DYNAMIC DUO

HUMANS AND EARTH ARE OFTEN AT ODDS, BUT WHEN DISASTER STRIKES, THEY CAN COMBINE THEIR POWERS TO BRING NEW LIFE TO LANDSCAPES.

- MEERA SUBRAMANIAN

IN THE SLIVER OF TIME SINCE the Industrial Revolution, human enterprise has turned disastrous, ramping up extinctions, causing nuclear meltdowns, and altering the atmosphere that’s kept Earth’s climate stable for more than 10,000 years. Nature, to its credit, always tries to claw back, like a fire-resistant seed sprouting to life after the flames. But in many cases, the damage we’ve wrought runs too deep for an organic fix.

There is hope, however. By putting our ingenuity and resources toward science-based restoration efforts, we can complement nature’s ability to adapt—and even boost it further. The five catastrophes on the following pages show it takes patience (and more than a little humility) to play Earth’s sidekick. But minding cues from when that symbiosis flourished in the past could be the key to keeping the planet healthy and averting even bigger upheavals.

WAR AND PEACE

GORONGOSA NATIONAL PARK, MOZAMBIQUE

RECOVERY INITIATED: 1995

PROGRESS: NEARLY COMPLETE