In this joyful episode to celebrate World Rewilding Day, we take a big picture view as Alister addresses key questions such as ‘what does a rewilded world look like’, ‘how do we get there’ and ‘what are the benefits?’ Amongst a range of topics, we discuss climate stabilisation, eco distress and environmental education, as well as the power of success stories in bringing the necessary energy to ‘take rewilding mainstream’.
Our Guests: Alister has been a lifelong environmentalist since the eradication by silage making of the Corncrake where he grew up in the north west of Ireland. The thread of Alister’s career has been to learn how to make big, positive change happen. With a doctorate from the Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, Alister spent 15 years at the interface between science and policy. He has helped to build multiple movements and has supported many catalytic leaders as a trained coach and facilitator. A father of two and widower, Alister loves to get out in nature and the great outdoors. Alister is an Honorary Professor at University College London.
[00:00:00] Chloe and Tom provide a brief overview of the Grange Project and introduce the episode.
[00:03:20] Alister introduces himself and the global rewilding alliance.
[00:11:32] We talk about the stages of the rewilding movement: invention, experimentation, preparing for global scaling, scaling and mainstreaming.
[00:19:54] Alister describes what a rewilded world at scale would look like, including changes at an urban scale and to people’s everyday lives.
[00:28:36] We question Alister about the connections between rewilding, climate stabilisation and eco distress.
[00:35:01] We talk about the power of the concept of rewilding and Tom asks Alister about the steps required to achieve the vision of mainstream rewilding.
[00:41:26] Tom questions Alister about one of the oft cited challenges facing rewilding at scale, that of food security.
[00:47:19] Chloe asks Alister how we create effective stories outside of the environmental movement.
[00:50:55] We discuss the role of education in the rewilding movement.
[00:58:40] Tom and Chloe reflect on the interview.
