Reading & Conversation: Will Wright

Meet and listen to the author of Borders of Biodiversity! Joining us with his brother and friend of the Lit Room, Adam Wright. THE BIOLOGISTS WHO OPPOSED WOLF REINTRODUCTIONS—FOR UNEXPECTED REASONS A BOOK TALK ABOUT THE YELLOWSTONE TO YUKON CORRIDOR About the Author Will Wright is the author of Borders of Biodiversity and assistant professor of History & Environmental Studies at Augustana University. About the Book Transborder collaboration as a critical model for species conservation What happens to species when climate disruption causes suitable habitat within one country to move or vanish? In Borders of Biodiversity, Will Wright examines the histories of transnational conservation efforts to address the tension between a warming world in which living things are on the move and an increasingly walled world in which their movements are constrained. Focusing on the histories of three border-crossing species—gray wolves, monarch butterflies, and giant sequoias—from the 1850s to the present day, Wright reveals how nonstate actors like citizen scientists think beyond political borders and diplomatic traditions and find collaborations with fellow-minded conservationists by following nature beyond the nation-state. The people at the heart of these intertwined stories in Canada, Mexico, the United States, and Indigenous nations of North America recognize that biota have their own forms of territoriality that should be respected and defended. Wright argues that the realities of climate change are fundamentally at odds with site-specific conservation, which follows the possessive logic of nation-building by bounding space to protect habitats when many ecologies do not naturally fit within traditional protected areas. Taken together, these stories make clear that conservation efforts must forge solidarity across borders for biological well-being—or face the extinction of shared species. Praise for Borders of Biodiversity “Illuminating and significant. Wright’s study of an unlikely trio of transnational species—a tree, an insect, a mammal—reveals the ways organisms shaped historical approaches to landscape connectivity.”—Emily Wakild, author of A Moderating Force: Conserving Nature in National Parks in Patagonia and Amazonia “This book uncovers the roots of landscape conservation, revealing how following wildlife’s pathways proves that protecting nature demands bold action across vast lands and international borders.” —Jodi Hilty, president and chief scientist of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative “Will Wright’s in-depth exploration of a key tension in conservation—that many ecosystems, species ranges, and environmental issues do not align with political borders—is an important and timely contribution.”—Germán Vergara, author of Fueling Mexico: Energy and Environment, 1850–1950 “Few scholars can range so nimbly across places, peoples, plants, and animals and weave the details into a larger story of such profound significance. This should be required reading for anyone who cares about large landscape conservation in a time of global change.”—Mark Fiege, author of The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States