Airs, Species, Commons A Manifesto for the Air

We have never been more aware of the air we breathe. Air is intimate, yet it connects us all: every outbreath will go around the world in a fortnight. And air is alive, ever shifting, an invisible world full of mystery. From the classical theory of elements to fossilised bacteria on Orkney, by way of airborne microplastics and South London buses, Daisy Lafarge takes us on a journey to reimagine our relationship with the natural world through the air we breathe. Rather than something we passively receive and depend on, Airs, Species, Commons explores how all forms of life work together to create and maintain the air as a multispecies commons. The instantaneous drop in air pollution and palpable change in air quality during the first wave of lockdowns in Spring 2020 offered us a hopeful, tentative glimpse of what a protected air commons might begin to feel like.