20 Apr What does it mean to rewild a person?
Are we too careful? Too “civilised” and cautious and too used to the comforts of modern life?
For almost all of our history and evolution, humans have lived in and with nature.
And now, in recent years, we spend most of our time indoors, staring at screens, with temperature controls and even more luxuries we take for granted.
Now, these aren’t entire bad. But what if our happiness and wellbeing could be improved by getting a bit wild again?
What if we could enhance our happiness and wellbeing getting outside and into nature more?
Well, if that sounds interesting then read on …
via Positive News by Abby Young-Powell
The UK’s education system has become like monoculture agriculture, say the founders of Rewilding Education, a community of educators who believe that reconnecting people to nature is key to helping them thrive
Wolves and lynx roaming the land; vast swathes of forest restored – not for timber but left alone to flourish; fields teeming with wildflowers – these are among the ideas championed as part of rewilding. It’s a progressive approach to conservation, which calls for less human intervention in landscapes and ecosystems, and instead supports the restoration of natural processes – and it’s been gaining momentum in recent years.
Efforts to replace lost and vanishing species – whether that be elk, bears, or mangrove forests – through rewilding, have stepped up a gear, for example. Meanwhile, a large-scale 3,000 acre nature restoration project has recently been announced for the UK’s uplands. One startup is even bringing nature back to burial plots.
But now the rewilding approach is seeding itself beyond the natural world, too. Since the 1950’s, we’ve become more disconnected from nature, as researchers have confirmed. So, what if letting ‘wild’ processes take charge again was an approach that could not only allow ecosystems to thrive, but people too? What if, in fact, our education system underwent a process of rewilding?
That’s what the founders of Rewilding Education – a small, ambitious, organisation founded during lockdown last year – have set out to discover.
Rewilding Education wants to help children, and people, reconnect with nature again. Image: Vitolda Klein
“There’s something about rewilding that fits really beautifully with education,” says co-founder Dr Max Hope. The current education system is highly structured and doesn’t benefit everyone equally, she believes. “So, rewilding in this context is about bringing in more creativity, freedom and flexibility, as well as more humanity. We want to make education better – and by better we’re talking about fairer, healthier and wilder.” And what would this mean in practice?
Rowan Salim used to work as a teacher in London but now runs a nature-based children’s community called Free We Grow, as well as a community garden. She says a rewilded education is one that better connects children with the world around them; they are given the freedom to direct themselves and are allowed to follow their curiosity.
There’s something about rewilding that fits really beautifully with education
“We’re looking for children who are happy, well, able to learn, able to trust themselves and their instincts, and to pursue their interests,” she says. And for Salim, a member of Rewilding Education’s community, spending time in nature is key to that.
One practical example, Salim says, is …
… keep reading the full & original article HERE