Emergent Ecologies

Annotation 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 Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 Chapter One: Parallax......Page 17 Chapter Two: Ontological Amphibians......Page 26 Chapter Three: Hope in the Reverted Zone......Page 45 Chapter Four: Happiness and Glass......Page 61 Chapter Five: Bubbles......Page 81 Chapter Six: Xenoecologies......Page 95 Chapter Seven: Becoming Wild......Page 114 Chapter Eight: Multispecies Families......Page 143 Chapter Nine: Parasites of Capitalism......Page 172 Chapter Ten: Possible Futures......Page 199 Conclusion......Page 226 Acknowledgments......Page 230 Notes......Page 236 Bibliography......Page 278 Index......Page 300 In Emergent Ecologies Eben Kirksey insists that we should turn our attention toward small-scale ecologies and search for hope in the efforts of individuals who are building new ecologies, and in the plants, animals, and fungi that are flourishing in unexpected places.