Is Wildness Over? by Paul Wapner

Author:Paul Wapner [Wapner, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

5

Rewilding

It seems the height of hubris to ponder mastering the Earth. It assumes not only that people can grab the reins of evolution and climate and steer them in the direction of their choosing, but that they have the guts even to try. De-extinction and geoengineering engage the biophysical workings of the Earth. They aim to take over evolution and the composition of the atmosphere. They seek, in other words, to hack the planet’s infrastructure. Is it wise to be so ambitious? Do we really have it in us to extend our controlling reach to the edges of the globe? Isn’t this taking the banishment of wildness too far? These are critically important questions—but perhaps, at this late date, moot. Given humanity’s long history of conquering wildness, it is hard to imagine not trying to tame the globe as it spirals out of control. For millennia, humans have been carving out increasing domains of influence and, in all likelihood, de-extinctionists and geoengineers will continue in that spirit. The momentum is simply too strong. Brave new wildness will, inevitably, face brave new engineering. Choice is probably not a possibility.

Yet choice is exactly what is needed. Humans can no longer afford falling into the future. Engaging wildness with a conquering spirit is precisely what created unstoppable extinction, accelerating climate change, and other disassembling threats in the first place; it is doubtful that it can reverse them. Although challenging, there are other options. Instead of doubling down on control, global spasm invites a rethinking of humanity’s relationship with wildness. It offers the chance finally to stop battling the unbidden and unfamiliar and, instead, question what other qualities wildness may require of us. Indeed, brave new wildness creates the imperative to reflect fundamentally on how humans deal with that which eludes control.

Inextinguishable Wildness

Planetary control appears hubristic because it can never entirely work. Despite grandiose designs and a seeming willingness to go global, snuffing out wildness is impossible. Wildness has a way of avoiding capture. As it gets cornered, it moves. This won’t change simply because humans are attacking it at the global level. Wildness will not cower as people put human fingers on the Earth’s thermostat, or try to direct evolution, or otherwise work to control the planet.

Signs of wildness’ stubbornness are evident in the very technologies people are proposing to use. For instance, there is little question that solar radiation management (SRM) can dim the amount of sunlight hitting the planet. However, there are grave uncertainties about regional impacts, military uses, and implementation commitments. For instance, some scenarios suggest that, if SRM were deployed on a very large scale—to offset all the warming from elevated greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations—Indian and African monsoons might be weakened (Moreno-Cruz et al., 2012). This would potentially impact agriculture that sustains billions of people. Additionally, in the absence of SRM governance, there is nothing to stop nations from using the technology for weather-altering military purposes. Conceivably states, or even non-state actors, could weaponize SRM as a tool of conflict (Macnaghten and Szerszynski, 2013).

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