Emergent Ecologies (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780822360179)

In an era of global warming, natural disasters, endangered species, and devastating pollution, contemporary writing on the environment largely focuses on doomsday scenarios. Eben Kirksey suggests we reject such apocalyptic thinking and instead find possibilities in the wreckage of ongoing disasters, as symbiotic associations of opportunistic plants, animals, and microbes are flourishing in unexpected places. Emergent Ecologies uses artwork and contemporary philosophy to illustrate hopeful opportunities and reframe key problems in conservation biology such as invasive species, extinction, environmental management, and reforestation. Following the flight of capital and nomadic forms of life-through fragmented landscapes of Panama, Costa Rica, and the United States-Kirksey explores how chance encounters, historical accidents, and parasitic invasions have shaped present and future multispecies communities. New generations of thinkers and tinkerers are learning how to care for emergent ecological assemblages-involving frogs, fungal pathogens, ants, monkeys, people, and plants-by seeding them, nurturing them, protecting them, and ultimately letting go.

Author: Eben Kirksey
ISBN-10: 0822360179
ISBN-13: 9780822360179
Publisher: Duke University Press
Language: English
Published: 11/24/2015
Pages: 312
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.30w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 05/01/2017