Acknowledgments
This book, like every other book ever written, is dependent in many ways on the living, breathing Earth. As the editors of this book, we want to acknowledge the kinship, nourishment, shelter, companionship, and inspiration provided by the living Earth community. Without that figurative and quite literal support, this book would not exist. Along with gratitude for our planetary home, we gratefully acknowledge all of those who have been part of this book project directly or indirectly.
Many thanks are owed to each of the contributors for their thoughtful engagement in this collaborative project. It was a privilege and a pleasure to facilitate the gathering of such profoundly thoughtful, sensitive, and visionary people in person, and to incorporate their contributions into a single volume. This book is based on a unique workshop that took place at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Virginia in October of 2018.
In this beautiful setting, between delicious meals and walks on the grounds, the participants shared their creative ideas in a synergy that was deeply felt by all. From that beautiful Virginia land, cultivated for so many decades by Bunny and Paul Mellon, these ideas took different shapes and forms in lively dialogue. Old friendships were renewed, and new friendships were formed. The land wove us into itself and held us in a place of awe and wonder.
The workshop was organized by Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim along with Peter Crane, their former Dean at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the current President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. As a paleobotanist, Peter has done remarkable work uncovering flower, plant, and seed fossils embedded in deep time. We were assisted at Oak Spring by Peter’s wife, Elinor Crane, and especially by the dedicated preparation of program officer, Marguerite Hardin. Max Smith, the head of communications, filmed the interviews that we are posting along with this book. The staff at Oak Spring deserve our gratitude for exquisite meals and care in so many ways.
Special thanks are owed to Alessandra Tosi, Laura Rodriguez, Adèle Kreager, Luca Baffa and all those at Open Book Publishers, whose commitments to rigorous scholarly standards, service to the public good, and open access publishing fit perfectly with the spirit of this project. Gratitude to Mark Turin for the introduction.
In turn, Mary Evelyn and John would like to acknowledge the assistance of Sam Mickey on this project. Sam has been responsible for bringing the manuscript into being after the workshop, and we are enormously grateful for this. Likewise, our long-term assistant, Tara Trapani, was indispensable in the organization of the workshop, to which she brought her remarkable attention to detail. We were delighted to have Susan O’Connor with us at Oak Spring, and we further wish to acknowledge the ongoing assistance of the Charles Engelhard Foundation for our work. Similarly, we thank Nancy Klavans and the Germeshausen Foundation for their steadfast support over many years. We are also grateful to Nancy Earle for her beautiful painting of Feathers and Fins for the cover of the book.
Sam would like to express deep appreciation for his students and colleagues at the University of San Francisco and the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is also grateful for his collaborations with the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology as well as the Journey of the Universe project. He is thankful for friends and family, who have given encouragement and support far beyond what can be listed here. Finally, many thanks are owed to Kimberly Carfore for sharing her love, partnership, and practice of the wild.
On behalf of the editors and all the contributors, with gratitude for all our relations, this book is dedicated to the living memory of our ancestors and evolutionary pasts, and to the future flourishing of a vibrant Earth community.
Sam Mickey
Mary Evelyn Tucker
John Grim
Fig. A2 Morning Garden. Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, Virginia. Photograph by Max Smith (2018), CC BY.