Full Description
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.
Contents
Introduction 1
1. Parallax 8
2. Ontological Amphibians 17
3. Hope in the Reverted Zone 36
4. Happiness and Glass 52
5. Bubbles 72
6. Xenoecologies 86
7. Becoming Wild 105
8. Multispecies Families 134
9. Parasites of Capitalism 163
10. Possible Futures 190
Conclusion 217
Acknowledgments 221
Notes 227
Bibliography 269
Index 291
