“Rewilding holds out hope of a richer living planet that can once more fill our lives with wonder and enchantment.” -George Monbiot
Prolific author George Monbiot joins us to share his niche in the world of rewilding: rewilding the land. George is an investigative journalist who writes a weekly column for the Guardian and is the author of a number of bestselling books, including Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea, and Human Life where he passionately advocates the large-scale restoration of complex natural ecosystems.
To begin our conversation, George takes us back in time to the riveting adventures that began his career in investigative journalism. We cover a lot of ground in this interview, including how his work evolved to covering the large-scale ecological issues of our world, what rewilding means to George and his take on de-extinction. George also presents his argument in favor of fake meat as an option to feed the world’s population and why he does not feel that agriculture of any kind — including regenerative agriculture — is sustainable. While our opinions differed on some things, it was fascinating to hear George’s viewpoint on these controversial topics. Enjoy our conversation exploring George’s important work as an advocate for the rewilding of our earth’s ecosystems!
EPISODE BREAKDOWN:
- Show Introduction:
- Hunt + gather updates: Learning to live with a hunting dog and bear fat
- Introducing George Monbiot
- George’s riveting backstory
- Why is 'the loss of wild humans' not making news headlines?
- How George came to be working on these big picture ecological issues
- What rewilding means to George
- Bringing back lost megafauna
- Rewilding becoming mainstream out of necessity
- A case for fake meat and why (regenerative) agriculture isn’t sustainable
- How do we feed the people of the world?
- George’s upcoming book
- George’s prognosis for the future of the human species
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ReWild Yourself Podcast is brought to you by:
RESOURCES FROM THIS SHOW:
- MovNat
- Daniel's recent Instagram post on bear fat
- The ocean's shifting baseline | Daniel Pauly TED talk
- Rewilding Britain
- How to fight desertification and reverse climate change | Allan Savory TED talk
- George’s critique of Savory's TED talk: Eat Meat and Save the World?
- Goodbye – and good riddance – to livestock farming by George Monbiot
Connect with George:
- Website
- George's articles in The Guardian
- George on Twitter @GeorgeMonbiot
Meet George
George Monbiot writes a weekly column for the Guardian and is the author of a number of books, including How Did We Get into this Mess?; Heat: How to Stop the Planet Burning; The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order; Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain; and Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea, and Human Life. His most recent project is an album, written with the musician Ewan McLennan, called Breaking the Spell of Loneliness. His latest book is Out of the Wreckage: a New Politics for an Age of Crisis.
