In chapters 3 and 4 of The Rambunctious Garden: Seeing Nature in a Post Wild World, Emma Marris introduces the concept of Rewilding. Rewilding, as defined in her book, is an effort by conservationists and ecologists, in which they strive to recreate ecosystems as they may have looked 13,000 years ago. Through the use of this program they attempt to research how the different species and ecosystem interact with one another in their natural habitats, untouched by human interaction and development. This effort creates a more “pristine” environment because the biodiversity and different types of species would better reflect its original environment, before the interference of humans.
What the conservationists fail to realize is the fact that this effort of Rewilding contradicts almost everything that they preach. Many ecologists advocate for ecosystems free from human interference and contend that we should not intervene with nature, however, what they don’t recognize is that through Rewilding man gets the chance to play God, in a sense, and has the opportunity to create their own ecosystem. It doesn’t seem plausible that ecologists would strive to separate man and nature and create preserves and protected areas to keep man away from the environment, while at the same time focusing their effort and money to construct a man-made ecosystem. Marris mentions, “The whole place is cultivated, man-made, created.” Although it may seem as if this ecosystem is truly “pristine” and a natural environment this is not the case. In fact, it is actually on the opposite end of the spectrum and has been fully created by man. Furthermore, in my opinion this practice seems to be unethical and immoral. Man should not have the right to move different species around to create an ecosystem that they believe to be fit and we do not have the right to say what belongs and what does not.
Another fault that I believe accompanies this effort is the fact that nature has evolved greatly over the years and throughout that history many species have become extinct. In order to account for these extinct species scientists and ecologists introduce “proxies” or species that resemble those that have lived in the original environment. They would be taken out of their original environment and introduced into this new ecosystem to act as the extinct species. One problem the comes along with these “proxies” is the fact that they is no way for scientists to clearly know how they will react when introduced into this new environment. For instance, they can bring along with them invasive pests or they themselves can become pests in this new environment. Furthermore, due to the fact that this environment is not exactly as it was back in the day these animals may react differently and it may cause them to die out quickly as a result. Another major problem, there is no way for scientists to know exactly how the environment looked thousands of years ago. Most of their conclusions are based on assumptions.
I believe that the effort of Rewilding may be accompanied by many negative consequences and should not be practiced. Instead of opening the divide between humans and nature, ecologists should strive to bring them together and focus on an environment where man and nature can live together in harmony. This would increase the respect that humans hold for nature and the environment.
