Greenhouse Research Talk Series
This talk by American nature writer James Barilla will focus on a central paradox: urban rivers in Europe and the United States, like the Thames, the Akerselva and the Connecticut, are cleaner now than they've been for generations, offering the tantalizing possibility for the return of species like the Atlantic salmon. Yet, at the same time, watershed conditions are changing as the climate changes, complicating rewilding efforts and requiring a reimagination of how to act both locally and globally. This talk will examine the hemispheric common ground between cities, rivers and salmon, and envision new directions for the stories and values that guide rewilding practices.
James Barilla (he/him) is the author of several books of narrative nonfiction about the human relationship with the natural world, including Naturebot: Unconventional Visions of Nature (Routledge), My Backyard Jungle (Yale) and West with the Rise (University of Virginia Press). He is a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Bergen, and Professor of English at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches courses in creative nonfiction writing and the environmental humanities.