The central argument of this book is that nature is a site of struggle, a struggle largely shaped by relations of power and different conceptions of justice. The argument is built through an analysis of different ways of relating to nature.

The starting point is that nature is a social construct in the sense that different people understand ‘the natural world’ in very different ways. For many people ‘nature’ means wilderness and wild animals, and it is experienced very indirectly through magazines and television programmes or through visiting the highly managed environments of national parks. Nature is understood as a place apart, a place to visit, to escape to wearing sunblock, mosquito repellant and protective clothing. But nature is not external, separate from the world of people. We live in nature and interact with it every day in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe.

These interactions are described in ten chapters that emphasise how our current ways of relating to nature are not grounded in a recognition of the intricate and complex ways in which all living things are interconnected. Many of these interconnections are — like the stars at noon — largely unseen, hidden from our direct experience. Similarly, many threats to nature are invisible, and are threats to the survival of all forms of life, including our own species. Because these threats are largely due to human actions, there is the potential to change.

Realising this potential involves dissolving the present divisions between people or animals, economic growth or environmental protection, and ‘nature’ or ‘culture’. This implies overcoming the fragmentary nature of our politics and confronting questions of power and justice. In this sense, the book demonstrates the need for an inclusive politics that brings together peace, social and environmental justice activists who believe that another world is both possible and necessary.

This is a work of scholarship, but is aimed at general readers to stimulate them to ask some new questions about their encounters with nature in their daily lives. The scholarship draws on a number of sources, including informal conversations and more formal in-depth interviews with key informants, a survey of different understandings of ‘nature’ among a sample of young South Africans and a literature review of primary and secondary sources.