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I'm lying. But here I am blogging on Shifting Baselines. Over the past six years or so, I've spent a decent part of my energy thinking and writing about ecological history and its role in biodiversity conservation and society. That thinking and writing has included proposals that toy with the idea…
So I think this is the first-ever Shifting Baselines survey. I hope you're keen, and I hope you will forward the survey to friends and colleagues far and wide.
Here's a bit of background.
In 2005, my colleagues and I published a paper proposing that we should consider reintroducing large animals -…
[Note: I originally posted this last Thursday under another title but it got lost in other events of that day. As I find it ironic that Mr Comarow has been attacked by an alternative medicine practitioner and advocate, I find this story worthy of reposting.]
A few weeks ago the skeptical…
Over the last several hundred years, humans in North America have unwittingly selected the species that are going to be coexisting with humanity in the future. Rare native flora and fauna have disappeared, but some organisms have flourished in the modified landscape. White-tailed deer, coyotes,…
The phrase "creating landscapes of fear" should probably be excluded from public arguments in favour of this plan.
That being said, the idea is a very neat one.
landscape of fear: in thise case, i was referring to landscapes of fear with respect to wolf food - ungulates. not human landscapes of fear, which is actually a much more rich and interesting topic. The anthropologist Paul Shepard writes a length how predators likely shaped much of the human condition via those landscapes of fear.
Nice piece Josh. No doubt my kids would be enthralled. I liked the Vermeij quote at the end.
A perspective that needs to be reinforced at every opportunity. Thanks for keeping it (and us) current.
Thank you for this.
Excelletn article Josh - I've had a couple of blog posts of my own on your ideas (and Zimov's work) lined up for months now that I never quite get round to finishing up.
Anyway - I've seen a few articles outlining the general idea for north america and initial suggetsions of appropriate surrogates - can we expect to see more detailed proposals soon? Or are they already out there and I've missed them?
Thank you for this