Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future

In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert explores how the management of nature in one domain sets the stage for further control of nature, until these acts of control lead to a level of management so significant that nature can hardly be thought of as such. In examinations of human modifications of landscapes, of other life forms, and of the planet’s climate, she demonstrates how the history of humanity’s relationship to the natural world has created a situation in which, ironically, increasingly intensive forms of control are necessary: “If control is the problem, then, by the logic of the Anthropocene, still more control must be the solution” (32).

One example where this is particularly evident is in attempts to control Asian carp in the US. Asian carp were introduced to control the spread of unwanted invasive species, following the philosophy of famous environmentalist Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring, originally called The Control of Nature, called such control arrogant, and said that herbicides and pesticides represented an example of this kind of regressive approach. Yet in the end, the introduction of Asian carp, which quickly escaped their release point and spread throughout the Mississippi River, has produced the need for the greatest control measures, including electrifying the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent the carp from entering the Great Lakes (themselves an environment heavily modified by humans).