Wild by Design

Laura Martin, PhD ’15

An environmental historian on the faculty at Williams College, Martin devotes this release from Harvard University Press to a seemingly paradoxical pursuit: ecological restoration, the attempt to design natural spaces in order to repair the damage done by humans. She explores the history, science, and philosophy of this billion-dollar field—in which governments, nonprofits, companies, and others build wetlands, remove invasive species, reintroduce native ones, and more. As bestselling author Elizabeth Kolbert (The Sixth Extinction) says in a blurb: “Can we repair the ecological damage that we’ve done? As Laura Martin observes, no question today could be more pressing, or more uncertain. Wild by Design is a fascinating book—far-reaching, deeply researched, and probing.”

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