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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
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A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FUTURE
What the Laws of Biology Tell Us about the Destiny of Human Species
A leading ecologist argues that if humankind is to survive on a fragile planet, we must understand and obey its iron laws.
Our species has amassed unprecedented knowledge of nature, which we have tried to use to seize control of life and bend the planet to our will. In?A Natural History of the Future, biologist Rob Dunn argues that such efforts are futile. We may see ourselves as life's overlords, but we are instead at its mercy. In the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the power of natural selection to create biodiversity, and even the surprising life of the London Underground, Dunn finds laws of life that no human activity can annul. When we create artificial islands of crops, dump toxic waste, or build communities, we provide new materials for old laws to shape. Life's future flourishing is not in question. Ours is.
As Dunn argues in A Natural History of the Future, nature has its own set of rules, and no amount of human tampering can rewrite them. We might think that we can meet the challenges of global warming by manipulating nature with our technology - and even that we can live without non-human life - but as Dunn shows, we can't. We not only rely on the natural world for food, but we need its microbes to carry out the most basic bodily functions. The rules of life, Dunn explains, are all-encompassing, governing where species are likely to abound, the inevitable arms race between humans and our predators, and even our own ignorance about nature. Collectively, these rules shed light on the future of life and our destiny, revealing where our visions for cities, roads, schools, and society at large run afoul of nature's inescapable dictates.
The future we have been planning is one in which we try to hold back life. As Dunn argues, we cannot: Surviving or reversing climate change and other ecological catastrophes isn't just a question of reducing our carbon footprint with clean technologies or protecting ecosystems. It's not about "fixes." It's about working with nature, and so learning to live by the rules that entails.
Drawing on topics as diverse as how microbes acquired during birth affect our health and what species might inhabit the crust of the Earth, Dunn reveals the surprising complexities of the natural world and the interconnectedness of life itself. Along the way, he offers plenty of simple lessons in how we can, individually and collectively, through environmental policy, make the lifestyle changes necessary to ensure our own species' survival. At once hopeful and practical, A Natural History of the Future offers a vision of our future in which humans and the natural world coexist symbiotically.
A Natural History of the Future will appeal to readers of natural history books like David Quammen's The Tangled Tree or our own Thor Hanson's Buzz, as well as books on climate change and the future of life, like Jeff Goodel's The Water Will Come and Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction.
Rob Dunn is a professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University and in the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen. He is also the author of five books. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
As Dunn argues in A Natural History of the Future, nature has its own set of rules, and no amount of human tampering can rewrite them. We might think that we can meet the challenges of global warming by manipulating nature with our technology - and even that we can live without non-human life - but as Dunn shows, we can't. We not only rely on the natural world for food, but we need its microbes to carry out the most basic bodily functions. The rules of life, Dunn explains, are all-encompassing, governing where species are likely to abound, the inevitable arms race between humans and our predators, and even our own ignorance about nature. Collectively, these rules shed light on the future of life and our destiny, revealing where our visions for cities, roads, schools, and society at large run afoul of nature's inescapable dictates.
The future we have been planning is one in which we try to hold back life. As Dunn argues, we cannot: Surviving or reversing climate change and other ecological catastrophes isn't just a question of reducing our carbon footprint with clean technologies or protecting ecosystems. It's not about "fixes." It's about working with nature, and so learning to live by the rules that entails.
Drawing on topics as diverse as how microbes acquired during birth affect our health and what species might inhabit the crust of the Earth, Dunn reveals the surprising complexities of the natural world and the interconnectedness of life itself. Along the way, he offers plenty of simple lessons in how we can, individually and collectively, through environmental policy, make the lifestyle changes necessary to ensure our own species' survival. At once hopeful and practical, A Natural History of the Future offers a vision of our future in which humans and the natural world coexist symbiotically.
A Natural History of the Future will appeal to readers of natural history books like David Quammen's The Tangled Tree or our own Thor Hanson's Buzz, as well as books on climate change and the future of life, like Jeff Goodel's The Water Will Come and Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction.
Rob Dunn is a professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University and in the Natural History Museum of Denmark at the University of Copenhagen. He is also the author of five books. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Published 2021-11-09 by Basic Books |