What do you think?
Rate this book
Great Tide Rising: Towards Clarity and Moral Courage in a time of Planetary Change
Even as seas rise against the shores, another great tide is beginning to rise – a tide of outrage against the pillage of the planet, a tide of commitment to justice and human rights, a swelling affirmation of moral responsibility to the future and to Earth’s fullness of life.
Philosopher and nature essayist Kathleen Dean Moore takes on the essential Why is it wrong to wreck the world? What is our obligation to the future? What is the transformative power of moral resolve? How can clear thinking stand against the lies and illogic that batter the chances for positive change? What are useful answers to the recurring questions of a storm-threatened time – What can anyone do? Is there any hope? And always What stories and ideas will lift people who deeply care, inspiring them to move forward with clarity and moral courage?
Philosopher and nature essayist Kathleen Dean Moore takes on the essential Why is it wrong to wreck the world? What is our obligation to the future? What is the transformative power of moral resolve? How can clear thinking stand against the lies and illogic that batter the chances for positive change? What are useful answers to the recurring questions of a storm-threatened time – What can anyone do? Is there any hope? And always What stories and ideas will lift people who deeply care, inspiring them to move forward with clarity and moral courage?
340 pages, Hardcover
First published February 9, 2016
About the author
Kathleen Dean Moore
34 books146 followersEnvironmental philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore writes about moral, spiritual, and cultural relationships to the natural world. In 2000 she founded the Spring Creek Project at Oregon State, which brings together the practical wisdom of the environmental sciences, the clarity of philosophy, and the emotive power of the written word to re-imagine humankind’s relation to the natural world. In addition to her philosophical writing for professional journals, Moore is the author of several books of nature essays, including Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature; Riverwalking; and The Pine Island Paradox, winner of the Oregon Book Award.
A graduate of Wooster College (1969), Moore earned her M.A. (1972) and Ph.D. (1977) from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in the philosophy of law, with a focus on the nature of forgiveness and reconciliation. At Oregon State, she teaches environmental ethics, the philosophy of nature, and a variety of courses for OSU’s new master’s program in environmental leadership. She is also co-author of a new Environmental Humanities Initiative, which integrates science and humanities to provide leadership for complex times.
A graduate of Wooster College (1969), Moore earned her M.A. (1972) and Ph.D. (1977) from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in the philosophy of law, with a focus on the nature of forgiveness and reconciliation. At Oregon State, she teaches environmental ethics, the philosophy of nature, and a variety of courses for OSU’s new master’s program in environmental leadership. She is also co-author of a new Environmental Humanities Initiative, which integrates science and humanities to provide leadership for complex times.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
March 4, 2017
Don't fault me if the following seems confusing because it wasn't so when I was reading Moore. I found her book to be a healthy mix of Thoreau's Walden, Jensen's Endgame, Sandel's Justice, Snyder's poetry, Macy's World as Love, World as Self, Klein's This Changes Everything, McKibbon's Eaarth, even Abbey's Black Sun.
This is a psychological preparedness manual, an emotional life-support for the end of the world, and a moral spare tire kit on how to fix yourself before you move on to helping the community. She lists, asks, probes, reasons, begs, quotes, muses, and writes like hell.
As a love letter to the grandchildren, I hope they will read this and be kind to us because we will have whistled the world away (but I hope not).
Please, you read it too.
This is a psychological preparedness manual, an emotional life-support for the end of the world, and a moral spare tire kit on how to fix yourself before you move on to helping the community. She lists, asks, probes, reasons, begs, quotes, muses, and writes like hell.
As a love letter to the grandchildren, I hope they will read this and be kind to us because we will have whistled the world away (but I hope not).
Please, you read it too.
October 17, 2022
I found this book well written, informative, heartrending, hopeful, gutsy, and compelling.
Given our perilous accelerating decimation [desecration if you will] of the environment and biodiversity we evolved with that sustains our being, and so many turning a blind eye to the hard science and obvious evidence, the author is offering up moral affirmation to try to penetrate the mindlessness. Kudos to the author.
Recommended reading.
Those who question whether this is important reading might ponder the thought: There have been five mass extinctions (a vast majority of species extinguished) in the history of earth, each caused by natural phenomena. After each one evolutionary development started over with what life was left. The last mass extinction some sixty-six million years ago ending the Cretaceous period set the stage for humans evolving. Currently, we are in the middle of what is shaping up to be a sixth mass extinction (extinction rates are thousands of times greater than natural), this time human caused, bringing the Cenozoic era to a close …
“Live as if your Life has consequences far beyond your understanding. It does.” ~ Duncan Morrison
Given our perilous accelerating decimation [desecration if you will] of the environment and biodiversity we evolved with that sustains our being, and so many turning a blind eye to the hard science and obvious evidence, the author is offering up moral affirmation to try to penetrate the mindlessness. Kudos to the author.
Recommended reading.
Those who question whether this is important reading might ponder the thought: There have been five mass extinctions (a vast majority of species extinguished) in the history of earth, each caused by natural phenomena. After each one evolutionary development started over with what life was left. The last mass extinction some sixty-six million years ago ending the Cretaceous period set the stage for humans evolving. Currently, we are in the middle of what is shaping up to be a sixth mass extinction (extinction rates are thousands of times greater than natural), this time human caused, bringing the Cenozoic era to a close …
“Live as if your Life has consequences far beyond your understanding. It does.” ~ Duncan Morrison
January 18, 2021
A fantastic, thought-provoking book about the climate emergency through the lens of moral ethics. Moore is a philosopher and teacher and she covers grief, despair, hope, action, the capitulation that is the call to adapt to climate change, the false logic of consequentialism, what climate change deniers are really saying, and what is going on with people who say they are worried about climate change but do nothing. This should be required reading.
September 14, 2017
One of the most important, most necessary, most honest,most tender books I have read about climate change.
June 27, 2016
Expanding on the theme of "Moral Ground," the 2011 book she co-edited with Michael Nelson about humanity’s moral responsibility to avert a climate catastrophe, "Great Tide Rising" is more deeply personal and harder hitting. Kathleen Dean Moore is angry and fed up with the excuses for not doing anything. It can be difficult reading, leaving the reader to alternately despair, become angry, and finally, maybe, to feel empowered. “One way to turn away from despair,” she writes, “is to be present to the beauty and joy that is in the world right now. Do you love a person less who is dying?” But it is not enough to simply be present and to enjoy what we have right now. There is serious work to be done. “Maybe civil disobedience isn’t about justice and obligation. Maybe it’s about love. Maybe we are called to act...not from an obligation to disobey laws that are destructive, but from love for what is being destroyed.” Nevertheless, you might ask, what can one person do about a problem that is so big? Her answer to this one is one of my favorites: “I say, stop being one person.” Work with others who share your anger, sadness, and hope. Alliances with the like-minded not only strengthen the movement toward a better future, they can help a person keep going when it seems all is lost.
June 1, 2016
This superb book makes clear our responsibilities: can we continue as we have been doing for the last 500 years, or have we reached a point of no return? It is quite clear, unless you have been living in a cave, that we are in serious trouble as a species. And yet, very few people are willing to convince others of the seriousness of our predicament. Ms. Moore is up to the task in this achingly beautiful book.
January 10, 2022
A wonderful book that's an anthology of essays by different writers on different topics, such as "Ethics and Extinction" and "What Can One Person Do?" The trouble is, they're all preaching to the converted, because people aren't likely to read this book if they feel there's no hope or climate change is a hoax or merely a natural cycle so it's either not something humans can affect or nothing they do will change the outcome. The editor is a philosopher and academic, but her writing is clear, convincing, and heartfelt. To both of those attitudes, here's part of her response:
"Don't ask 'Will my actions save the world?' Maybe they won't. But ask 'Are my actions consistent with what I most deeply believe is right and good?' This is our calling -- the calling for you and me and everybody else to do what is right, even if it does no good; to celebrate and care for the world, even if its fate breaks our hearts.
"And here's the paradox of hope: that is that as we move beyond empty optimism and choose to live the lives we Believe in, hope becomes transformed into something else entirely. It becomes stubborn, defiant courage. It becomes principled clarity. And when courageous-hearted, clear-minded people find one another, it becomes a powerful creative force for social change.
"We've seen this again and again: Slaves leading slaves toward the North star, crowds singing as they cross a bridge, mothers baring their breasts at the gates of prisons that hold their sons, young people refusing to go to war -- great rising tides of affirmation of justice and human decency and shared thriving."
"Don't ask 'Will my actions save the world?' Maybe they won't. But ask 'Are my actions consistent with what I most deeply believe is right and good?' This is our calling -- the calling for you and me and everybody else to do what is right, even if it does no good; to celebrate and care for the world, even if its fate breaks our hearts.
"And here's the paradox of hope: that is that as we move beyond empty optimism and choose to live the lives we Believe in, hope becomes transformed into something else entirely. It becomes stubborn, defiant courage. It becomes principled clarity. And when courageous-hearted, clear-minded people find one another, it becomes a powerful creative force for social change.
"We've seen this again and again: Slaves leading slaves toward the North star, crowds singing as they cross a bridge, mothers baring their breasts at the gates of prisons that hold their sons, young people refusing to go to war -- great rising tides of affirmation of justice and human decency and shared thriving."
December 9, 2019
I found out this book from a friend of mine, a former Presbyterian minister and goat farmer who is steering a climate change committee at the church I attend. When I asked for the best book he's read on climate change, he recommended this book from Kathleen Dean Moore. After reading it, I realized that I may read this book once a year. It's clear-eyed and poetic in its delivery, full of statistics and information that will close your throat. Yeah, on our Planet Earth, we are in not good shape.
But Moore does offer up options of what you can do. The big thing I got from those options? Stop being one person. There is strength in numbers as seen through so many other crisis situations in our collective.
But what really got me was how Moore -- a wife, mother, grandmother and a philosophy professor at Oregon State -- can turn a phrase. Man, she can write. She ends the book this way:
"And here's the paradox of hope: that as we move beyond empty optimism and choose to live the lives we believe in, hope becomes transformed into something else entirely. It becomes stubborn, defiant courage. It becomes principled clarity. And when courageous-hearted, clear-minded people find one another, it becomes a powerful creative force for social change.
"We've seen this again and again: slaves leading slaves toward the North Star, crowds singing as they march across a bridge, mothers baring their breasts at the gates of prisons that hold their sons, young people refusing to go to war -- great rising tides of affirmation of justice and human decency and sharing thriving."
May that be so.
We on Planet Earth are in a world of hurt wrought by our own doing because of climate change. And yes, it is overwhelming. But I see this book as an elixir to give you a foundation of what's at stake -- and what needs to be done.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. Of the books I've read this year, "Great Tide Rising" is my favorite. It has prompted me to do what all good books should do. It's made me think -- and move.
But Moore does offer up options of what you can do. The big thing I got from those options? Stop being one person. There is strength in numbers as seen through so many other crisis situations in our collective.
But what really got me was how Moore -- a wife, mother, grandmother and a philosophy professor at Oregon State -- can turn a phrase. Man, she can write. She ends the book this way:
"And here's the paradox of hope: that as we move beyond empty optimism and choose to live the lives we believe in, hope becomes transformed into something else entirely. It becomes stubborn, defiant courage. It becomes principled clarity. And when courageous-hearted, clear-minded people find one another, it becomes a powerful creative force for social change.
"We've seen this again and again: slaves leading slaves toward the North Star, crowds singing as they march across a bridge, mothers baring their breasts at the gates of prisons that hold their sons, young people refusing to go to war -- great rising tides of affirmation of justice and human decency and sharing thriving."
May that be so.
We on Planet Earth are in a world of hurt wrought by our own doing because of climate change. And yes, it is overwhelming. But I see this book as an elixir to give you a foundation of what's at stake -- and what needs to be done.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. Of the books I've read this year, "Great Tide Rising" is my favorite. It has prompted me to do what all good books should do. It's made me think -- and move.
August 24, 2023
Although some great points were made, there were a few things that irritated me about this book:
First, throughout the first 2/3rds of this book, way too much text was spent just listing things that exist in nature. I understand that it was meant to evoke an emotional response, but after the 5th list it just became annoying.
Second, there was no real acknowledgement of the author's hypocrisy. She tells us not to fly on planes, but conveniently doesn't mention how she travels between Oregon and Alaska? I don't mean to shame her for air travel, but I think it should be mentioned when she is recommending us not to fly.
Thirdly, and most importantly, this book is very much written by someone who has wealth, who seems to forget that others may not. It wants us to "vow" to not buy "poisoned food" (non-organic/processed food), not shop at Walmart, and install solar panels on our roofs, but fails to acknowledge that these measures are not financially realistic for the majority of people. It makes it seem that we do these things out of greed or complacency to capitalism and not out of necessity because "green" products and organic food are overpriced.
First, throughout the first 2/3rds of this book, way too much text was spent just listing things that exist in nature. I understand that it was meant to evoke an emotional response, but after the 5th list it just became annoying.
Second, there was no real acknowledgement of the author's hypocrisy. She tells us not to fly on planes, but conveniently doesn't mention how she travels between Oregon and Alaska? I don't mean to shame her for air travel, but I think it should be mentioned when she is recommending us not to fly.
Thirdly, and most importantly, this book is very much written by someone who has wealth, who seems to forget that others may not. It wants us to "vow" to not buy "poisoned food" (non-organic/processed food), not shop at Walmart, and install solar panels on our roofs, but fails to acknowledge that these measures are not financially realistic for the majority of people. It makes it seem that we do these things out of greed or complacency to capitalism and not out of necessity because "green" products and organic food are overpriced.
December 31, 2019
I was lucky enough to be given a copy of this book by a dear friend. (Thanks again, Andrea.) The book is beautifully written and a powerful call to action for anyone who professes to care about the planet or its inhabitants, both human and non-human. "What do you care about too much to lose? The answer to that question is your reason for acting," Kathleen Dean Moore explains. And to those who ask, "What can one person do?" she issues this powerful reply: "Stop being one person." In other words, join with others who share your commitment to taking action: "Here is how life will start anew...from small pockets of good work, shaped by an understanding that all life is interdependent, and driven by the one gift that humans have that belongs to no other: practice imagination -- the ability to imagine that things can be different from what they are now." Because they can.
May 17, 2018
This is a remarkable and courageous book that should be required reading for every American citizen - a book for our age. Loaded with wisdom and moral clarity, with quotes from our greatest environmental leaders, such as Aldo Leopold, Edward Abbey, and others. More on my blog, Books Can Save a Life: https://wp.me/p28JYl-5bn
March 18, 2016
Awareness. Commitment to our earth in any small way we can. It will add up. Don't close your eyes - the earth is in crisis. This is scary stuff. Take notice and care. This book is spreading awareness of our responsibility to save our home in any way we can - together.
January 24, 2024
Interesting perspectives. The call remains the same though, do more to save the earth, use less, all corporations are evil. The author without a doubt comes from a privileged perspective where “do goodery” likely comes easier to them based on a number of factors (education, socioeconomic factors etc). Not sure how relevant some of the calls for action come from when people don’t have the option of an EV, cheap electricity to power it, and to live where fresh food is available. I have no doubt the author’s footprint is probably pretty significant, however her admitting of that hypocrisy seems less than well thought out.
The fundamental principles of using less, being mindful of what we do consume, where that comes from etc are all great. The anti industry talk is a little difficult to bear. The author clearly has no issue trashing extractive industries, but doesn’t recognize that even renewable sources of energy will have a net impact to nature and aren’t entirely carbon free. The failure to recognize that human existence will have impact on the environment, regardless of morality of the action (supposed, perceived or otherwise), gets a bit tiresome. Short of evolving to photosynthesis and a mass human die off, I’m not we’ll ever achieve a zero impact preservation of the environment as the author envisions.
Tough to read, but made me think and reflect on things I can do better.
The fundamental principles of using less, being mindful of what we do consume, where that comes from etc are all great. The anti industry talk is a little difficult to bear. The author clearly has no issue trashing extractive industries, but doesn’t recognize that even renewable sources of energy will have a net impact to nature and aren’t entirely carbon free. The failure to recognize that human existence will have impact on the environment, regardless of morality of the action (supposed, perceived or otherwise), gets a bit tiresome. Short of evolving to photosynthesis and a mass human die off, I’m not we’ll ever achieve a zero impact preservation of the environment as the author envisions.
Tough to read, but made me think and reflect on things I can do better.
June 1, 2017
The last section, on action, was great. The rest was just okay. Moore is a moral philosopher and nature writer. I've liked her past books, and I liked the sections of this one that stuck to those categories. Sadly, I felt that she failed to adapt her writing style and the structure of her arguments to the more political and economic sections of this book, and the results were arguments that felt unsupported and unstructured (still prefer this to Naomi Klein Though). This is most apparent in her section on the balance of adaptation vs. mitigation, which fell into a false dichotomy and failed to adequately consider the unjustly distributed impacts of climate change (it seemed in this case that she intended to respond to people making an argument for adaptation instead of mitigation, but this only became clear halfway through the argument and doesn't seem to me to be a sufficiently sizeable part of the discussion to merit such a lengthy and involved response). That being said, her contributions to discussions of hope and moral action in the face of this issue were illuminating and interesting.
August 25, 2018
Our beautiful planet is in such distress and there is so much to feel bad about. "Great Tide Rising: Towards Clarity and Moral Courage in a Time of Planetary Change," is food for the soul.
Kathleen Dean Moore is a philosopher and nature writer who speaks in an accessible, deeply human voice. Her narrative navigates the rising tide of outrage against the ongoing human destruction of our planetand offers a way out: a stirring affirmation of our collective moral responsibility to a future in which all will share in the joy and fullness of life.
These meditations on the interconnection of spirituality and nature and on the moral courage we must summon to protect a wounded planet are both inspire and brace us for the fight ahead.
For anyone worried about the state of the Earth and wondering what to do about it, I recommend this book.
charts the challenges of climate change and speaks in clear, deeply human terms about the formidable challenges relationship between nature and spirituality. This book is a series of mediations on
Kathleen Dean Moore is a philosopher and nature writer who speaks in an accessible, deeply human voice. Her narrative navigates the rising tide of outrage against the ongoing human destruction of our planetand offers a way out: a stirring affirmation of our collective moral responsibility to a future in which all will share in the joy and fullness of life.
These meditations on the interconnection of spirituality and nature and on the moral courage we must summon to protect a wounded planet are both inspire and brace us for the fight ahead.
For anyone worried about the state of the Earth and wondering what to do about it, I recommend this book.
charts the challenges of climate change and speaks in clear, deeply human terms about the formidable challenges relationship between nature and spirituality. This book is a series of mediations on
December 3, 2020
What is the biggest problem facing us in the 21st century?
Who is responsible?
What can we do?
These are the primary themes in this powerful book. Our collective refusal to even look to a future of unchecked climate damage is truly the biggest problem.
Overall, I enjoyed the logic and morality discussions and her writing about the natural world is evocative and filled with love. But for all of its emotional honesty, I felt like she danced around the issue of denial even among the believers. There was almost no discussion of what dramatic changes are necessary. I agree with her anger and disgust for the fossil fuel companies and their elected companions in crime. But she lets us - the consumers - off far too easily. Her call to actions is old-school and 1960sish and while they have their place, the bottom line is that the earth needs a massive shift in our cultural expectations, the American Dream of stuff, accumulation, and freedom to do whatever we want must occur first or at least along side the protests.
Who is responsible?
What can we do?
These are the primary themes in this powerful book. Our collective refusal to even look to a future of unchecked climate damage is truly the biggest problem.
Overall, I enjoyed the logic and morality discussions and her writing about the natural world is evocative and filled with love. But for all of its emotional honesty, I felt like she danced around the issue of denial even among the believers. There was almost no discussion of what dramatic changes are necessary. I agree with her anger and disgust for the fossil fuel companies and their elected companions in crime. But she lets us - the consumers - off far too easily. Her call to actions is old-school and 1960sish and while they have their place, the bottom line is that the earth needs a massive shift in our cultural expectations, the American Dream of stuff, accumulation, and freedom to do whatever we want must occur first or at least along side the protests.
June 2, 2020
“We stand on ground that trembles with tectonic movement.” We stand on ground that trembles with many types of movements. This book functions as an expansion from KDM on Moral Ground. I struggled to get into it at first because I already feel all in. I’m sold. I’m glad I came back to it though, because the real gems, to me, were found in the second half. Many poignant points presented in many ways. I focused more on some chapters than others and sometimes the different forms of writing caused my attention to stray. However, it all came back together at the end with a moving conclusion. Looking forward to running with a few strands in a future project. A strong representation of what ethics and mortality studies can and need to be.
October 30, 2018
A must read for everyone. If you accept climate change, why we must act: if you don't, to understand what those who do are grappling with.
Ms. Moore has written the most comprehensive words on how to live in a world where things are changing in ways humanity has never experienced. The need to act, individually and in concert with others. Why climate scientists must act in order to demonstrate the depth of feeling and belief in the words they are using to describe our situation. The seriousness of where we find ourselves. One of a very few books I am reading for a second time.
Ms. Moore has written the most comprehensive words on how to live in a world where things are changing in ways humanity has never experienced. The need to act, individually and in concert with others. Why climate scientists must act in order to demonstrate the depth of feeling and belief in the words they are using to describe our situation. The seriousness of where we find ourselves. One of a very few books I am reading for a second time.
March 20, 2018
A welcome book in these dark times. Faces the everywhere-apparent losses we humans are wreaking and points toward what we are called to do, and why we must each of us do what we can. Written by a philosopher and a nature writer. This book feels to me like an ally. What I think about but don’t talk about with friends, Moore talks about. It’s good to have someone alongside me as I try to navigate the huge issues and the what and how of being called to action in support of Life.
May 14, 2018
The parts of this book that worked for me were the interspersed sections of philosophy as applied to climate change, as well as some of her personal reflections based on her experience as a mother/grandmother/teacher. But there were way too many overly-strident and off-putting polemics against--well, most everything and everybody she sees as responsible for climate change. I was hoping for a more balanced and nuanced discussion of the ethical issues involved with climate change.
January 25, 2023
oops forgot to mark this as finished earlier!! anyways I love Kathleen Dean Moore and their writing is so approachable and full of knowledge. while this book is slightly behind in the development of climate change there was still so much great information and thoughts around the topic. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to understand or reframe their view of climate change and how to approach it all.
December 30, 2018
PREACHY. I happen to agree with her conclusions, but c'mon Kathleen. This relentless sappy call to arms is an exercise in confirmation bias. It is a catastrophic problem that 1/2 the Republican party does not think climate change is manmade. This book builds walls vs. bridges to helping those who will not see. I wanted to like it, but I could not get past the woodsy Oregon shamanism.
March 10, 2020
Really enjoyed this book, Kathleen Dean Moore is a wonderful lyrical writer. My favorite parts were her refernces to music, and especially the importance of artists getting involved with the climate change movement. The book was uplifting, and in parts very sad, but mostly a continuous thread of hope, challenging all of us to speak out.
September 13, 2020
All of Kathleen Dean Moore's books are exceptional. I've been reading her words every since my dad shared her book Holdfast. As a philosophy professor at Oregon State University, she shares the wonders of nature and the nature of man. She is challenging us to restore nature in this world, rather than to destroy our only world.
February 22, 2021
Couldn't get into it much. Will read again later. The parts that resonated were few and far between. I need to give it another chance, but I found Braiding Sweetgrass far more eloquent and persuasive. The strident tone is understandable. It just hasn't started to work yet after 50+ years of confrontation.
April 2, 2021
Amazing. Brimming with argument that is painful, desperate, and ultimately hopeful. KDM is a brilliant mind. She makes a solid case for moving from despair to an active grief that has the potential to tip us in a better direction. But we must do the work. We must begin (and/or continue) to disrupt major corporate systems. Highly recommended.
July 12, 2017
Books about climate change, environmental justice, and the importance of looking to the future and protecting our planet are usually my jam, but I didn't dig this author's writing style nor all the religious stuff.
January 22, 2020
The philosophy of dealing with climate change, to try and remain hopeful and, most importantly, to act. This is an important book, one that I had to read very slowly in order to take it all in, and one I will be reading again.
December 20, 2023
Kathleen Dean Moore's voice about having courage in the face of our climate crisis was eloquent. She doesn't preach a false hope like many others. Rather, she models and exudes courage, integrity, heart. I came away feeling stronger and more resilient for having read it.
September 1, 2018
Occasionally meandering, but I am so glad I read this book. I don't know how else to say this-- the solidarity and courage I received from so many chapters will bring me back again.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews