We alone : how humans have conquered the planet and can also save it

Summary: "This personal and thoughtful book by renowned Kenya conservationist David Western traces our global conquest from Maasai herders battling droughts in Africa to the technological frontiers of California. Western draws on a half century of research in the savannas and his own life's journey to argue that conservation is not a modern invention. The success of all societies past and present lies in conservation practices, breaking biological barriers and learning to live in large cooperative groups able to sustain a healthy environment. Our ecological emancipation from nature enabled us to expand our horizons from conserving food and water for survival to saving whales, elephants, and our cultural heritage. In the Anthropocene, our scientific knowledge and modern sensibilities offer hope for combating global warming and creating a planet able to sustain the wealth of life, but only if we use our unique cultural capacity of cooperation to plan our future"--Publisher's website

Record details

ISBN: 0300251165
ISBN: 9780300251166
ISBN: 0300256329
ISBN: 9780300256321
Physical Description: 1 online resource (x, 310 pages, x, 310 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations
remote
Publisher: New Haven : Yale University Press, [2020]
Copyright: ©2020

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Introduction : Confronting the human age -- Survival in the savannas -- Consuming passions -- Conservation paradox -- Limits to growth : hope or despair? -- Lessons from disasters -- Why some succeed where others fail -- Icons of two worlds -- Altruistic species -- Breaking biological barriers -- Domesticating nature -- Ecological emancipation -- Global express -- Converging worlds -- Our novel age -- Modern conservation movement -- Unnatural reconnections -- New tools for a new age -- Cleaning our planetary nest -- Nature and human well-being -- Natural capital -- City and the planet -- Conclusion : From conservation philosophy to citizen action.
Biographical or Historical Data:	David Western, a pioneer of community-based conservation, is a former director of the Kenya Wildlife Service and Wildlife Conservation Society International. He founded and chairs the African Conservation Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. His books include Conservation for the Twenty-First Century.
Source of Description Note:	Online resource, title from digital title page (viewed on April 29, 2021).