By T. S. Martin
CHOICE
November 2019
Clark is an eco-anarchist philosopher and prolific writer on radical ecology issues. This collection of essays (some new, some previously published) ranges across a wide variety of grassroots responses to the coming “necrocene,” i.e., the human-caused mass extinction of biodiversity already under way. Humans can still save the planet, he writes, by adopting a truly human-centered bioregional and anarchist way of life. The Paris Agreement, the Zapatista communities of Chiapas, the Rojava movement rising out of Syria’s ashes, Zen and Sufism, situationism and the lessons of the 1968 student revolt in France, the Black Panthers—all offer critical lessons for organizers and activists seeking Clark’s “beloved community.” In particular for Clark, a New Orleans native, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrates problems as well as solutions. Some readers will be put off by the frequent allusions to mystical and religious ideas, but Clark’s point is that Earth’s desperate situation requires drawing on all possible solutions. Despite the dark warnings, Clark offers hope for a future—though not Utopian—world of decentralized, libertarian, and ecologically sane communities.
