Rambunctious garden : saving nature in a post-wild world

by Emma Marris

Hardcover, 2011

Status

Available

Genres

Publication

New York : Bloomsbury, 2011.

Description

"For decades people have unquestioningly accepted the idea that our goal is to preserve nature in its pristine, pre-human state. But many scientists have come to see this as an outdated dream that thwarts bold new plans to save the environment and prevents us from having a fuller relationship with nature. Humans have changed the landscapes they inhabit since prehistory, and climate change means even the remotest places now bear the fingerprints of humanity. Emma Marris argues ...that it is time to look forward and create the "rambunctious garden," a hybrid of wild nature and human management. In this ...book, readers meet leading scientists and environmentalists and visit imaginary Edens, designer ecosystems, and Pleistocene parks. Marris describes innovative conservation approaches, including rewilding, assisted migration, and the embrace of so-called novel ecosystems..."--Jacket.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member PennyMck

A well-written, thought-provoking book about the value of nature, what we mean by pristine wilderness, and human intervention.

"If we fight to preserve only things that look like pristine wilderness, such as those places currently enclosed in national parks and similar refuges, our best efforts can

only retard their destruction and delay the day we lose. If we fight to preserve and enhance nature as we have newly defined it, as the living background to human lives, we may be able to win. We may be able to grow nature larger than it currently is. This will not only require a change in our values but a change in our very aesthetics, as we learn to accept both nature that looks a little more lived-in than we are used to and working spaces that look a little more wild than we are used to.

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LibraryThing member adzebill

A thought-provoking overview of modern restoration ecology. How do we move beyond the simple dichotomy of native/introduced in a world where the restoration baseline is an impossible one (because all the megafauna are extinct)? Expands on Steve Budiansky's 1996 Nature's Keepers, which undermined

the notion of a “balance of nature”; Budiansky doesn't appear in the otherwise excellent bibliography.

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LibraryThing member Karlstar

A really outstanding book about the various theories of ecosystem restoration and maintenance, as of the time it was written in 2011. Starting with a short history of the concepts of 'nature' and 'wilderness', the author then shows examples of conservation or restoration efforts all over the globe.

The author proposes that our limited conservation budgets be put towards efforts at creating sustainable ecosystems - not towards restoring them to some ancient baseline. At the time her ideas were contrary to contemporary conservation theory that attempts to conserve 'wilderness' or restore wilderness areas to some older, usually pre-human baseline was the only goal. Instead, she proposes that we focus on creating successful ecosystems as they are, with minimal interference from conservationists and taking into account that 'nature' must interact with humans and the various 'invasive' or non-native species that have become part of the ecosystem.

i found this an engaging read and with many good insights on conservation, restoration and human interaction with nature. The 'Rambunctious Garden' part of the title is a tiny bit misleading, this book is not about gardening.

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