In our increasingly polarized society, there are constant calls for compromise, for coming together. For many, these are empty talking points—for Lucy Moore, they are a life's work. As an environmental mediator, she has spent the past quarter century resolving conflicts that appeared utterly intractable. Here, she shares the most compelling stories of her career, offering insight and inspiration to anyone caught in a seemingly hopeless dispute.
Moore has worked on wide-ranging issues—from radioactive waste storage to loss of traditional grazing lands. More importantly, she has worked with diverse groups and individuals: ranchers, environmental activists, government agencies, corporations, tribal groups, and many more. After decades spent at the negotiating table, she has learned that a case does not turn on facts, legal merit, or moral superiority. It turns on people.
Through ten memorable stories, she shows how issues of culture, personality, history, and power affect negotiations. And she illustrates that equitable solutions depend on a healthy group dynamic. Both the mediator and opposing parties must be honest, vulnerable, open, and respectful. Easier said than done, but Moore proves that subtle shifts can break the logjam and reconcile even the most fiercely warring factions.
This book should be especially appealing to anyone concerned with environmental conflicts; and also to students in environmental studies, political science, and conflict resolution, and to academics and professionals in mediation and conflict resolution fields.
Born and raised in Seattle, Lucy went east to attend Radcliffe College, where she experienced the first of many formative culture shocks. After graduating she worked for the Boston Welfare Department as a case worker and later as an assistant to Dr. Robert Coles, author and child psychiatrist. Both jobs taught her to listen and value the voices of those engaged in struggle and inspired her, to strike out and make a difference. She moved to Chinle, Arizona, heart of Navajo country, where her two sons were born. There she taught Headstart, sold car insurance (as an alternative to the exploitative practices of local dealers) and served as Justice of the Peace, registering hundreds of voters, holding trials and acting as coroner. In 1975 she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she served a brief time as Policy Aide for Indian Affairs for the Governor of New Mexico and worked as a paralegal, before joining the fledgling conflict resolution firm, Western Network.
Since the late 1980s Lucy has worked as a mediator, facilitator, trainer and consultant, specializing in natural resource and public policy disputes. She continues to work, as Lucy Moore Associates, with a diverse group of colleagues on both regional and national cases, often with a multi-cultural or tribal component. She has a credibility and depth of experience in Indian country rare in conflict resolution practitioners. Lucy regularly mentors those who might otherwise not have access to her field, believing that the future health of the profession depends on its diversity and accessibility.
Lucy lives in Santa Fe with her artist husband. Her memoir Into the Canyon: Seven Years in Navajo Country, won Best Memoir from Women Writing the West in 2004. Lucy is a regular contributor to Backroads Radio, a program dedicated to original storytelling.
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