Full Ecology

Reclaiming Human Nature

Social Psychologist & Nature Author

Travels from: Bozeman, MT

“Full Ecology is one of the most important books ever written on the climate crisis.” – Paul Hawken

Best-selling nature author Gary Ferguson & social psychologist Mary M. Clare have linked their expertise to reveal and describe what they call Full Ecology. Their riveting keynote addresses, workshops and retreats are grounded in an innovative blend of cutting-edge biology, storytelling and social science. Offered internationally, these programs are designed to help us step into living more deeply – to open up to our natural intelligence and resilience. Or as Dr. Clare describes it, “We’re here to inspire people to reclaim their human nature.” The couple’s book, Full Ecology – Repairing Our Relationship with the Natural World, has been hailed by internationally renowned environmentalist Paul Hawken as “one of the most important books ever written on the climate crisis.” Full Ecology was published Earth Day (April 22), 2021. It received the Independent Publishers Award for top books published in 2021 about the environment.

Gary Ferguson began his career chronicling the tracks humans leave in nature. Today, though, the author who Publishers Weekly calls “ever-evocative” says he’s working “to portray the tracks nature leaves in us.” Now, with 26 books, Ferguson’s newest title, The Eight Master Lessons of Nature, has gained substantial acclaim throughout the U.S. and across the world. Published in late 2019 with Penguin Random House, this work shines a powerful new light on the dazzling processes that nourish the creative powers of nature. And further, what these processes have to teach us about how we can better navigate our own lives.

From Oregon, via Texas, California, Georgia, Nebraska, and Montana, Mary M Clare, Ph.D., brings her lifelong passion for the natural world together with a 30-year career as a social and cultural psychologist. A fellow in the American Psychological Association Clare has authored over 100 scholarly articles and two books – most recently 100 Voices – Americans Talk About Change (2011), a chronicle of enduring wisdom and immediate guidance in times of sweeping cultural change. Today, she works to open doorways for considering how the natural world – both around us and inside of us – can be tapped as a guiding force for creating more contented and fruitful lives. Her spirited insights and techniques are helping people in homes, schools, workplaces and communities revive their natural capacities for sustaining creative relationships and finding deep resilience in troubling times.

Full Ecology: Repairing Our Relationship with the Natural World

Heyday Books |

April 20, 2021

Nonfiction

How to confront the climate crisis without losing heart

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in the face of global climate breakdown. So how might we develop the inner resolve to confront it? Full Ecology, a collaboration between social-cultural psychologist Mary M. Clare and longtime science writer Gary Ferguson, suggests a path forward. Breaking the modern impulse to see humans as separate from nature, Clare and Ferguson encourage us to learn from the “supremely methodical and highly improvisational” natural systems that touch our lives. True change, they argue, begins with us stopping and questioning assumptions about our place in the world. From this process of reflection, they offer us an alternative blueprint for acting in ecologically healthy ways, and for inspiring others to do the same. Rather than proposing a ten-step plan to save the earth, this book encourages a more elemental rethinking of our connections to nature, and of how such connections might be strengthened for the common good. Practical and poetic, scientific and spiritual, Full Ecology presents a strong, nourishing foundation for climate action.

Campus Reads, Environmental Concerns, Health & Wellness, Inspiration & Spirituality, Natural World, Science & Technology

Upgrade the Story: Reclaim Your Human Nature

Humans are nature, too. Which means the distinct qualities that allow the natural world not just to survive, but thrive, are hardwired in us, as well. In these times, when it’s so easy to be overwhelmed, this is a program to inspire – leaving participants with tangible ways for moving forward by reclaiming the wisdom of their human nature.

Step Outside and Feel Better: The Miraculous Healing Power of Nature

Over the past two decades scientists have documented an astonishing range of health benefits from spending time in nature: From lowering blood pressure and stress hormone levels, to fortifying immune responses; from easing depression and anxiety, to moderating ADHD. Come learn about the health care provider that’s as close as the nearest tree.

3 Vital Lessons from Nature for Work and Community

Many of today’s most exciting breakthroughs in science have to do with discoveries that life on earth is far more deeply interdependent than we ever imagined. How can humans – a species recognized as having exceptional capacity for cooperation – use the power of that connection to strengthen their work relationships, as well as to improve the overall health of their communities?

Why Climate Change Hurts Your Heart

It’s natural – and it’s also healthy – that in the face of climate change we would find ourselves struggling with grief. Grief, after all (which is experienced by many mammals), is a measure of how bonded we are – how much we care. This program looks at walking through climate change-related grief in ways that can actually revitalize our creativity, as well as strengthen our sense of connection and commitment.

Learning from Wolves

Building on Gary’s award-winning books about the Yellowstone wolf reintroduction, Gary and Mary explore how some of the traits that make these beautiful animals so successful, are available to us, too – and further, how they, along with many other mammals, can help us better meet the daunting challenges of climate change.

Rising from the Ashes: Lessons in the Wake of Wildfire

As Gary points out in his critically acclaimed book Land on Fire, big wildfires are here to stay. In this program Mary and Gary focus on what the land itself has to teach us in the wake of these burns – lessons about fortifying resilience, as well as about how to creatively adapt to the new realities of life in the American West.

The Ecology of Elderhood

You’ve no doubt heard about each of us having an “inner child.” But did you know you’ve also got a powerful inner elder? Using nature as our guide, this program explores the remarkable way that elderhood plays out in mammals around the world, bringing strength and resilience to their communities. Those same qualities of elderhood, as expressed in humans, are key to a more sustainable society.

Nature: The Generational Bridge

Want to make a positive difference? Want to affect climate repair? First thing is to admit and understand climate anxiety. One of the best ways to do that is to spend some time with other people who love the natural world. Even better is when those people come from life experiences that are different from your own. This is a program for Grandparents and their grandchildren, for parents who are ready and open to listening to their kids, for GenZ and Millennial people who have things to say. Full Ecology is about repairing our relationship with Nature – and that means repairing our communities.

A Call to Climate Action

Build Community. To do that do these two things. Reclaim your kinship with the natural world – AND – catch the thread connecting you with your neighbors. Whether the community around you right now is a village, a workplace, a school, a stretch of agricultural land or a district within a packed urban center, right now is the time to remember and revitalize your personal nature. Light that up. Then, go forward with building community toward climate solutions.

Authors Unbound, Full Ecology

Brainwash Festival, Amsterdam

Full Ecology: Repairing Our Relationship with the Natural World

Radio interview with Will White, at the International Wilderness Therapy Symposium

We Conserve PA, 2022
“Gary and Mary were so kind and down to earth, they fit right in with our audience and were a joy to converse with. Their back and forth conversational style during the keynote was refreshing and inspiring, and I appreciated the humor and personal anecdotes sprinkled throughout as well. Their talk was both inspirational and uplifting!”

Richard Louv, author of Our Wild Calling and Last Child in the Woods
“Mary M Clare and Gary Ferguson offer an eloquent truth: To be disconnected from the rest of nature is to be alienated from our true selves. The health of all life, and the planet itself comprise one health, indivisible.”

Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dean Man Walking
“At a time when we’re all so busy being ‘productive,’ separated from our very nature, these two lovers of the natural world have created a survivors’ guide. And it’s a God-send. The first step is to stop and open the pages of this tender book. Then let it take you where you need to go, nurturing you along the rocky way.”