Today it is widely recognized that we face urgent and serious environmental problems and we know much about them, yet we do very little. What explains this lack of motivation and change? Why is it so hard to change our lives? This book addresses this question by means of a philosophical inquiry into the conditions of possibility for environmental change. It discusses how we can become more motivated to do environmental good and what kind of knowledge we need for this, and explores the relations between motivation, knowledge, and modernity. After reviewing a broad range of possible philosophical and psychological responses to environmental apathy and inertia, the author argues for moving away from a modern focus on either detached reason and control (Stoicism and Enlightenment reason) or the natural, the sentiments, and the authentic (Romanticism), both of which make possible disengaging and alienating modes of relating to our environment.

"Coeckelbergh’s book stands as a reminder that practicing environmental philosophy always means relating to one’s environment in a certain way and that questioning and skillfully dealing with this relation remains an ongoing task." - Jochem Zwier, Human Studies Journal

"A much-needed fresh approach to the environmental concerns of the average person." —Ladelle McWhorter, University of Richmond, USA

"Environmental ethics often seeks to develop a suitably modern solution to the problems imposed by modernity—solutions rooted in enlightenment thinking and romanticism. Mark Coeckelbergh’s Environmental Skill takes an entirely different approach, demonstrating that it is modernity that is the problem and developing an innovative form of environmental ethics that relies not on better knowledge about the world but more attentive and skill ways of being-in-the-world." —David J. Gunkel, Northern Illinois University, USA

"This new book by Mark Coeckelbergh is an insightful argument for an environmental philosophy that draws on the resources of and at the same time extends work in philosophy of technology. The notion of skilled engagement with the world as this has emerged from pragmatism and phenomenology is here deepened and re-thought in an effort to understand and respond to the challenges of living in a techno-transformed nature." —Carl Mitcham, Colorado School of Mines, USA

"Coeckelbergh’s book stands as a reminder that practicing environmental philosophy always means relating to one’s environment in a certain way and that questioning and skillfully dealing with this relation remains an ongoing task." —Jochem Zwier, Human Studies Journal

"There is much for contemporary environmentalists to find compelling about Coeckelbergh's account, being not only an interesting analysis of the factors at work in motivation but also a convincing and optimistic approach to the problem...It is a welcome and interesting addition to a field in need of voices focused on bringing about meaningful, practical change." —Tara Kennedy, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"Even if highly condensed, the breadth of scope and the use of an impressive body of literature from different disciplines and subfields well beyond his own core field of expertise, which is technological and environmental ethics, clearly merits praise. (...) Coeckelbergh has indeed provided a valuable and stimulating stepping-stone to this end." - Francis Van den Noortgaete, KU Leuven in Ethical Perspectives

Mark Coeckelbergh is Professor of Technology and Social Responsibility at De Montfort University, UK. Previously he was Managing Director of the 3TU Centre for Ethics and Technology and affiliated to the Philosophy Department of the University of Twente. His publications include Growing Moral Relations (2012), Human Being @ Risk (2013), and numerous publications in the area of ethics and technology, in particular ethics of robotics and ICTs. His research interests include philosophy of technology, environmental philosophy and moral philosophy.