to an advertisement ‘Teacher seeks pupil – must have an earnest desire to save the world’ (p.34). The protagonist commences a journey of seeing the world through the eyes of a non-human creature, in this case a telepathic gorilla which has seen the destruction of his habitat by his human cousins. The author points out that the ability to empathise with fictional characters, human and non-human is something we learn as children and is universal. The essence of the ‘Taker’, a position for most of us, is that ‘The world belongs to man’, a perspective that scientific evidence suggests is not sustainable. The ‘Leaver’ lives in a state of harmony with nature, taking only what is required and leaving enough to ensure the ecosystem is not destroyed. The Leaver believes that ‘Man belongs to Nature’. The author further examines our relationship with the environment through popular science fiction and fantasy in Chapter 3, citing a wide range of literature including Lord of the Rings, Frankenstein and the Harry Potter stories where many of the characters are nonhuman. These provide the reader with an external perspective on human activity. In The Two Towers, the second volume of Tolkein’s epic the reader is drawn into the plight of the Ents, ancient and intelligent trees which have witnessed the destruction of the forest. ‘The fight for good is intrinsically linked with preserving the natural world’ (p. 60). Young concludes this chapter: