Irus Braverman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520298842
- eISBN:
- 9780520970830
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520298842.003.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
Coral Whisperers focuses on coral scientists attempting to understand their world, both individually and as a community. The book is organized around their oscillation between hope and despair, with ...
More
Coral Whisperers focuses on coral scientists attempting to understand their world, both individually and as a community. The book is organized around their oscillation between hope and despair, with climate change playing an intensifying role for both approaches. The phrase“on the brink” in the book’s subtitle captures the sense of urgency and crisis that prevailed throughout my discussions with the scientists as they attempt to save both the corals and humanity from imminent death. The first part of the introduction outlines the high stakes of this project; the second part moves to discuss hope and despair and then briefly introduces the basics of coral biology and ecology. Finally, the introduction explores how thinking with corals may help us out of the mess we’re in and why the emotional layers in the work of coral scientists are just as meaningful as their analysis, if not more so. The introduction ends with an overview of the book’s structure.Less
Coral Whisperers focuses on coral scientists attempting to understand their world, both individually and as a community. The book is organized around their oscillation between hope and despair, with climate change playing an intensifying role for both approaches. The phrase“on the brink” in the book’s subtitle captures the sense of urgency and crisis that prevailed throughout my discussions with the scientists as they attempt to save both the corals and humanity from imminent death. The first part of the introduction outlines the high stakes of this project; the second part moves to discuss hope and despair and then briefly introduces the basics of coral biology and ecology. Finally, the introduction explores how thinking with corals may help us out of the mess we’re in and why the emotional layers in the work of coral scientists are just as meaningful as their analysis, if not more so. The introduction ends with an overview of the book’s structure.
Irus Braverman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520298842
- eISBN:
- 9780520970830
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520298842.001.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
Coral Whisperers captures a key moment in the history of coral reef science and of environmental conservation at large. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews,the book documents the physical, ...
More
Coral Whisperers captures a key moment in the history of coral reef science and of environmental conservation at large. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews,the book documents the physical, intellectual, and emotional plight of coral scientists and their painstaking deliberations as they struggle to understand and save corals from what many of these scientistshave come to see as the corals’inevitable catastrophic future on a rapidly warming and otherwise assaulted planet.We are here in the thick of contemporary coral science, and we can feel its urgency: the experts, who are witnessing massive coral death around the planet, both grieve for this death and must simultaneously narrate it. Yet despite the desperate realities confronting corals in the Anthropocene, coral scientists have not given up hope. Through their engaging narratives, corals emerge as a sign, a measure, and a way out of the imminent catastrophe facinglife on earth.Less
Coral Whisperers captures a key moment in the history of coral reef science and of environmental conservation at large. Drawing on more than one hundred interviews,the book documents the physical, intellectual, and emotional plight of coral scientists and their painstaking deliberations as they struggle to understand and save corals from what many of these scientistshave come to see as the corals’inevitable catastrophic future on a rapidly warming and otherwise assaulted planet.We are here in the thick of contemporary coral science, and we can feel its urgency: the experts, who are witnessing massive coral death around the planet, both grieve for this death and must simultaneously narrate it. Yet despite the desperate realities confronting corals in the Anthropocene, coral scientists have not given up hope. Through their engaging narratives, corals emerge as a sign, a measure, and a way out of the imminent catastrophe facinglife on earth.
