Rewilding The World One Step at a Time

Simple things we can do to start walking on the wild side

A beautiful converted stable, so called mews, rewilded with plants growing freely in East London. Photo: Per Håkansson.

Five years ago I read an article in Outdoor Magazine titled “Rewilding the American Child”, on the need for kids to connect with nature, allowing them the freedom to roam around, and explore the world, getting dirty – unsupervised.

Since then the word Rewilding has emerged both here and there, in conversations, on book covers, and in my own daily thoughts about living with less – fewer better things – and experiencing more, develop wisdom.

"Cherish wisdom as a means of traveling from youth to old age, for it is more lasting than any other possession." – Bias of Priene, one of the Seven Sages of Greece

Rewilding, in the dictionaries, means “restore (an area of land) to its natural uncultivated state” and “to reduce human influence on natural ecosystems, returning them to their original and natural state.” (That word again: reduce.)

But it’s not just kids and nature that could use some Rewilding after 200 years of unfettered industrialization and digitalization of everything in daily life and work. Even adults need to roam free, get dirty, and breathe clean air.

Fresh off reading Graham Boynton’s riveting biography “Wild”, of wildlife photographer and bon vivant Peter Beard, who’s book “The End of The Game” (1965) chocked the world, I’m inspired to embark on a new experiment.

“I made a life for myself in Africa that was as far as you could possibly get from art school at Yale.“ – Peter Beard

But contrary to Henry David Thoreau’s experiment at Walden Pond, I’m much more interested in the intersection of technology and humanity, in the possibilities of mindful living in a modern world, than only seeking solitude.

How can we rewild ourselves while still participating in and being an integral part of an evolving society, maybe even impact a positive direction of this society towards a healthier way of living and a more sustainable planet?