Philosophy Workshop: “Rewilding”

In this ZOOM workshop led by philosopher Christopher Preston, we explored a form of environmental conservation and ecological restoration known as rewilding and some of the implications and philosophical questions it poses.

Viewed scientifically, rewilding is the restoration of animal species and natural processes onto impacted landscapes. Viewed philosophically, rewilding challenges ways of thinking about animals and the environment dominant for centuries.

We drew from case studies in Europe and the United States to explore the emerging lessons of rewilding.

Videos

(Workshop Introduction & Session Recordings)

Resources

BOOKS

George Monbiot, Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding (Penguin 2013)
Ben Goldfarb, Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter (Chelsea Green 2019)
Isabella Tree, Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm (Picador 2018)
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (Milkweed Editions 2013)
Christopher J Preston, The Synthetic Age: Outdesigning Evolution, Resurrecting Species, and Reengineering Our World (MIT Press 2018)

WEBSITES/ORGS

Rewilding Europe website (www.rewildingeurope.com).
The Rewilding Apennines (https://rewilding-apennines.com) portion is particularly good and it mentions the pruning of apple trees for bears.
CA Department of Fish and Wildife’s tracking of wolf OR93 (https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Gray-Wolf/Updates

About Our Workshop Leader

Christopher Preston, PhD is a professor of philosophy at The University of Montana. His areas of specialty include environmental philosophy, climate ethics, the ethics of emerging technologies, rewilding, and feminist philosophy. A native of England – who has studied and worked in Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, Washington DC, and South Carolina – his life in the US is oriented in many ways around the power of wild landscapes. In addition to being a professor, he has worked as a commercial fisherman, a tool librarian, and a backcountry Park Service Ranger. Christopher has published extensively on climate engineering, synthetic biology, and the new epoch of the Anthropocene, and finds significance in both the new, and the traditional, wild.

Thank You’s

Thank you to Humanities Montana and P.L.A.T.O. (Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization) for helping support our philosophy in the community programs and making events like this possible! This workshop was part of our “Thinking as a Community” project.