Our Wild Niche

Wouldn’t it be great to be wild? To be so natural and free that we could do whatever we want. But we can’t. If our species went wild the results could be very unpleasant. We might lose control. Our species has allowed itself to become artificial in its efforts to be careful and considerate. But what if we have made a mistake and miss the real value of wildness? In nature, not all animals are evolving, but all of them are wild. Why? Evolution is survival of the wildest, not survival of the fittest. Being wild allows an animal to become efficient in its niche. Wild species flourish in natural diversity and harmony. How do they do it? Our Wild Niche explores what it is to be wild, the obstacles that stand in the way of our being wild, and the human traits that will come forward when we finally do reach our wild niche. It also shows how the wildness links "everything" together into a sensible and complete package that will give new insight into the role of our human emotions, feelings, instincts, adaptations and desires.

Imagine a world where humanity was not destined to cause harm to the natural world, where win-win scenarios—people and nature thriving together—are possible. No doubt contemporary western society is steeped in the legacy of white supremacy and colonialism, and as a result, many people have come to believe that humanity is fundamentally flawed, that the story of our species is destined to be nasty, brutish, and short. But what if this narrative could be dismantled? In Finding Our Niche, Philip A. Loring does just that. He explores the tragedies of Western society and offers examples and analyses that can guide us in reconciling our damaging settler-colonial histories and tremendous environmental missteps in favor of a more sustainable and just vision for the future. Drawing from numerous cases around the world, from cattle ranchers on the Burren in Ireland, to clam gardeners in British Columbia and protectors of an accidental wetland in northwest Mexico, Loring brings the reader through a difficult journey of reconciliation, a journey that leads to a more optimistic understanding of human nature and the prospects for our future, where people and nature thrive together. Interwoven are Loring’s personal struggles to reconcile his identity as a white settler living and working on stolen Indigenous lands. In a moment when our world is hanging in the balance, Finding Our Niche is a hopeful exploration of humanity’s place in the natural world, one that focuses on how we can heal and reconcile our unique human ecologies to achieve more sustainable and just societies.

The repertoire of quantitative analytical techniques in disciplines such as ecology, decision science, and evolutionary biology has grown, in part enabled by the development and increased availability of computational resources. Integration of cutting-edge, quantitative tools into veterinary epidemiology that have been borrowed from such disciplines has offered opportunities to advance the study of disease dynamics in animal populations, to improve and guide decision-making related to disease prevention, control, or eradication. Furthermore, the need to explore new analytical methods for veterinary epidemiology has been driven by the increasing availability and complexity of animal disease data. The objective of this e-book is to contribute to current methods in epidemiology by 1) presenting and discussing novel analytical tools that help advance our understanding of epidemiology; and 2) demonstrating how inferences emerging from the application of novel analytical tools can be incorporated into decision-making related to animal health. The e-book constitutes a collection of articles that explore the applications of a variety of analytical methods such as machine learning, Bayesian risk assessment and an advanced form of social network analysis in the modern epidemiologic study of animal diseases.

A common sense field guide to understanding, surviving, and thriving in our time of complex chaos and crises. Is this finally it? The end times?Because from COVID-19 to climate catastrophe to the looming AI revolution—not to mention the ever-growing background hum of rage, fear, and anxiety—it’s starting to feel like the party we call civilization is just about over. The good news? It’s always felt that way. Drawing on evolutionary psychology, history, brain science, game theory, and more, cooperation theorist (and, coincidentally, zombie expert) Athena Aktipis reassuringly explains how we, as a species, are hardwired to survive big existential crises. And how we can do so again by leveraging our innate abilities to communicate and cooperate. Pack a ukulele in your prep kit. Practice your risk-management skills. Enlist your crew into a survival team. And embrace the apocalypse. You might just enjoy it. Plus, it will help us build a better and more resilient future for all humankind.

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)

This work presents the evolution of the traditional concept of "national security" as military security to additionally embrace "environmental security" and then necessarily also "social (societal) security", thence to be termed "comprehensive human security". It accomplishes this primarily by presenting 11 of the author's own benchmark papers published between 1983 and 2010 (additionally providing bibliographic citations to a further 36 of the author's related publications during that period). The work stresses the importance of transfrontier (regional) cooperation, and also recognizes global overpopulation as a key impediment to achieving comprehensive human security.