Vital Signs

''"Vital signs" are, of course, the basic physiological measures of functioning which health practitioners use to assess the gravity of a patient''s predicament. This anthology focuses not so much on our physical predicament, with so many of the Earth''s systems severely stressed and beginning to fail - there are plenty of other places to read about this Instead we focus on our psychological predicament, as news of the situation slowly penetrates our defences and we struggle as individuals and as a society to find an adequate response. By "vital signs" we also mean signs that such a response is beginning to take shape: signs of hope, signs of healing.We feel that ecopsychology in Britain has a distinctive voice and unique contributions to make. In doing so, we hope to facilitate debate and dialogue within the field, in the hope that this will lead eventually to more developed theory and practice.