Changing Tides

In Changing Tides, Alejandro Frid, an ecologist working with Indigenous people, argues that a merger of scientific perspectives and Indigenous knowledge might just help us change the story we tell ourselves of who we are — of who we can be — and steer us towards a more benign Anthropocene.

Change the story and change the future – merging science and Indigenous knowledge to steer us towards a more benign Anthropocene

In Changing Tides, Alejandro Frid tackles the big questions: who, or what, represents our essential selves, and what stories might allow us to shift the collective psyche of industrial civilization in time to avert the worst of the climate and biodiversity crises? Merging scientific perspectives with Indigenous knowledge might just help us change the story we tell ourselves about who we are and where we could go.

As humanity marches on, causing mass extinctions and destabilizing the climate, the future of Earth will very much reflect the stories that Homo sapiens decide to jettison or accept today into our collective identity. At this pivotal moment in history, the most important story we can be telling ourselves is that humans are not inherently destructive.

In seeking the answers, Frid draws from a deep well of personal experience and that of Indigenous colleagues, finding a glimmer of hope in Indigenous cultures that, despite the ravishes of colonialism, have for thousands of years developed intentional and socially complex practices for resource management that epitomize sustainability.

Changing Tides is for everyone concerned with the irrevocable changes we have unleashed upon our planet and how we might steer towards a more benign Anthropocene.