The global scale of emergency we are facing

Our generation has the opportunity to be the first in history to upgrade rather than downgrade our wildlife

Today is the first-ever World Rewilding Day and at Home Farm, on the Aldenham Estate near the London and Hertfordshire border, we are very proud to support this amazing initiative being launched by Global Rewilding Alliance. We want to spread the word about the vital work they are doing at such an important moment for our planet.

Rewilding covers a huge spectrum of ideas and philosophies, some of them highly controversial, but for us, what is vital is that people are willing to listen to this conversation and to understand the global scale of emergency we are facing that requires difficult decisions to be made.

Educating a new generation to make a real difference

Our generation has the opportunity to be the first in history to upgrade rather than downgrade our wildlife, both in terms of quality and quantity. Together we can make it happen. Everyone can make a difference:

• By learning to observe and appreciate nature wherever you find it

• By truly understanding that this is not just our planet, that we exist here with nature, nature does not exist for our benefit, and that it is us unbalancing the system

• By learning as much as we can about this strangely contentious idea of allowing nature to exist and work its unimaginable magic without our interference in some corners of the globe

Rewilding: An essential but not easy read

In the spirit of learning more, we’ve shared some books we’ve read lately that have given us so much to think about. They aren’t all easy reads, and they come with a warning that once you’ve read them it is harder to live the fast-paced, human-focused, convenience-prioritising, sanitised world we have grown accustomed to. They are challenging and upsetting in places, but hopefully, like us, they will give you a renewed sense of purpose as to what you can do to make a difference.

Isabella Tree puts it beautifully at the end of her incredible book Wilding: “Our footsteps often feel heavy… when we go for walks in the countryside.. chances are what we notice most is the silence.. we now know what isn’t there”.

This awareness of what we are losing is the first step to fixing it. The work that Isabella Tree and the team at Knepp Estate is breathtaking, and proof that we can reverse some of the damage we’ve inflicted on our planet if we were all willing to try.

It’s also International Happiness Day…so that figures!

#WorldRewildingDay #GlobalRewildingAlliance #internationalhappinessday