Who is guarding whom?

By Mihnea Tanasescu Does good environmentalism mean humans have to become guardians of nature? Triggered by her research in New Zealand, Mihnea Tanasescu reflects on this idea, which is so widespread as to go unnoticed. If you happen to visit the Wanganui  river or Te Urewera, the ancestral Tūhoe homeland in Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island, you …

Radicalizing the Ecological Transition. Reflections on “Lavoro Natura Valore: André Gorz tra marxismo e decrescita” by Emanuele Leonardi

by Alice Dal Gobbo Emanuele Leonardi's book is an analytically incisive and politically rich contribution towards a radical critique of capitalism. In between a slow and tentative exit from the 2008 financial crisis and the increasingly manifest impacts of climate change, we might locate our present at the crossroad of a number of crises: economic, …

Trespass. An environmental history of modern migrations

by Marco Armiero In a new book, Marco Armiero and Richard Tucker have edited together important contributions to the emerging field of the environmental history of modern migrations. Three main 'styles' of research delineate the contours of a timely research effort. Histories in the Present Tense We are in the midst of a massive migration …

Not afraid of the ruins

Call for submissions for science fiction and utopian imaginaries The online magazine Uneven Earth just announced a launch of a new section dedicated to science-fiction and utopian imaginings and is looking for the first contributions! Utopian dreamers, other-worldly explorers and psychonautic adventurers, scholars, activists, students, and critics: we are officially inviting submissions for a new …

Protecting nature in an unequal world

By Prakash Kashwan* Democracies can do better than to give into the mirage of "Wilsonian Enclosures", which envision half of the planet or more in nature reserves. The excessive focus on such areas detracts attention from developing alternative conservation strategies. Renowned biologist E.O. Wilson advocates setting aside “half the planet in reserve, or more” exclusively …

The trouble with rewilding…

By Irma Allen* A rewilding movement that bases itself on arguments around overpopulation, without interrogating the power structures that are enabling it, is in danger of failing to generate the kinds of solidarities, social justice outcomes and progressive visions of wildness that we so desperately need. Rewilding is big news in environmental conservation. At the …

Homo-Religiosus and the Banalization of the Ecological Crisis

By Çağdaş Dedeoğlu* Throughout history, hegemonic power has appeared as the king, the caliphate, the shepherd of the earth, the head of the state, etc – all of which have re-produced the masculine hierarchy-based understanding of nature. This is why political ecology, as a tool to investigate the links between political decisions and ecological outcomes, can …