Emergent
Reviewed By Ian Banks February 20, 2023
Author Mirium Kate McDonald
Distributor: Earth Books
ISBN: 978-1-78535-372-7
Publisher: John Hunt Publication
Release Date: November 2022
Website: https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com
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Emergent is a refreshing perspective on the world we live in and the on-going consequences of human civilization. Miriam McDonald walks back through the many civilizations that have inhabited this planet, the effect they have had on natural vegetation and wildlife and the still ongoing damage and destruction that is occurring today.
McDonald puts forward a very strong argument for re-generation of our ecology which while she does not demand instant action, because and let’s face it, thousands of years of changing habitat in all context simply cannot be mended in a few weeks, months or years, but will take generations, she does call for change.
The central tenant of Emergent is the fact that we are nature, whether we care to admit it or not. We are an Emergent society that has over the history of Homo Sapiens changed the environment in which we live.
This change began in the very beginning when early man moved from hunters and gathers to farmers, not just changing the environment but also changing their physical structure, to adapt to this new, abundant lifestyle. This adaptation has continued on through the many anthropological changes, to modern man, the most intelligent of the species to date.
Humankind is still changing the environment but for vastly differing reasons to past civilizations and it is now time to begin to consider where we as a race are in the broadest contact of ecology.
Over the past 15 years Miriam McDonald has garnered great experience in ecology, conservation and agriculture, and has realised that we are a part of the great interdependence of the wild. We are integral to the earth. She also visits why we have taken steps to separate ourselves from the earth, the effect this has had on society in general and what we can do to begin to heal both humanity and the earth.
Regeneration, rewilding, self-sufficiency and much more is discussed in this refreshing look at what next for Humanity, as we charge destructively across the planet. Will we listen, will we understand the need to change our perspective of whom we are as humans, to the understanding that we are part of the life cycle of the ‘animal kingdom’ and as the most intelligent, need to take responsibility for what we have created.
Emergent: a brilliant reflective and heartening perspective on who we are and what we, with a whole lot of help and understanding, could become.