Rewilding is largely about humans stepping aside and letting nature take over.Graham Lawton
It is common knowledge that we are losing species and habitats at an unprecedented rate in a geological epoch known as the “Anthropocene” – the “Age of Humanity”.
However, the so-called “age of humanity” is anything but human. In fact, it’s extremely violent, and I prefer to call it the “rage of inhumanity. One hope is that due to the COVID-19[feminine] pandemic and a decrease in human mobility during a period called “the anthropause” by Christian Rutz and his colleagues, the arrogance with which we interact with nonhuman animals (animals) and their homes will decrease.
As wild animals move into urban areas, places that were once their homes, things will change for the better as people encounter them. Hopefully, these people will help people bridge the empathy gap and show the same care and compassion they give pets to their new animal neighbors, who rightly deserve be there.
In Revive our hearts and elsewhere, I’ve asked people to reconnect with the natural world, to act from within, and to let their hearts guide them to dissolve false boundaries so they can truly connect with both nature and to themselves. By rescuing themselves personally, undoing the unwild, and reconnecting, people will be re-enchanted with nature, overcome negativity, and see the world more positively.
Personal rewilding means rehabilitating our hearts and tapping into our biophilic instincts that can lead to an emotional affinity for, and is a way to reconnect with, the other nature.
I envision regenerating our hearts as a dynamic and intimate process that fosters corridors of coexistence and compassion for animals and their homes while facilitating corridors within us that connect our heart and brain, our care and our consciousness. In turn, these connections, or reconnections, can help us make wiser choices and pursue heartfelt actions that improve the lives of all beings.
Rewilding our hearts and rewilding the human dimension also means redefining the boundaries in our interactions with other animals and overcoming cognitive dissonance which abounds globally.1 Redefining and softening these boundaries and distinctions is what rewilding is all about. Rewilding requires us to be humble in our interactions with other animals and their homes. We must be humbled by the beauty of nature. We must respect nature as a friend, one whose well-being matters for itself and more because it also matters for our own good.
What does all this mean?
Personal Reforestation is a positive and inspiring social movement about what we can and should do, as individuals within a global community, working in harmony for the common good. Goals, to deal with the rampant and willed destruction of our planet and its myriad and awesome inhabitants and their homes. He is a process of personal transformation.
It’s about nurturing our sense of wonder. Rewilding is about being kind, kind, compassionate, empatheticand harnessing our innate goodness and optimism. We really need (wilder) minds and (wilder) hearts to make the changes that need to be made now so that we can work towards having a (wilder) planet.
Rewilding our hearts is a psychosocial revolution based on a personal commitment to changing the way we interact with other animals, with other humans, and with the earth we all share. It imposes a global paradigm shift on a deeply personal level. Rewilding is about melting the ice in our hearts so we can all work together to solve the dilemmas posed by climate change.
Earth is tired and broken and not infinite resilient. Like a tired person who is about to burn out, our wonderful, beautiful planet needs all the help it can get. Every second of every day, we decide who lives and who dies; we are this powerful. Of course, we are also doing many wonderful things for our beautiful planet and its fascinating people, but right now, rather than congratulating ourselves on all the good things we are doing, we must take action to right the many wrongs before t is too late for the other animals and for ourselves.
To sum up, “rewilding” is a state of mind. It reflects the desire to (re)connect intimately with all animals and landscapes in a way that dissolves boundaries. Rewilding means appreciating, respecting and accepting other beings and landscapes for who or what they are, not who or what we want them to be. It means rejoicing in the personal relationships we make and so desperately need. It is indisputable that if we want to make the world a better place now and for future generations, personal rediscovery is at the heart of the process.
Laws and public policies will not. Instead, each of us must undergo a major personal paradigm shift in how we see and experience the world and how we behave.
Personal reseeding is also a guide to action. As a social movement, we must be proactive, positive, persistent, patient, peaceful, practical, powerful, passionate, playful, present, principled, proud and polite, what I call the 13 P’s of rewilding.
Ultimately, we need a social movement and a revolution in the way we interact with animals and nature, a movement based on peace, compassion, empathy and social justice. My view of this movement is not that it represents a single idea or a specific program. There is no “membership”. Instead, we are all already members as living, breathing human beings moving in circles of coexistence. Peace, compassion, empathy and social justice are part of a necessary revolution to think and act with kindness for all.
One of my favorite bumper stickers is “Nature Bats Last”. We can try to outrun and outwit nature, but in the end it always wins. Are we going to allow ourselves to become one of the species that did not survive? Or worse, will we continue to be the only species that threatens all others and leaves countless species and individuals to perish so that we can live where and how we want? I hope not.
Let’s personal rewilding all the rage. Let’s get the young people involved. Cultivate widespread empathy. We are all intimately interconnected and can and should work together as a united community to reconnect with nature and rekindle our hearts.
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