With our Yellowstone wolf tours kicking off next week, we wanted to share George Monbiot’s TED Talk about the concept of “rewilding,” or what he calls a “mass restoration of ecosystems.”
He starts by explaining how wolves were once one of the most important species in Yellowstone National Park, until hunting eradicated them nearly 100 years ago. In 1995, an aggressive management program brought wolves back to Yellowstone, creating a more healthful balance for the rest of the park’s ecosystems as well.
In a bold thought experiment, Monbiot dares us to imagine a world where rewilding is taken to the next level–where megafauna like boars, bison, and elephants would be reintroduced into human-populated areas like farmland and even cities, and where traditional conservation and land management practices would be abandoned, essentially letting the land naturally “go wild.” You can read more about the idea in his book, “Feral: Searching for enchantment on the frontiers of rewilding.”
Watch Monbiot’s TED Talk and let us know what you think. Could this version of rewilding be the key to restoring our vanishing ecosystems, or is his idea too far-fetched?
