This article argues that local religious institutions are used by ruling lineages for political control, to grant preferential access to particular resources, and to enhance political hegemony.

Markus Peterson and Tarla Rai Peterson outline the history of valuation techniques using the Exxon Valdez disaster response and the valuation of whooping cranes as examples of how these tools can constrain policy, presenting an ethical dilemma for democracies by naturalizing, then ethicizing, existing patterns of domination.

This short piece by former Rachel Carson Center fellow Lisa Sideris is a contribution to the Great Transition Initiative’s forum Big History and Great Transition.

In this commentary piece, the six authors attempt to “reboot” or reinstitute a concept close to the heart of the Moderns, namely the assumption that the traditional concept of nature, as developed through modern European history, would no longer be adequate to a future beset by environmental crises.