Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future | Benjamin Vogt | November 2017

A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future Our landscapes push aside wildlife and in turn diminish our genetically-programmed love for wildness. How can we get ourselves back into balance through gardens, to speak life's language and learn from other species? Dr. Benjamin Vogt addresses why we need a new garden ethic, and why we urgently need wildness in our daily lives. He argues that modern living sequestered in buildings surrounded by monocultures of lawn and concrete harm our physical and mental health. He examines psychological issues related to climate change and mass extinction as a way to understand human response to global crises. With a focus on native species gardening, Dr. Vogt advocates for thinking deeply and honestly about our built landscapes in order to create a compassionate activism.