Sarah Ensor's Queer Lasting: Ecologies of Care for a Dying World offers a profound meditation on the intersections of queer theory, ecological thought, and practices of care in the face of planetary crisis. In this groundbreaking work, Ensor grapples with the existential and ethical questions posed by environmental degradation, climate change, and the finitude of life, proposing a queer ecological framework as a means to rethink care, temporality, and survival in a dying world.

Central to Ensor’s argument is the concept of “queer lasting,” a term she uses to challenge conventional notions of sustainability and permanence. Instead of aiming to preserve the world as it is, queer lasting acknowledges the inevitability of change and loss, embracing the ephemeral and transient as sites of meaning and relationality. By drawing on queer theory’s insights into nonnormative lifeways and relationships, Ensor suggests that ecological care can be reimagined as a practice of adaptation and intimacy rather than control and domination.

The book delves into literary, philosophical, and ecological texts, weaving together an interdisciplinary tapestry that critiques anthropocentric and heteronormative approaches to environmental care. Ensor highlights alternative ways of living and relating that emerge in queer and ecological contexts, where resilience is not about individual survival but about collective flourishing in the face of uncertainty. She foregrounds small, provisional acts of care—such as tending to a garden, fostering kinship with nonhuman life, or mourning a species’ extinction—as forms of ethical engagement with a fragile world.

Ultimately, Queer Lasting is a call to rethink what it means to care for a world that cannot be saved in its entirety. By embracing impermanence and vulnerability, Ensor redefines care as an inherently queer and ecological practice, offering a vision of hope and responsibility even amidst ecological collapse.

I had to soft DNF this book. I will definetly read it one day and am super grateful that I had the chance to read it now. The topic is important and the writing was great. I just couldn't get into it at my current life situation. This wasn't the books fault tho so I hope that as much people as possible check the book out and read it.

i don’t know if i’m the best authority to review this book but i appreciate the ARC from netgalley, NYU press and Sara Ensor.
this book is extremely dry and written with scholar and collegiate readers in mind. i felt like i was trudging through the book, and it took me days to continue to try to get through portions, at times.
i think the concept is interesting, and i like reading books on queer theories but i simply don’t know what to make of this book and the presentation. i don’t think the subject matter is particularly wrong or unimportant, i just don’t think the presentation is for me, a lay reader who simply likes queer books.
again i appreciate the arc, i appreciate even the concept but this is a book i will not be revisiting in the future.

Interesting concept. I found it a little dry, given it is set out essentially like a very long thesis but still an interesting concept. I’m glad I read it but don’t think it’s something I’ll revisit. However, it will be something I continue to think about now I’ve read this book.