num_pages: 344
description: Assesses a promising new approach to restoring the health of our bodies and our planetMost of us are familiar with probiotics added to milk or yogurt to improve gastrointestinal health. In fact the term refers to any intervention in which life is used to manage lifefrom the microscopic like consuming fermented food to improve gut health to macro approaches such as biological pest control and natural flood management. In this ambitious and original work Jamie Lorimer offers a sweeping overview of diverse probiotic approaches and an insightful critique of their promise and limitations. During our current epochthe Anthropocenehuman activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment leading to the loss of ecological abundance diversity and functionality. Lorimer describes cases in which scientists and managers are working with biological processes to improve human environmental and even planetary health pursuing strategies that stand in contrast to the antibiotic approach: Big Pharma extreme hygiene and industrial agriculture. The Probiotic Planet focuses on two forms of rewilding occurring on vastly different scales. The first is the use of keystone species like wolves and beavers as part of landscape restoration. The second is the introduction of hookworms into human hosts to treat autoimmune disorders. In both cases the goal is to improve environmental health whether the environment being managed is planetary or human. Lorimer argues that all too often such interventions are viewed in isolation and he calls for a rethinking of artificial barriers between science and policy. He also describes the stark and unequal geographies of the use of probiotic approaches and examines why these patterns exist. The authors preface provides a thoughtful discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to the probiotic approach. Informed by deep engagement with microbiology immunology ecology and conservation biology as well as food agriculture and waste management The Probiotic Planet offers nothing less than a new paradigm for collaboration between the policy realm and the natural sciences. 
language: English
title: The Probiotic Planet: Using Life to Manage Life (Volume 59)
publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press