A Note From the Authors on Language

 

 

It’s customary when writing about nonhumans to use the relative pronoun that rather than who: “We cut down the tree that used to grow by the pond,” not “We cut down the tree who used to grow by the pond.”

The authors of this book use who when speaking of nonhumans because we believe that how we speak of the world profoundly affects how we perceive and experience the world, which in turn profoundly affects how we act in the world. If we perceive the life around us as a collection of resources to exploit, then exploit them we will—and ultimately, we will destroy the world in our attempts to control it. As we see happening now.

If, on the other hand, we perceive the world as consisting of other beings with whom we share our home, then share our home with them we will—with all of the richness, beauty, and wisdom that this entails.

Changing language is no substitute for organized resistance to the ongoing destruction of this once-fecund and now-wounded planet, and it’s no substitute for the protection and restoration of wild places and wild beings, but it’s an important step toward changing our values, priorities, and actions.