Selected as one of The Progressive's 'Favourite Books of 2020'
Wildness was once integral to our ancestors' lives as they struggled to
survive in an unpredictable environment. Today, most of us live in
relative stability insulated from the vicissitudes of nature. Wildness
is over, right?
Wrong, argues leading environmental scholar Paul Wapner. Wildness may
have disappeared from our immediate lives, but it's been catapulted up
to the global level. The planet itself has gone into spasm - calving
glaciers, wildfires, heatwaves, mass extinction, and rising oceans all
represent the new face of wildness.
Rejecting paths offered by geoengineering and de-extinction to bring the
Earth under control, Wapner calls instead for 'rewilding'. This involves
relinquishing the desire for comfort at all costs and welcoming greater
uncertainty into our own lives. To save ourselves from global ruin, it
is time to stop sanitizing and exerting mastery over the world and begin
living humbly in it.