The Ecological Citizen Vol 3 Suppl a 2019 Contents
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The Vol 3 Suppl A 2019 Ecological ISSN 2515-1967 A peer-reviewed journal Citizen www.ecologicalcitizen.net CONFRONTING HUMAN SUPREMACY IN DEFENCE OF THE EARTH AN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL No article access fees | No publication charges | No financial affiliations About the Journal www.ecologicalcitizen.net The An ecocentric, peer-reviewed, Ecological free-to-access journal EC Citizen ISSN 2515-1967 Aims Copyright Cover photo 1 Advancing ecological knowledge The copyright of the content belongs to A protester at an Extinction 2 Championing Earth-centred action the authors, artists and photographers, Rebellion gathering at 3 Inspiring ecocentric citizenship unless otherwise stated. However, there is Blackfriars Bridge, London, 4 Promoting ecocentrism in political debates no limit on printing or distribution of PDFs UK, in November 2018. 5 Nurturing an ecocentric lexicon downloaded from the website. 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There are no charges for and Merriweather Sans, both of which are publication and no fees to access any of the typefaces with an Open Font Licence that content. have been designed by Eben Sorkin. “Unless the new forms of community extend beyond the traditional humanistic bounds to include the community of Nature, the game is up.” Stan Rowe 2 The Ecological Citizen Vol 3 Suppl A 2019 www.ecologicalcitizen.net Contents The Ecological Citizen | Vol 3 Suppl A 2019 For a listing of Friends of the Editorial Journal, please The biodiversity crisis must be placed front and centre 5 see page 12 Joe Gray and Eileen Crist Long articles The silence of the humpback whale 7 Kathleen Dean Moore The green world 13 Tim Hogan Snapshot Addressing global insect meltdown 23 Michael J Samways Long articles Restoring the living ocean: The time is now 27 Eileen Crist ‘Making hay’: A conditional defence on ecocentric grounds of various co-created habitats 43 Joe Gray Snapshot Sensory pollution and the biodiversity crisis 55 Kirsten M Parris Special feature The thin green line: Scientists must do more to limit the toll of burgeoning infrastructure on nature and society 59 William Laurance Long article Beyond the North American Wildlife Conservation Model and towards Earth rights 67 Anja Heister Snapshots How biodiversity is both impacted by and a solution for climate change 75 Thomas E Lovejoy The unnoticed collapse of big freshwater animals 77 Brandon Keim Long articles The endangered phenomenon of animal migration, and the dissonance between doing science and achieving conservation 79 Joel Berger Nature needs half: Implications for population, consumption and inequality in the ‘other half’ 87 Greg Mikkelson Excerpt Excerpted chapters from On Beauty: Douglas R. Tompkins—aesthetics and activism 93 Tom Butler and Sandra Lubarsky Reflection In defence of tears 101 Simon Leadbeater Photos Book review The full-page photos Thinking and walking with The Sonoran Desert: A literary field guide 104 were taken by Joe Gray Louise Boscacci (with zero air miles). The Ecological Citizen Vol 3 Suppl A 2019 3 Editorial Board www.ecologicalcitizen.net Editor-in-Chief Oussou Lio Appolinaire Vanja Palmers Patrick Curry Practitioner of Earth Jurisprudence Buddhist Teacher promoting Animal Rights Writer and Scholar Avrankou, Benin Lucerne, Switzerland London, UK María Valeria Berros Alessandro Pelizzon Researcher in Rights of Nature Researcher in Earth-Centred Law Santa Fe, Argentina Lismore, NSW, Australia Associate Editors David Blackwell John J Piccolo Eileen Crist Educator and Nature-lover Associate Professor in Writer and Teacher Halifax, NS, Canada Environmental and Life Sciences Blacksburg, VA, USA Susana Borràs Pentinat Karlstad, Sweden Adam Dickerson Lecturer in Public International Law Coyote Alberto Ruz Buenfil Writer and Gardener Tarragona, Spain Environmental and Social Activist Gundaroo, NSW, Australia Tom Butler Huehuecoyotl Ecovillage, Mexico Joe Gray Writer and Activist Vandana Shiva Field Naturalist and Eco-activist Huntington, VT, USA Scholar and Environmental Activist St Albans, UK Nigel Cooper Delhi, India Ian Whyte Chaplain and Biologist Steve Szeghi Field Naturalist Cambridge, UK Professor of Economics Ottawa, ON, Canada Paul Cryer Wilmington, OH, USA Conservationist Bron Taylor Hillcrest, South Africa Professor of Religion, Nature Art Editor Cormac Cullinan and Environmental Ethics Stephanie Moran Environmental Attorney and Author Gainesville, FL, USA Artist and Librarian Cape Town, South Africa Andrew Walton London, UK John Davis Bioregionalist Wildways Trekker Birmingham, UK Poetry Editor Westport, NY, USA Haydn Washington Victor Postnikov Alan Watson Featherstone Environmental Scientist Poet, Essayist and Translator Founder and Visionary – Trees for Life and Activist Kiev, Ukraine Findhorn, UK Sydney, NSW, Australia Mumta Ito Rachel Waters Consulting Editors Lawyer, Zoologist and Academic and Advocacy Journalist Sandy Irvine Founder – Nature’s Rights Brooklyn, NY, USA Political Activist Forres, UK Fiona Wilton Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK Marjolein Kok Programme Coordinator Ted Mosquin Environmental Activist and Researcher – Gaia Foundation Naturalist Utrecht, the Netherlands Colombia/Uruguay Lanark, ON, Canada Helen Kopnina Doug Woodard Environmental Anthropologist Environmentalist Publicity Advisor Leiden, the Netherlands St Catharines, ON, Canada Monica Carroll Joseph Lambert George Wuerthner Writer Researcher in Earth Jurisprudence Photographer, Author and Activist Canberra, ACT, Australia Brighton, UK Bend, OR, USA Sandra Lubarsky Peter Jingcheng Xu Art Advisor Scholar in Sustainability Researcher in Literature Salomón Bazbaz Lapidus Flagstaff, AZ, USA Beijing, China Director – Cumbre Tajín Festival Michelle Maloney Mersha Yilma Papantla de Olarte, Mexico Lawyer and National Practitioner of Earth Jurisprudence Convenor of AELA Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Editorial Advisors Brisbane, QLD, Australia Suzanne York David Abram Alexandra Marcelino Director – Transition Earth Cultural Ecologist and Geophilosopher Jurist in Environmental Law San Francisco, CA, USA Upper Rio Grande Valley, NM, USA Lisbon, Portugal Melinda Alfano Maria Carolina Negrini Graduate in Water Resources Lawyer New York, NY, USA São Paolo, Brazil 4 The Ecological Citizen Vol 3 Suppl A 2019 www.ecologicalcitizen.net EDITORIAL The biodiversity crisis must be placed front and centre he world’s increasing awakening other human obstacle courses). It needs to Joe Gray and to the climate crisis, and a rising be added, however, that if anthropogenic Eileen Crist Tclimate movement in its wake, are emissions continue to climb unabated, encouraging shifts. At the same time, it triggering positive feedbacks that catapult About the authors is discouraging and even maddening that Earth into a ‘hothouse state’, then all bets Joe and Eileen are co- anthropogenic climate change (hereafter are off for most complex life (Steffen et al., editors of this special issue just climate change) is typically framed as 2018; McKibben, 2019). on the biodiversity crisis. the major ecological and social emergency. Even so, we should not let our critical This all-too-prevalent diagnosis is both faculties be foiled by continuing to Joe is a field naturalist in St Albans, UK, with obfuscating and invalid. It is obfuscating frame a really big symptom – climate an MSc in Forestry from because when the horror-fascination with change – as the major problem we face. Bangor University and an climate change monopolizes attention, it Climatic upheaval is a side effect of the MA in Zoology from the often dims awareness of the extinction actual problem of human expansionism University of Cambridge. crisis that is accelerating on multiple within the ecosphere: ceaseless growth He is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society fronts – extinction of species and on the consumptive, demographic and a Knowledge Network subspecies, extinction of wild populations and technological-infrastructural fronts. Expert for the United and numbers of individuals, extinction of Such growth is allowed to continue by a Nations’ Harmony with genetic variation, and mass extinction (see shared tacit gestalt that human planetary Nature programme. Ceballos et al. [2017]). What’s