Vol. 8 No. 1 (2025): Navigating the Critical Zone

The “critical zone” refers to a dynamic interface where geological, biological, and atmospheric processes converge to sustain and regulate life at Earth's surface. As sites where human and non-human forces – ecological, political, and technological – 
converge, critical zones are actively mediated, reimagined, and instrumentalized in cultural narratives and economic systems. This issue of Inscriptions investigates the impacts of discourses that engage with or from the critical zone.

Cover-image: “Drought, Grass, Weed,” photography by Markus Distelrath. Used by permission.