Rethinking "pests" and how they challenge power and order, ft. Bethany Brookshire
How do we relate to animals "out of place" differently?
Dear green dreamer,
We are back this week with another conversation that unravels a subject too often glossed over — "pests"! It's an episode that feels like a complementary listen alongside our previous discussion on "weeds" with Jessica J. Lee. Enjoy, and gratitudes for all that you are ~
with lightness, kamea
“Not all cultures have a word for pest, because not all cultures have a concept of an animal that meets that definition — an animal that is out of place…” – Bethany Brookshire
What does it mean that the labeling of “pests” often relates to how they challenge power and order? How do the ways that “pests” are often targeted and managed further exacerbate socio-environmental injustices? And how might we learn to relate with animals deemed “out of place” beyond the subjective framing of “pests” altogether?
In this episode, we are honored to discuss all things related to “pests” with Bethany Brookshire, an award-winning freelance science journalist and author of the 2022 book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains.
View the episode transcript and references here, and dive into the extended version of this conversation via our Patreon here.
Bethany closes out with…
A recommendation: “Wild Souls by Emma Maris. It is a wonderful philosophical work that grapples with things like invasive species. It grapples with a lot of these difficult questions that we've been talking about in a very thoughtful way.”
A reminder: “I say it a lot. ‘Is this my circus? And are these my monkeys?’”
An inspiration: “Strangely, it is anatomy textbooks. I read anatomy a lot when I can't sleep and I have ended up thinking a lot about human and comparative anatomy and I find the quirks of our bodies to be oddly comforting.”
And some words of guidance…
“I would say that I want the word pest to go away because pest is subjective and about our judgment. I would love for us to think of animals on their terms instead of on ours.”
Bethany Brookshire is an award-winning freelance science journalist and author of the 2022 book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. She has a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology. Brookshire writes on human-animal conflict, ecology, environmental science, and neuroscience. She is fascinated by the way humans perceive the environment and their place in it. Her work has appeared in Science News, Science News Explores, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Slate, The Guardian, The Atlantic and other outlets. She is based in Washington, D.C.
What inspirations or curiosities are still lingering with you from this episode?
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