| We are living in the midst of the Earth's sixth great extinctionevent, the first one caused by a single species: our own. In Wild Dog Dreaming,Deborah Bird Rose explores what constitutes an ethical relationship with nonhuman others in this eraof loss. She asks, Who are we, as a species? How do we fit into the Earth's systems? Amidst somuch change, how do we find our way into new stories to guide us? Rose explores these questions inthe form of a dialogue between science and the humanities. Drawing on her conversations withAboriginal people, for whom questions of extinction are up-close and very personal, Rosedevelops a mode of exposition that is dialogical, philosophical, andopen-ended.An inspiration for Rose-and a touchstone throughout herbook-is the endangered dingo of Australia. The dingo is not the first animal to faceextinction, but its story is particularly disturbing because the threat to its future is beingactively engineered by humans. The brazenness with which the dingo is being wiped out shedsvaluable, and chilling, light on the likely fate of countless other animal and plantspecies.",People save what they love,", observed Michael Soul thegreat conservation biologist. We must ask whether we, as humans, are capable of loving-andtherefore capable of caring for-the animals and plants that are disappearing in a cascade ofextinctions. Wild Dog Dreaming engages this question, and the result is a bold account of theentangled ethics of love, contingency, and desire. |
