M. R. O'Connor

O'Connor is a journalist that catches the wildland "fire bug" and travels across the US learning about and the practicing both fire suppression and prescribed burning activities. She makes the case that our wildlands evolved with and need fire to be healthy and to support healthy communities. She especially connects with indigenous fire practitioners and the tragedy of removing both native peoples and their cultural practices from much of the land. There is some hope as indigenous burning seems to be getting more and more support from land managers. Finally, this is an interesting read for fire ecologists looking for the views of a layperson.… (mehr)

An engaging and well-written exploration into all things wildfire with a view to commending the practice of consistent controlled burning.

The author fully immerses herself in the world of wildfires: she remains a writer but very much becomes a wildland firefighter and trained in both fire suppression and controlled fires. Much of the book is her recounting her experiences in both controlled burns and wildfires. She interviews many people who have been very engaged in terms of wildland fire.

She also recounts the history of how the Indigenous people of at least North America consistently burned the land. This is attested both by Indigenous lore and the accounts of early white settlers. She also explores how we have come to our current fire suppression consensus: the "enlightened" belief that we should leave nature alone, the mythic allure of the untouched, undeveloped land, and a lot of bigotry, prejudice, and hostility toward fire and burning. It escaped their minds to imagine how fire might cleanse a land, and how the land we all now live in was not untouched wilderness but had been significantly managed by humans for millennia.

Through her conversations and experiences one can perceive the insanity of our current fire suppression regime, and how often attempts at fire suppression can lead to even greater amounts of territory burned. She explains the developments we've gained in fire science and the dangerous prospect of megafires doing mega-damage. We have created the unholy combination of a warmer planet while allowing excessive amount of flammable material to spread throughout the forests of America. It will eventually end in it all being burned; the only question is whether it will be burned with "good fire" that cleanses and renews or "bad fire" which scorches.

The time is long past to again appreciate Indigenous knowledge and to restore controlled burning throughout the country on a consistent basis, and above all, to recognize fire is "normal," and the complete absence of fire in the land is the artificial and unnatural situation which we have created and which we will not be able to sustain.

Worth reading.

**--galley received as part of early review program… (mehr)

Rating: 4.5 stars

Resurrection Science by M.R. O'Connor takes a look at current conservation movement and it's possible future. This book is written in an engaging manner that doesn't bog the reader down with too much heavy science. Personally, I would have liked to read more science, but that isn't the focus of the book.

The author delves into the history of the conservation movement, exploring a handful of species facing imminent extinction via the thought-provoking, often sad and almost always futile stories of the men and women trying to save these species. Each chapter deals with a different species of animal that raises a different question regarding the course of conservation and extinction. Should species be protected/saved if it is detrimental to the human community around it? At what point does a hybridized species stop being what it was originally? If human interference is largely responsible for the differences between a species that has been fragmented, are they still the original endangered species? How can we protect endangered species that we know very little about? What if breeding a species in captivity results in erasing the behaviors that were the defining features of that species? Would artificially reviving a species produce the same species, or would it be different, with different behaviours? Is on the ground conservation more feasible than storing genetic material/data?

Ms O'Connor discusses the complex ethical issues behind conserving, modifying and resurrecting species in what appears to be a balanced manner, taking into account economics, ethics, science and the nature of humans. De-extinction is the process of creating an organism, which is either a member of, or resembles an extinct species, or breeding population of such organisms, with cloning or selective breeding being the proposed methods. There is significant controversy over de-extinction, with critics asserting that efforts would be better spent conserving existing species, and that the habitat necessary for formerly extinct species to survive is too limited to warrant de-extinction. There is also the conflict between nature/animals and the developmental needs of humans - in essence, determining what a species is worth. The author also takes a look at genetic conservation. This involves gene banks containing millions of tissue samples of extinct and still living species, stored in the hopes that future generations can use the genetic material to bring back extinct species.

This book is a well-written, interesting and thought provoking look at the science and ethics of current and future conservation efforts. The author asks uncomfortable questions and raises troubling points that should be considered.
… (mehr)

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was phenomenal. [a: M.R. O'Connor|10803952|M.R. O'Connor|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] did an excellent job of examining not only the question of extinction and the controversial subject of de-extinction, but of asking the very uncomfortable question 'What is a species worth?' What is it that makes a person decide that one species is worth saving over another, and is saving a species from extinction truly a worthwhile endeavor? Does everything have an intrinsic value?

The book is divided into 8 chapters, each focusing upon a different species either going extinct, or possibly being revived. For those interested the subjects of the chapters are as follows:
Spray Toads
Florida Panthers
White Sands Pupfish
Northern Right Whales
Hawaiian Crow
Northern White Rhino
Passenger Pigeon
Neanderthal

Each species discussed raises a different question regarding the course of extinction and conservation. Should we save or protect a species if doing so hurts the human community around it? At what point of hybridization does a species stop being what it originally was? If human interference is largely responsible for the differences between a species that has been fragmented - are they still the original endangered species? What can we do to protect endangered species we know very little about? What if breeding a creature in captivity ends up erasing the very behaviors that were the hallmark of the species? Would reviving a species artificially result in the same species? Is conservation on the ground more worth it than rescuing the genetic data?

These questions and more abound, and are examined from all angles. The result is a book that looks at the ethical questions beyond conservation in a way that I've seldom seen discussed. This book is vitally important, engaging, and thought provoking. I would like nothing more than to see this book in the hands of everyone involved in the environmental movements. It asks uncomfortable questions and raises troubling points that need to be raised.

I can't emphasize enough how much I adored this text.… (mehr)