“Nature doesn’t negotiate.” Johannes Vogel is a man of clear words. The director of the Berlin Museum of Natural History in conversation with journalist Boris Herrmann does not lack this. Third in the group is Sarah Darwin, biologist and great -grandchildren of the evolutionary researcher Charles Darwin.
It makes sense that some discussions in this volume took place on the Galapagos Islands. Here, but also in the Treasures of the Museum in Berlin as well as in Sussex, where Sarah Darwin and Johannes Vogel spend part of the year, they talk about the state of the world and nature. How indefinitely our fate is connected to nature. And why “nothing is as political as nature”. This explains Vogel, for example, in the consequences of the desire of the western world for cheap raw materials and on climate change caused by our way of life. In some of Africa, both destroy the natural livelihood of people. Who are forced to move to where they hope for a better life. To us.
Consistent topic of this often exciting interviews is nothing less than the rescue of our planet. And humanity. But by the way, this book also offers spectacular photos of the unique collection of the Berlin Natural History Museum. And you can find out what the tech-tycoon Elon Musk has in common with the Blaufuss oils on the Galapagos Islands. Jürgen Nakott
Sarah Darwin, Johannes Vogel, Boris Herrmann:
The parliament of nature
What we have to say for ferns, finches and their relatives
Propylaale Verlag, 240 pages, € 36, –
ISBN 978-3-549-10089-9
