The Inalienable takes on the most urgent challenge of the century. Both cultural and biological diversity are under threat in a globalised world on amphetamines. Species are dying out, forests are being reduced to plantations and wetlands to concrete deserts. Small languages are disappearing, and local knowledge about anything from basket weaving to the meaning of life is being forgotten. The loss of diversity in nature runs parallel to the loss of cultural diversity. Eriksen writes about concrete, food, invasive species, language death and shopping centres, among many other things, and shows how the drive to homogenisation is caused by global capitalism. The general development is towards fewer options both in nature and culture.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, and the book also points to countervailing forces and attempts to recreate diversity in culture and
nature. It is more important than ever to show that the alternatives still exist. Instead of TINA (There Is No Alternative), we should be saying
TAMA (There Are Many Alternatives). There is no easy way out of the corner into which we have painted ourselves. Moving forward will be enormously difficult, and everyone’s efforts are needed. The time has come to lift our gaze to the big here and the long now.