Ted Theisinger

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I tapped into the notes from one of my undergraduate history seminars to compare discourse on democratic representation in colonial British North America with present discourse on the rights of nature. Bit of Locke added in for good measure.

Virtual Representation, Natural Rights, and Ecological Revolution Maurice Moore, a colonial jurist, in 1765 concluded that the idea of virtual representation was ultimately reflective of ‘a defect in the Constitution of England’. This defect was that of inherent exc...

Third is Virtual Representation, Natural Rights, and Ecological Revolution, an essay published on my Diagnoses blog: tedtheisinger.com/p/virtual-re...

@nilsgilman.bsky.social

On Natural Capital - British Wildlife On Natural Capital: The Value of the World Around Us Partha Dasgupta Published just over four years on from the eponymous review on The Economics of Biodiversity, Sir Partha Dasgupta’s On Natural Capi...

Second is my review of Sir Partha Dasgupta's On Natural Capital, published in British Wildlife at the end of January: bit.ly/dasgupta_onc Worth the read for those not intimately familiar with his seminal now-five-year-old eponymous Review on The Economics of Biodiversity.

Gone with the flow - Land and Climate Review Ted Theisinger wades into two big new contributions to ‘river thought’. From the late, great James C. Scott and Colorado’s Ellen Wohl.

First is my double review of James Scott's In Praise of Floods and Ellen Wohl's Following the Bend, published in the Land & Climate Review this week: bit.ly/scottwohl Particularly fond of Scott's book, this being his last — posthumously published — work.

Three pieces of writing released over the past month!

Define subjugation?

Within January’s newsletter you’ll find @tedtheisinger.com ’s review of On Natural Capital by Partha Dasgupta. Now available in hardback from @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social . Read the review here: www.britishwildlife.com/on-nature-ca...

I would have appreciated greater discussion of these matters, and my review digs into this at length.

@robgmacfarlane.bsky.social @paulpowlesland.bsky.social

To be clear, Is a River Alive? is not a work of legal, historical, or political economy scholarship. That is both its central strength and weakness — imprecision when discussing the interchangeability of legal rights and aliveness demonstrative thereof.

Rivers’ and waterways’ life-giving force is emphasised by Macfarlane too — their ability to allay the grief experienced by the cast of characters featured in the book.

By detailing individuals’ connections to — and resultant advocacy for — waterways around the world, we learn to take their aliveness as self-evident, as inherent. I enjoyed this approach greatly.

While the book’s question premises the non-human world, it is humanity (and its connection to non-humanity) that is emphasised. The book is a record of human experience, taking a self-realisational approach to answering itself.

Is a River Alive? - British Wildlife Is a River Alive? Robert Macfarlane When a book’s central premise is the answer to a specific question — indeed, its title — one may expect a specific answer. Is a River Alive? According to one of Rob...

Much delayed after my copy of the book and my notebooks were stolen on a train in August, I’m pleased to share that my review of Rob Macfarlane's Is a River Alive? was recently published in British Wildlife. You can find it here: www.britishwildlife.com/is-a-river-a...

@tedtheisinger.com shares thoughts on @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social ’s Is a River Alive? Published by @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social . Read the review here: www.britishwildlife.com/is-a-river-a...

Ecological Arbitration and the Universal Mind If one envisions an overlapping of systems, much like we have in the human domain today, of legal, political, and economic structures, the necessary dynamics that would underpin these alternative form...

@nilsgilman.bsky.social @frederic-hanusch.bsky.social Would be great to hear your thoughts on this essay I wrote last month: tedtheisinger.com/p/ecological... My diagnosis is pretty much that certain kinds of ecological governance are an impossible exercise, and must be approached with humility.

Echoing @seanmac31.bsky.social. Andor, while actually a prequel to a prequel, is great. Takes on a life of its own.

These points, however, do not fault Just Earth’s broader argument. Juniper infuses a typically scientific debate with genuine, heartfelt, humanity — it is a real call to arms. If you take the time to read the full review in print or online, do share your thoughts with me!

(continued) 3. efforts to reduce inequality can have a more positive effect on growth as the fiscal multiplier of redistributive government spending is stronger. Discussion of how recent growth has been more loosely correlated with carbon emissions, too, would have been a welcome addition.

3. The critique of GDP as an intrinsically poor measurement of economic wellbeing. This could’ve used further analysis, particularly given the emphasis on the contrast between growth and (in)equality — .....

(continued) 2. and particularly disregards the innate diversity and agency of the latter — indigenous communities’ ability to choose to exploit or not exploit the natural world.

2. The monolithisation of indigenous communities’ traditional ecological knowledge. The false dichotomisation between western and indigenous cultures is in itself problematic, .....

(continued) 1. That is not to say that these arguments are wrong in absolute — just that their contingent nature would have been worth exploring.

1. Some historical allusions made throughout the book are deeply teleological. Causally linking the exploits of empire with present socioeconomic inequalities is questionable; as is the painting of colonialism and industrialisation as a singular, conjoined, process.

He explores the diverse inequalities that this degradation is exposing, and offers an alternative vision which emphasises wellbeing over material wealth: that of thrivalism. A few points made in Just Earth, though, require mitigation:

An enjoyable read, I encourage everyone to pick up a copy. Juniper, tapping into his wealth of experience in environmental policy and activism, elucidates the inextricability of socioeconomic inequality and climatic-ecological degradation.

Just Earth - British Wildlife Just Earth comes at a particularly unjust and unearthly time. Mounting inequalities and crystallising environmental crises characterise the present day, and this forms the basis of Tony Juniper’s two-...

Pleased to share that my review of @tonyjuniper.bsky.social's Just Earth has been published in @britishwildlife.bsky.social's recent print edition. You can find it online here: bit.ly/4p7JU7c

Our August issue is out! Topics this time include Risso’s Dolphins in Britain, Holm Oaks and their moths, urban wall ferns, the importance of woodland grassland, and the conclusion to our wilding for conservation series.

For more, see:
www.britishwildlife.com/back-issues/...

A follow-up essay examining prerequisites for potential alternative solutions is forthcoming. Until then, please do get in touch and share your thoughts!

The Enshittification of Nature and the Limits of State Intervention Proponents of private solutions are backed by the (un)imaginative default of private capital — capital that holds the power of financial resource allocation, and can thereby paint itself as the only w...

Existing approaches simply do not sufficiently address the temporal and spatial demands of ecological restoration. Read the full essay here: bit.ly/45iDBWQ