Jeff Sparrow reviews Living with the Anthropocene in The Saturday Paper
‘Why do the old Romantic tropes still possess such force? In her contribution to the book, Saskia Beudel quotes Daly Pulkara, an Aboriginal man from the Northern Territory. Pulkara calls land denuded by agriculture “wild”, unlike the “quiet country” still maintained by its traditional owners. That usage – so at odds with the European focus on “wilderness” – reminds us that, prior to white settlement, Indigenous people deliberately reshaped the continent. The pre-colonial landscape reflected a purposeful interaction between humanity and nature. Capitalism destroys that transparent relationship, with the Industrial Revolution separating the population from the commons and establishing an alienation that culminates in our current situation.’