2. Rewilding – The Return of Exuberant Landscapes

With Derek Gow & Kris Tompkins.

The rewilding movement is currently sweeping across the world’s landscapes, restoring ecologies and species, re-naturalising rivers and forests.

Our two guests are trailblazers in this space – first we hear from Kristine Tompkins, ex-CEO of Patagonia who, together with her late husband Doug Tompkins, have protected over 14 million acres of wildlands and national parks across Latin America, along with over 30 million acres of marine areas. Kristine is Chair of the National Geographic Society’s Last Wild Places campaign and was the first conservationist to be awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.

Then we speak with Derek Gow, who is infamous amongst insider rewilding circles for his leadership in the re-introduction of the beaver back into European landscapes. Through Derek, and his delightfully funny and informative book 'Bringing back the Beaver', I’ve become somewhat obsessed with beavers. He’s been one of the most vocal actors in the reintroduction of missing keystone species in England such as the beaver, the water vole and the white stork, butting heads with obnoxious lobbyists and government officials. He is currently rewilding his 300-acre farm on the Devon/Cornwall border where the Eurasian lynx, wild boar and harvest mice make home.

This episode covers the basics of rewilding and goes into different models of restoring ecosystems into their rightful states, all the while discussing the mental impediments and frustrations that can occur in the attempt to rewild the most stubborn species of all — the human being.

Episode Website Link: lifeworld.earth/episodes/rewilding

Show Links:

• Lifeworlds Resource Page: Rewilding
• Tompkins Conservation
• Kristine Tompkins: Let's make the world wild again | TED Talk 
• An Ark For Vanished Wildlife: Derek Gow in the New Yorker 
• Derek’s Books ‘Bringing Back the Beaver’ & ‘Birds, Beasts and Bedlam’ 

Look out for meditations, poems, readings, and other snippets of inspiration in between episodes.

Music: Electric Ethnicity by Igor Dvorkin, Duncan Pittock, Ellie Kidd & The Rising by Tryad CCPL

Photo of flower: Maewenn Bourcelot @maochan.talamoni

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