Proposed by biologist Edward O. Wilson, the Half-Earth concept is a speculative and provocative idea that calls for setting aside half of the planet’s surface for the protection of biodiversity. The idea is that only such a radical measure could prevent mass extinction. The proposal is bold but, needless to say, also deeply contested: whose land is to be taken, who decides what counts as wilderness, what repressive apparatus would emerge to contain population, and what happens to people already living there? It risks repeating colonial patterns under the guise of ecological urgency. At the same time, it dramatizes the scale of change required, refusing small gestures.
Growing up on a farm in Tyrol, surrounded by repetitions of natural processes to which rituals and traditions attune, Weinberger developed an understanding of the nature–culture relationship observed from the periphery.
Planet City is a worldbuilding project by Liam Young, envisioned as a multilayered city, occupying as little as 0,02 percent of Earth’s surface yet hosting all of the human population. Planet City is testing the Half-Earth idea by Edward O. Wilson, where we put aside half of the planet, to keep biodiversity. We spoke with Liam Young about the idea and the exhibition he curates, Visions of Planet City.
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