Ecological Conversion and the Murray River

Towards a Changed Relation with a Great River System

By (author) Emmanuel D. Bautista

Book cover: Ecological Conversion and the Murray River

Extent: 180 pages

Publisher: ATF Press

Subjects: Earth & Life Sciences , Religious Studies

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(June 2026)

ISBN: 9781764637954

6 x 9 inches

Price: $37.95

In stock

Hardback (Published)

(June 2026)

ISBN: 9781764637961

6 x 9 inches

Price: $49.95

In stock

PDF (Forthcoming)

(June 2026)

ISBN: 9781764637985

Price: $44.95

There is a long-standing exigence for a changed relationship with the Earth and its community of life. In the Australian context, neglect of the Murray River manifests in the alteration of its natural flow regimes and the over extraction of its waters, creating an unhealthy, unsustainable, dying river. The last 150 years of water resource development and river regulation and control has completely changed the condition of the river system. Those who feel a deep sense of connection to the river, especially the local indigenous peoples, cry for change in the way the river is treated. They call to abandon our habitual attitude of neglect and to embrace, instead, the practice of care, respect, solidarity and responsibility.

Ecological Conversion and the Murray River is mainly concerned with humanities’ changed relation with the Earth, adverted to by Pope John Paul II in 2001 as ‘ecological conversion’. The book proceeds in two directions: first, using the general framework of the conversions identified by Bernard JF Lonergan and extended by Robert M Doran, the book systematically develops a heuristic meaning of ecological conversion in its religious, moral, intellectual, and psychic dimensions to shed light into the kind of relation we ought to foster to constitute a planetary home and a fully functioning River Murray in particular. The book advances an explanatory account of the full implications of ecological conversion. Second, the book relates ecological conversion and its implications to the concrete ecological issue of the Murray River. These moves aim to offer foundational principles that can inform and underpin policy decisions, restoration initiatives, and management approaches of the river.

  • By (author) Emmanuel D. Bautista