By: Francesca Mundrick, Founder & CEO
I have always had an interdisciplinary, systematic mind suited for the social sciences. Navigating the early days in my undergraduate career, I eventually found Geography, a discipline of physical, human, spatial, and environmental study points- as interdisciplinary and systematic as it gets.
A life spent studying Geography has led me to focus on understanding all the interlinking parts of our world. Everything happens for a reason, everything exists for a reason, and knowing those reasons can empower us to make smarter, more informed decisions about our future.
As I moved into PhD study in 2022, I began searching for my dissertation focus area- unrelentingly so. Leading my thinking were three main considerations (1) a deep respect for nature and the sanity of life (2) a profound regard for humanity- the uniqueness of individual people, the vibrancy and power of culture, the power of the human story at our origins, and the innate relationship that humans have with each other and Earth, and (3) critical thinking, common sense, and the need to create reform in the modern world. Through my early research, I soon found that the discipline of Rewilding was a suitable home for my explorations and the medium for my purpose.
Rewilding is hopeful, systematic, and adaptive. In a world where we are searching for solutions and the next steps for humanity, Rewilding offers a common sense approach that is rooted in nature- trusting nature to lead us, back to basics, back to our roots.
In my early research, I first connected with a production called How Wolves Change Rivers by Sustainable Man. My second major finding was a famed rewilding site called the Knepp Estate located in England- along with Isabel Tree’s book Wilding. Rewilding: The Radical New Science of Ecological Recovery by Paul Jepson and Cain Blythe became my Rewilding bible. My final inspiration came from the father of Rewilding, Dave Foreman, a famous American Rewilding advocate and author of Rewilding North America.
Rewilding, while still largely considered a niche discipline, highlights the many interdisciplinary, systematic facets of our world as we work to move back to nature. For a Geographer, Rewilding is like coming home. Deep time, human origins, human-environmental relationships, ecological functionality and services, the power of biodiversity- all a part of studying rewilding. Rewilding is hotly contested by academics and environmental practitioners- What does it truly mean? Can it be defined and measured? Is it really different from other ecological restoration and conservation approaches? All these questions, and the considerations that they bring, illustrate why I love rewilding.
Rewilding is untamed- literally and figuratively. It gives us room to grow, to explore, to transform, to hope, to be challenged. It grounds us in the very fact that it isn’t really grounded at all. It gives us back sovereignty.
Rewild New Jersey Community Cooperative is my contribution to the Rewilding world. Starting with main ideas regarding the restoration of nature, I soon realized that the human spirit and experience is a deep and profound part of the practice of rewilding too. Interpreting Rewilding through the scope of Geography, I see clearly that harnessing the power of community to Rewild land and people is a clear pathway to a sustainable future.
In my pursuit of finding real change- Rewilding has delivered.
Join me in transforming the 21st Century!
Let’s get wild New Jersey!
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