In a time of climate change Man does not build “his” future alone: instead, we need to overcome the engrained philosophical tradition in which nature provides its time-less, unchanging background for human creativity and social change. By exposing the long-lasting influence of the human-centered categories of innovation, development and civilization that social sciences have themselves contributed to coining, the author offers an innovative reflection on the futures of nature drawing on recent contributions in the field of environmental humanities in order to re-elaborate the active, future-making capacities of non-humans, be they wolves, prions (the unconventional agent of the mad cow disease) or biodiversity and ecosystems.