There are two major obstacles to change, two great walls to be brought down. The first is our current narrative that places humankind above all other forms of life, as masters of the planet.

Beneath all of these lies is the notion that we can manage the landscape without destroying it. And underneath this? The Godgiven mandate, the evolutionarily-ordained duty, the economic policy, all driven by the notion that we are not normal citizens of this planet, that instead we are the most important creatures—really the only ones who matter—on

than the ecological balance of power. We want to believe that human lives really are superior in some fundamental way.