Are We In Paradise or Prison? Human-Land Relations Under Capitalism and Climate Change
Gretel Dougherty
This book collates four pivotal readings from my studies in the Interdisciplinary Science program at The New School, in an attempt to recontextualize general understandings of climate change and human-land relationships. The readings focus on human and planetary health, green colonialism, environmental justice, and traditional Indigenous knowledge systems.
The US occupies a tract of land that is largely misunderstood by its citizens. The mass murder and displacement of Indigenous and First Nations communities paved the way for the creation of a highway and strip mall centric landscape where few non-human organisms can continue to live. At the same time, human access to land is being devalued and controlled by governments, and big industries. Careless land use has far reaching impacts on climate and human health, and will have increasing effects on our way of life as we continue to alter the ecosystems around us.
Despite living in one of the richest countries in the world, where many take pride in freedom of choice, the land we live on is being systemically neglected, contaminated, and surveilled. So, are we in paradise or prison?