Tickets for the ark

From wasps to whales – how do we choose what to save? In a new book, Rebecca Nesbit explores the moral quandaries behind conservation priorities.

Tiny rain frog. Khristian Venegas Valencia, Capturing Ecology

Our planet hasn’t seen the current rate of extinction since the demise of the dinosaurs and global conservation efforts are failing to halt this. As a society, we face choices which will determine the fate of Earth’s estimated 8.7 million species, including humans. As wildlife declines, conservation needs to make trade-offs. But what should we conserve and why?

Writer and ecologist Rebecca Nesbit’s Tickets for the Ark is published today by Profile Books. This invigorating book introduces urgent questions about the future of conservation. Are we wrong to love bees and hate wasps? Are native species more valuable than newcomers (aka invasives)? Should some animals be culled to protect others, and what do we want the ‘natural world’ to look like? There are many surprising answers in Rebecca Nesbit’s lively, stimulating book, which sows the seeds of a debate we urgently need to have.

Readers are left with a moral dilemma about the way they personally view conservation. But the big question remains: since we cannot save every animal, how do we decide which ones we do save and why?

A fascinating read for anyone interested in the future of the planet

– Adam Hart, author and BBC science presenter

British Ecological Society member books

The BES is proud to have supported Rebecca in publishing her book. If you are a member of the BES and believe you have a book in you, we would love to help get you published. We can help you build a book proposal and introduce you to publishers. For more information contact Kate Harrison: kate@britishecologicalsociety.org

Tickets for the Ark book cover

Tickets for the Ark: from wasps to whales – how do we choose what to save?
Published 17 February 2022
Profile Books
£14.99
ISBN: 9781788167079