The Less Selfish Gene Forest Altruism, Neoliberalism, and the Tree of Life

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Abstract

Why have millions of readers and viewers become magnetized by the hitherto arcane field of plant communication? The article argues that the contemporary appeal of plant communication is rooted in a quest for alternative modes of being to neoliberalism, modes more accommodating of the coexistence of cooperation and competition in human and more-than-human communities. This ascendant understanding of plant communication and forest dynamics offers a counternarrative of flourishing, a model of what George Monbiot has called, in another context, “private sufficiency and public wealth.”

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)348-371
Number of pages24
JournalEnvironmental Humanities
Volume13
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1 2021

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Ecology
  • Anthropology
  • Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

Keywords

  • Altruism
  • Neoliberalism
  • Network theory
  • Plant communication
  • Plant intelligence
  • Sociobiology
  • Wood wide web

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