How to Inhabit the Earth
In a series of televised interviews broadcast in spring 2022, Bruno Latour explained, in clear and straightforward terms, how humans have changed the planet and why environmental disasters are an intrinsic part of modern life. We have now come to realize that all life depends on a thin skin of our planet that is only few kilometres thick – what scientists call the ‘critical zone’. Our capacity to continue to live on a planet we are transforming is now at risk and if we wish to survive as a species, we must put an end to the mechanisms of destruction, rethink our connection to living beings, and face head-on the confrontation between the extractivists who are exploiting the Earth’s resources and the ecologists.
This poignant reflection on the greatest challenge of our time was also an opportunity for Latour to explain the underlying thread that guided his work throughout his career, from his pathbreaking research on the social construction of scientific knowledge to his last writings on the Anthropocene.
Bruno Latour’s transdisciplinary work, ranging across philosophy, history, anthropology, and sociology, positioned him as one of the world’s most influential thinkers. After teaching at the École des Mines in Paris from 1982 to 2006, he was appointed Professor at the Institut d'études politiques (Sciences Po), where he served as vice-president for research from 2007 to 2013. His many books include Laboratory Life, We Have Never Been Modern, Facing Gaia, Down to Earth, and After Lockdown.