The New Ecology

The author of this important book about rethinking ecology for the Anthropocene is professor of population and community ecology at Yale. One of the significant underlying themes is how we can overcome the human/nature divide and the very different values of the ecocentric conservationist and the anthropocentric mining company. This suggests a model of socio-ecological systems thinking based on insights from community and ecosystem ecology as ways of addressing anthropogenic imbalance and restoring ecological health and resilience. This makes us not so much managers as thoughtful stewards aware of our embeddedness in natural ecosystems and of its ethical implications. On a personal level, this means individual citizens taking responsibility for their actions and their effects on the local environment - every food choice has its implications. There are many interesting illustrations, for instance the history of the collapse of the Newfoundland fisheries. Here, cod were the top predator, but they were embedded in a complex food web with top-down and bottom-up controls and feedback as well as different lengths of life cycles within a nested hierarchy. It is a commonplace that we are dependent on ecosystem services, but it is important for us to generate what the author calls a 'safe operating space' to maintain this, including 'biodiversity, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean acidity, nitrogen and phosphorus inputs for agricultural production, land use change, and fresh water.' (p. 154) Following the pioneering work of Aldo Leopold, the author also advocates restoration ecology enhancing natural processes in the light of new scientific understanding. This applies to both industrial and urban ecosystems. All this is encouraging, but only if we seriously engage with the tight coupling between ecology and economy instead of single-mindedly pursuing economic growth.