The great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear?
Tess McCluretheguardian.com
Saved by Leilani Kritzinger
The great abandonment: what happens to the natural world when people disappear?
It’s often observed that nature—or at least the concept of it—is tangled up in culture. Until there was something that could be set against it—technology, art, consciousness—there was only “nature,” and so no real use for the category. It’s also probably true that by the time “nature” was invented, culture was already enmeshed in it. Twenty thousan
... See moreElizabeth Kolbert • Under a White Sky
A study by the Natural History Museum in London, which measures biodiversity change across the world, found that the UK has lost nearly half its natural biodiversity – more than anywhere else in western Europe and in the bottom 10 per cent of countries in the world. Since the 1930s, 97 per cent of wildflower meadows alone have been lost in the UK,
... See moreSarah Edwards • The Ethnobotanical: A world tour of Indigenous plant knowledge
By 1994, the operation had retreated to Verkhny Pereval, where it shut down altogether, leaving the residents of Sobolonye with two stark choices: they could abandon their homes and social network on the off chance they would find something better elsewhere (an unlikely prospect in mid-1990s Russia). Or they could stay and live off the land in defi
... See more