Rewilding

The Big Picture

You might notice this letter is a little late arriving to you this week. I am in Edinburgh and have been cheerfully distracted by my wonderful sister and visits to beaches and to bookshops. However, while visiting Kim is always brilliant, it isn’t what brought me here this time.

Late last year I was lucky enough to receive funding from the Artists Network. This funding included money to attend The Big Picture Conference in Perth last weekend. Hosted by Scotland: The Big Picture, it was a day dedicated to rewilding across the country. My excitement about attending battled with increasing tiredness as I sat on train after train for the 13 hours journey from St Erth to Perth. Thankfully I was revived by a good night sleep and the bright autumn sun that streamed into the Perth Concert Hall on Saturday morning as I signed in for the day ahead.

It is rare to be able to pinpoint a singular word that changed the course of one’s life, but that is exactly what happened to me. I was sat in one of the meeting rooms in the Marine Station at Plymouth University in February 2018 when I first heard the word rewilding. I had no idea what the word meant but it instantly grabbed me. It is a fantastic sounding word, and as I fell down a rabbit hole of research, I discovered it has multiple brilliant meanings. I would not be who I am today, would not be making the art I am making, would not be building my van, if I hadn’t heard the word rewilding that day.

For anyone who doesn’t know, rewilding at its core is a nature led approach to conservation that enables natural processes to repair damaged eco systems and restore dying landscapes. It is also an approach to human life that seeks to remind us we are part of the natural world, a re-involvement that prevents nature becoming an abstract concept that we have no personal stake in. It is, quite simply, one of the best hopes we have for preventing complete climate collapse and mass extinction.

As you can imagine this leads to a conference of equal parts hope and heartbreak as speaker after speaker got up to share stories of successful rewilding projects and the difficulties of uncaring governments, private landowners, farming, and combative communities. From how to win over these communities to the top ten tips for wilding your garden or balcony, the presenters generously shared their experiences; their failures and successes, their battles won and lost. What struck me most was how similar their stories and messages where, whether it was land or sea, forest or seagrass, they faced the same opposition and found the same support.

The work these people are doing is essential. Nature is out of balance. Humanity has, in an impossibly short space of time, reshaped or removed too many of the intricate pieces that form a healthy and functioning ecosystem. As rewilders try to restore this balance we are met with opposition and demonisation. The American biologist Dave Mech once wrote that ‘The wolf is neither a saint nor a sinner except to those who want to make it so.’ The same is true for every part of the natural world. Yet, whether it is the red deer or the beaver, trees or rivers, red kites or golden eagles, every essential species and ecosystem now finds itself at the centre of a sometimes violent and always complex argument about nature: who it is for, how we care for it, and whether it is in danger at all.

I was concerned before attending the conference that I would discover my self-taught knowledge of rewilding was lacking, that I would walk away with an intimidating list of reading and further research I needed to do. Instead, I discovered how well I have done, how much I know, and how right I am in my passion for the subject. I was worried I would come away weighted down by imposter syndrome that would halt my art. Instead, I spent the day feeling increasingly encouraged and inspired. The keynote speaker Roy Dennis ended his talk saying that today’s impossibilities are tomorrow’s project, and that the biggest failure is not a project we try failing, but if we never try at all. I am ready to keep trying, ready to fail and to try again, ready to make art. I am ready to keep rewilding because I truly believe it is this planets best hope, and the best chance everything living on it has to survive.

I will return with more stories next week, until then, if you’d like to know more about rewilding check out The Big Picture, Rewilding Europe, Rewilding Britain or watch George Monbiot TED talk HERE.