Rewilding Ourselves
At the inception of the Rewilding.ie project, the vision was set:
To Make Ireland The Wildest and Healthiest Island On The Planet…
Exploring different models for how this can be achieved, we began work on pilot projects here in our home region of Donegal (will reveal more about this later in the autumn)…
As part of this process, we quickly realised that across the island of Ireland there is already a great volume and quality of work being carried out in the same spirit of what are our own goals. Happily, we discovered that the vision and passion for restoring connection with nature is shared widely and meaningfully across the whole island.
What this means is, that beyond any of our own work at Rewilding.ie, we are therefore inspired to showcase, highlight and celebrate the work being done by folks (individuals, communities and organisations of all kinds) around the island of Ireland, who are all taking action to rekindle the relationship between people and nature.
How to make our island the wildest and healthiest island on the planet?
One of the founding ideas at Rewilding.ie was simply to catalyse and foster positive visions for “rewilding” on the island of Ireland.
The emphasis on visions is important.
It is plural on purpose.
At Rewilding.ie our aim is to support “rewilding” as something which should be valuable (and available) to people on a direct and deeply personal level. Therefore everyone should own their own connection to the natural world.
The opportunity of rewilding should therefore be open to all - on an individual basis and altogether as communities and organisations.
One of our core contentions is that the rewilding of ourselves is even more important - as a first step - than the rewilding of the landscape.
Our first focus has been on “Putting Pollinators First” because the pollinators are such a crucial pillar of the ecosystem, easy for everyone to comprehend the importance of - and as a bonus, the pollinators are aesthetically very appealing (bees, butterflies, flowering plants, etc - all charismatic, colourful and well-liked!)
So, as our first focus has been on “Putting Pollinators First” which is greatly inspired by the truly amazing work of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan in regard to all pollinators - and so too the Native Irish Honey Bee Society with respect to Ireland’s own variety of honey bee.
And beyond the theme of pollinators… There are so many other inspiring initiatives on the island of Ireland such as the LIFE on Machair, Corncake / Traonach LIFE, Hometree, Gaelic Woodland Project, Clean Coasts and many, many more… which we will try to highlight over the coming months!
There are also some wonderful books emerging to help hone our consciousness and sway our culture in a wilder direction… These include inspiring books such as:
Thirty-Two Words For Field by Manchán Magan
Wild Embrace by Anja Murray
An Irish Atlantic Rainforest by Eoghan Daltun
Wild Things by Laura Buchanan & Hannah Gallagher
So when we consider the notion of Ireland as the Wildest and Healthiest island in the world, it will not be a simple singular metric based on a spreadsheet that we have formulated using some abstract methodology. At this stage, our work is going to be quantified and qualified according to some metrics which reflect tangible aspects; ecosystem health, biodiversity and environmental quality overall. We will also consider results based on how things are perceived and appreciated by the people as individuals and altogether as communities. Trusting people to find a way of helping nature find a way is also something to be taken into account.
In order to be successful, trust and responsibility will be crucial. Indeed, one of the most important challenges will be that of trusting each other to figure things out in a positive and responsible way.
Re-building trust is probably a bigger task and more difficult subject than rewilding - but there is a chance that both things can go hand in hand. More on that from us soon, too…
The challenge of rebuilding our fractured relationship with nature is felt more keenly by some than others. But it affects us all. This is because humans everywhere - including in Ireland - have been uprooted from the soil to make way for the tsunami of industrialisation, urbanisation and “civilisation”. This has swept us all up, over the past several generations or so, leaving us adrift from nature and bereft of nature.
The consequences of the impact of modernity are often super contentious and deeply complicated. Often entangled with colonialism and globalisation - all of the topics are subject to vigorous, divisive debate - often sour and bitter, on social media in particular.
It is easy to get drawn into never-ending blame games - and then the endless squabble of either playing-up or playing-down who is or is not the victim or the villain at each and every turn, past, present and future.
In essence, we can easily get tied up into knots trying to put the world to rights on the internet - poring over the rights and wrongs and ins and outs of how we got to where we are today.
Even in the fields of wildlife conservation, habitat restoration, pollution reduction, ecological sciences of all kinds - there are numerous different “right” and “wrong” answers being put forward at any one time.
Our starting point at Rewilding.ie is that we accept that we will not be able to unravel and resolve all these complex historical and ethical knots. We will happily defer to others when it comes to arguments on the historical perspective on why things are a certain way and who is to blame. As far as is practically possible, we will endeavour to stick to our goal of Making Ireland the Wildest and Healthiest Island on The Planet.
We can acknowledge the basic idea that, from an ecological point of view, we have crashed and therefore there is a degree of urgency required in the response. And a positive and responsible part of the response is rewilding. Hopefully people will be involved in this cultural shift who are not in the “green” or “eco-” silo. Ideally, people from all walks of life and all livelihoods and fields of expertise will be able to find common ground in helping to safeguard our shared environment. Ideally!
From this point forward, we will focus on the activity of rekindling connection between people and nature in a way that is beneficial and positive.
Instead of railing against the injustice in the world in an angry way, or a hopeless way, or a blameful way - which, though logical, can be deeply frustrating and debilitating - Rewilding.ie aims to bolster and support this powerful trend of people taking action on the island of Ireland, to make things better. Not just as “rewilding” in the singular - but in the pluralistic sense, too.
All of our journeys, all of our days, towards restoring connection with nature. All of our combined efforts to make Ireland the wildest and healthiest island on the planet!
This is an individual game and a team sport. We have to go on our own journey to connect with nature by ourselves, in our own way - and to find ways to share and create a wilder and healthier environment together, too. It is an art as much as a science and will be a wild adventure. It belongs to you as much as anyone.
So - what will be your rewilding?
As an individual, you may have a multi-layered approach to living in better harmony with nature. We will enjoy this journey all the more if we can share and highlight and celebrate it along the way together.
How can you let the wild in to the space in which you live?
How can you make yourself healthier by doing so?
How might you explore and share the nature with others?
It is our shared nature, after all!
Asking and answering these questions can become part of how we relate more healthily to our fellow islanders (both human and non-human!)
It is worth underlining the fact: we are islanders.
It is easily forgotten - but whether you are yourself Irish, or otherwise - we all have the privilege of being the inhabitants of a famously green island in the Atlantic.
And living within a clearly defined geographic unit allows us to think with certain constraint.
Ironically, constraints are beneficial to fostering innovation - as much as necessity is the mother of invention.
And in order to be as creative, innovative and energetic as possible in the face of overlapping environmental, economic and social challenges - we need a strong jolt of positivity and ambition.
So for our part as Rewilding.ie - on the subject of positivity and ambition - we can resolve the following:
At Rewilding.ie we will be bringing positivity by focusing primarily on what we can do. And focusing on the people who are doing what they can. This means we will be choosing a bias towards positive action and really supporting those who exemplify this spirit.
At Rewilding.ie we will be bringing ambition by focusing on Making Ireland The Wildest and Healthiest Island on the Planet - thus allowing us to compete with other islands - and in so comparing and contrasting, it will help us to understand ourselves better. From what we presently know, there are many other islands ahead of us at the moment - so we probably have some catching up to do!
The subject of being playfully competitive with islands overseas brings us to our next subject - about the role we might play in rewilding the wider world. In the next post, we will explore a little about the Rewilding of Ireland in the global context - as the Ireland of today (both jurisdictions) is well and truly woven into a global system.
Our modern culture, cuisine, clothing, media, language(s), economy, climate, technology, migration in and migration out… It is all in flux and most people would admit that the system is not functioning perfectly for anyone at the moment, so we should speak openly and positively about how we might make things better and more hopeful.
So next time, reflecting how our actions on this island might become a beacon of inspiration for others, everywhere and anywhere (whoever might be interested, wherever they might be!), seeking to make a wilder and healthier world…
We’ll be here with more soon at Rewilding.ie…
GRMA!