Changing our endangered relationship with wildlife

By Katie Woolaston
We are in the midst of a mass extinction crises. We are losing entire species at an unprecedented rate, and we  – us humans – are to blame. Human-induced climate change, land clearing and human conflicts with wildlife are cited as the primary destructive processes. However, I argue that it is the human relationship with wildlife, and nature generally, that is the most dangerous. I address this relationship in my PhD, and the legal nature of our relationship with wildlife was the subject of my recent paper ‘Ecological Vulnerability and the Devolution of Individual Autonomy’.
Nature, people and the law
Overall, the law in western liberal societies is concerned with protecting individual freedoms and promoting individual autonomy—freedom from interference by government and other individuals.[1]However, individuals don’t always make the best environmental decisions, and as an unfocussed, undisciplined collective, rarely do so. Instead, decisions are often made based on personal gain,

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