507 - The Spirit of the Earth

The Spirit of the Earth
By John Hart
Ramsey, N.J., Paulist Press, 1984. 165 pp. $8.95.

John Hart was associated with the Heartland Project and its predecessor the Catholic Rural Life Conference before becoming Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the College of Great Falls, Montana. His protrayal of the problem of our country's loss of top soil is accurate and dramatic. Hart's relating the problem to a larger conservation structure, which includes mining, energy, taxation and business tactics is also appropriate. Unfortunately, a theological treatment of conservation and land use is nearly impossible to write without one's biases showing. For example, the book ignores the impact of explosive population growth on land use, and does not mention population control as a conservation strategy. It is also simplistically critical of large agribusiness while holding small family farms innocent of poor land use practices. A more serious criticism is that the book's credibility would be greater if the author had been more careful to avoid resorting to emotional rhetoric. At times his treatment seems to approach a polemic against current social structures and for a more socialistic or communal base for land use and taxation. Despite its biases and shortcomings, Hart's book has something of value to add to the fight for rational land use practices.

Richard W. Berry
Department of Geological Sciences, San Diego State University
San Diego, Calif.