Ignition: Lighting Fires in a Burning World
with author M.R. O’Connor
Saturday, August 23rd at 3pm. Book signing to follow!
Get your copy of Ignition: Lighting Fires in a Burning World from The Wild Supply Co. here!
Ignition is a powerful work of on-the-ground reporting that explores the science, history, and cultural significance of wildfires. Journalist M.R. O'Connor investigates how fire has shaped forests for millions of years and how humans once played a key role in managing ecosystems through 'good fires.' Blending cutting-edge research with frontline reporting, she follows firefighters and Indigenous practitioners working to revive prescribed burning practices. Challenging mainstream conservation ideals, this talk offers a hopeful, provocative vision of how embracing fire could help us adapt to climate change.
Cost: Free for members or with paid admission
About the Speaker: M. R. O'Connor is a journalist who writes about the politics and ethics of science, technology, and conservation. Her work has appeared online in The Atavist, Slate, Foreign Policy, The New Yorker, Nautilus, UnDark and Harper's. Her first book, Resurrection Science: Conservation, De-Extinction and the Precarious Future of Wild Things (St. Martin's Press, 2015), was one of Library Journal and Amazon's Best Books of The Year. Her second book, Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World (St. Martin's Press, 2019), is an exploration of navigation traditions, neuroscience, and the diversity of human relationships to space, time and memory. Its writing was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan's Program for the Public Understanding of Science, Technology, & Economics. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her partner and their two sons.