Rambunctious Garden
Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
"Remarkable . . . Emma Marris explores a paradox that is increasingly vexing the science of ecology, namely that the only way to have a pristine wilderness is to manage it intensively." -The Wall Street Journal
A paradigm shift is roiling the environmental world. For decades people have unquestioningly accepted the idea that our goal is to preserve nature in its pristine, pre-human state. But many scientists have come to see this as an outdated dream that thwarts bold new plans to save the environment and prevents us from having a fuller relationship with nature. Humans have changed the landscapes they inhabit since prehistory, and climate change means even the remotest places now bear the fingerprints of humanity. Emma Marris argues convincingly that it is time to look forward and create the "rambunctious garden," a hybrid of wild nature and human management.
In this optimistic book, readers meet leading scientists and environmentalists and visit imaginary Edens, designer ecosystems, and Pleistocene parks. Marris describes innovative conservation approaches, including rewilding, assisted migration, and the embrace of so-called novel ecosystems.
Rambunctious Garden is short on gloom and long on interesting theories and fascinating narratives, all of which bring home the idea that we must give up our romantic notions of pristine wilderness and replace them with the concept of a global, half-wild rambunctious garden planet, tended by us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Science journalist Marris has been reporting on conservation ecology for almost a decade. In her first book, she describes the dynamic changes in conceptual thinking and practical strategies that have been transforming the field in recent years. The realities of development and climate change have left no pristine places anywhere on the planet. Humans have made their mark everywhere. In response to this new set of conditions, environmentalists are moving beyond the goals of restoration and protection to pursue bold new schemes to slow species loss and even, in some cases, create new and dynamic, diverse ecosystems. Marris travels around the globe to remote islands, primeval forests, and northern mountain ranges to visit these innovators. Into her lively reporting, she weaves a fascinating story of the history of environmentalism and the controversies that occupy it today. It's a stimulating examination of the questions of stewardship and the future of our delicate planet that will challenge any simple answers.
