The normative modern environmental movement, starting in the 1960s, is slowly becoming irrelevant and in desperate need of reform. The inception of environmentalism was necessary and created great progress- environmental education is at a height, environmental protections abound, and awareness is ever present. However, where there are positives, exist negatives.
Environmentalism has moved away from many of its original premises and goals. Environmentalism has become highly polarized and weaponized for political and economic gain. Environmentalism has become globalist, elitist, and pretentious. Environmentalism leans on increasingly collectivist policies that centralize governmental power directly conflicting with American ideals of constitutional libertarianism. Environmentalism is commercialized, corporatized, and privatized. Environmentalism does not target the root causes of the very issues it attempts to solve. All of these factors have caused the environmental movement to become stagnant, lacking vision, and devoid of continued growth.
We are missing the point.
We first must realize that our relationship with the environment starts with sociology not just ecology. Understanding the systems of our world and facing the harsh realities of those systems is how we overcome them. This is not a call to destroy our society and rebuild it- this is a call to get rid of the parts of our system that aren’t working for us by enhancing the parts that are.
Environmentalism is not about people saving the Earth, it is about the Earth saving people. The environment is our greatest power and we have been deceived and drastrated from that fact.
We say that we are ready for the truth, but, somehow, we cannot seem to see the reality right in front of us. We the people are in a revolution against the powerful who seek ultimate control.
Advancements in globalization, urbanization, corporatization, and technology are perpetuated by elitists, corporate monopoly, and government oligarchy. These influences have created a modern world that breeds dependence, disconnection, a loss of localism, manipulated economics, and a degradation of resources.
We are kept comfortable with convenience, stupid with mindless entertainment, devoid of spirituality and meaning, codified with shallows gratifications, quieted by special interests, divided by political propaganda, and dependent as our lifeways vanish.
How can we deny this revolution when it is no secret that systematic warfare on the people has persisted in our society for decades. Modern warfare on our humanity has broken our connection to nature causing the loss of our sovereignty.
So, how do we win this revolution?
We are not fighting this modern revolution with weaponry on the battlefield- we are fighting it with our choices, life ways, and shared ideology. In order to win this revolution, like any real meaningful challenge, we must awaken, we must resist, and we must we must fight for our sovereignty.
What is sovereignty? To be sovereign is to be free. Sovereignty is to be independent of control in daily life. Sovereignty is to possess liberty.
So, what do we do to get sovereignty back?
We Rewild. Rewilding is not a fad, a cause, a greenwashing ploy, another band aid on environmental problems-it is the transformation of our lives in real time. Rewilding is slowly being moved from its niche social space into mainstream culture as it answers the call for sovereignty where modern environmentalism does not.
What is Rewilding?
Rewilding is an approach that supports the overall recovery of wildness. Rewilding acts as a counterbalance to complex modern challenges by providing a pathway to reclaim sovereignty. Rewilding has three main branches: Conservation, Human, and Community Rewilding. These branches offer practices that work to restore nature, empower people, and revive localism. Rewilding is hopeful, forward thinking, and has shown clear results for innovative change in the arenas of conservation, sustainability, and economy.
Conservation Rewilding is an approach that prioritizes nature-first, nature-led ecological restoration strategies that enhance biodiversity. Conservation Rewilding drives balance by maximizing the health of ecosystems with focus on coexistence, ecological relationships, low management, and habitat connectivity. While historically associated with megafauna reintroduction, wilderness conservation, and the Three Cs Model (Cores, Corridors, and Carnivores), Conservation Rewilding in practice is now seen as any restorative act that increases in biodiversity regardless of scale.
Human Rewilding is an approach that reconnects people to the innate wildness of primitive human origins. Human Rewilding is defined by the practice of reskilling or lost ways which promote well-being and self-sufficiency in the modern world. These activities include foraging, herbalism, homesteading, hunting, fishing, ancestral knowledge, weaving, permaculture, holistic wellness, composting, beekeeping, textile making, astronomy, wilderness survival, primitive lifeways, orienteering, music, art, bushcraft, and more. Human Rewilding in practice is an active connection to nature through traditional use of resources.
Community Rewilding is an approach that reestablishes place-based connections by applying rewilding efforts in community centers such as schools, workplaces, places of worship, parks, civic centers, and more. Reviving localism, Community Rewilding shifts power back to local people by strengthening civics, stewardship, agency, and access to wild land, shared resources, and communal networks. Community Rewilding in practice reconnects local environments with the people who live there.
How do we practice Rewilding? We Rewild Land, Self, and Communities.
The philosophical foundation of rewilding is what makes it groundbreaking for modern time. Rewilding is hope. Rewilding is authenticity in a fake inauthentic world. Rewilding is the recognition that nature, including our human nature, is the only thing that is real, the only thing that we can trust, and where our real power lies.
In the face of a world in great change, ever “progressing” with advancements promising more, we seek the simplicity and the honesty of the natural world once again. While we may believe the globalist, technological future is imminent, with elitist power infinite, nothing will ever possess more power than our ancient Earth and that power is bringing us home. The reality is people are finding truth in nature once again and that reality will ultimately reign supreme.
Francesca Mundrick, Founder & Executive Director, Rewild New Jersey Community Cooperative
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