2023 Year in Review
Edge Effects editors look back on their favorite essays and podcast episodes published in 2023.
Tagged: Ideas of Nature
Imagining New Futures in West Papua’s Plantation Forestscape
Jessica Richardson reviews Sophie Chao’s book IN THE SHADOW OF THE PALMS, with a focus on indigenous groups’ nuanced feelings and relations with plantation lifeworlds as well as their radical openness toward the future.
Love versus Legality in Indian Crane Conservation
Authors Dipti Arora & Astha Chaudhary investigate how politics, media, and affective relationships complexly shape human-crane encounters in India—with positive and negative consequences for both species.
Is the Outdoor Recreation Boom Too Good to Be True?
The outdoor recreation economy (ORE) is where land, labor, and leisure collide. Mara MacDonell explores the complexities and complications behind the apparent rise of ORE, including housing insecurity, economic inequality, and environmental degradation.
Reveling in the Gluttony and Glee of Fat Bear Week
Once a fringe event, Fat Bear Week has recently come to the attention of mainstream media. Margaret McGuirk argues that this seemingly frivolous program in fact gives us an opportunity to revel in a queered view of nature.
The Gremlincore Aesthetic Might be the Climate Solution We Need
Internet aesthetic niches are not often seen as climate solutions. However, Madi Whaley argues that the gremlincore aesthetic, focusing on lesser-loved things in nature, serves as an environmental ethic rooted in abundance.
Living With Plastic and Toxicity, Queerly
Svenja Engelmann-Kewitz reviews Heather Davis’s book Plastic Matter, which theorizes the queer potentials and complex legacies of plastic.
A Call For Humanities at the Seabed
Inspired by recent debates about deep sea mining, Killian Quigley, Charne Lavery, Laurence Publicover discuss the urgency of what they call a “critical seabed studies.”
Into the Not-So-Wild World of Pokémon
From adorable pets to exotic safaris, the Pokémon universe offers a sprawling jungle gym for players. Writer and gamer Nate Carlin gives a guided tour of what he calls the franchise’s naive ecotopia.
Swamp Feelings
Annie Proulx’s 2022 book Fen, Bog, and Swamp is a melancholy love letter to wetland ecosystems. But missing from this lament, Nino McQuown argues, are hopeful histories of resistance.
