In Chapter 8 of Rambunctious Garden, Emma Marris brings her focus towards more revolutionary ideals. Different from the first two- thirds or so of the book, this section brings us to the possibilities that may come from changing our view of the natural world. Marris even says that ecologists’ views are changing to think less about restoration of areas to baselines and more towards preservation of natural systems and resources. After having examined and analyzed several main issues tackled by today’s ecologists and conservationists from types of restoration to invasive species and the process of rewilding, Marris makes her point of stating clearly that designer ecosystems looks to be a way for nature to be maintained in the future.
Although this method of designing ecosystems, as Marris describes is in ways progressively better than trying to recreate an entire ecosystem from a historical point of view, it has both benefits as well as trade offs. With more specific goals at hand, such as lowering the nitrogen levels in streams or rebuilding riverbanks to decrease erosion and sediment degradation the chances are greater that more wildlife ecosystems will be preserved. However, at the same time there are consequences such as the increased chances of fish in waters where nitrogen-lowering initiatives are taking place to store mercury in their fatty tissues. In this section of the book, Marris argues that just because an ecosystem is restored to look like it was in the past or to look stable does not mean that its ecological processes are thoroughly beneficial. A point blatantly made by Marris is that at the end of the day, as much as ecologists know about any given ecosystem, the intricate processes within a particular system are not fully understood. Ultimately, Marris envisions the best way for nature to be conserved is for it to be via this new method of designing ecosystems with a key goal in mind.
With this in mind, Marris goes into the next chapter, Conservation Everywhere, to explain and unfold her idea on the future of conservation in more detail. In this chapter Marris describes a world where ecosystems are not designed separate from human existence but looking to integrate into the anthropocene with the use of corridors to expand the habitats of migratory species as well as those that occupy larger areas beyond the national parks and preservations in which they are contained. In this way, greater biodiversity will be able to flourish as species have a larger area to roam. Marris tells of how humans who now have a greater population in urban areas rather than in the suburbs, will in the future, by her predictions, dominate in urban areas- having less of an ecological impact. With this migration of humans to city areas, there would be even more spaces to be turned back into livable habitats for the earth’s species. Marris says that pavement is not forever, suggesting that as we turned grasslands into parking lots, we can revert them back to being natural landscapes. Over these two chapters, Emma Marris takes us into the future she sees in conservation and human interaction with the natural world as we become ever dominant. I am not so sure how much I agree with the connected corridors idea she ha for expanding conservation efforts. However, turning more parking lots and industrial structures into areas that can be used for wildlife seems as though it would be beneficial for animal and plant species as well as the human population.
