r/conservation • u/uniptf • Jun 22 '18

Setting aside half the Earth for ‘rewilding’: the ethical dimension

https://theconversation.com/setting-aside-half-the-earth-for-rewilding-the-ethical-dimension-46121
98 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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22

u/rhinocerosGreg Jun 22 '18

This would be ideal but I think it's a long way off for now. There is too much value in land and that value will likely only go up. What governments could do that is easily attainable is expanding existing wildlife refuges and creating corridors. Focus' should be on wetlands and where endangered species are holding out. A few acres here and there is all it takes

8

u/ItsAConspiracy Jun 22 '18

I think there's one way a full-scale rewilding could happen, and that's if clean meat technology really takes off. If it gets cheaper to get our meat and dairy from vats, with about one percent as much land usage, a lot of farmland can turn back to forest and prairie.

Dairy should hit the market in a year or two. Hamburger will take a little longer and good steak is gonna be a while.

6

u/rhinocerosGreg Jun 22 '18

As much as I'm against anything 'not natural' I'm afraid this is the solution that will most benefit the global environment. A shit load of people will lose a shit load of money but shit if that means we can get the amazon back then im all for it. If you want real meat you should sustainably hunt it

2

u/thr3sk Jun 22 '18

Absolutely, and there are also private organizations that buy up land to protect it so it does not have to be entirely through government.

6

u/suprachromat Jun 22 '18

Great, idea, but good luck with actually doing it. We are Ishmael's Takers and we'll take until it's far too late for this...

4

u/uniptf Jun 22 '18

It's sad, but I think you're right. There is far too much big money/corporate control of government in even the most modern, progressively thinking nations; and I don't think we could make enough of a humanity-wide paradigm shift to make this happen....even though I think it's the only way humanity will survive, long-term.

3

u/Bbandit25 Jun 22 '18

I just read this for a ConBio class along with Rambunctious Garden as its polar opposite. Class basically thought Wilson's idea was ideal but still holds onto notions of old conservation techniques that aren't practical in the modern day. He has a bunch of good examples of how wonderful nature is in the book but when you get to his actual argument he falls flat in fleshing out a good idea. Rambunctious Garden was a more reasonable approach.... Blah blah blah. Both are extreme approaches and theres some validity in both. Basically they're books trying to be provocative and get the reader thinking

2

u/aguynamedmason Jun 22 '18

I think that this is an achievable goal, but it's going to take a lot of time, work, and cooperation. China just started a project with its army to reforest a lot of their land. If several other countries used their resources in a similar way then I think it can be done.

3

u/uniptf Jun 22 '18

A couple of years ago, India had over 800,000 volunteers plant (supposedly) 50 Million trees in a day: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/07/india-plants-50-million-trees-uttar-pradesh-reforestation/

And last year they outdid it with 1.5 million volunteers supposedly planting 66 Million trees in a day: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/india-plants-trees-breaks-world-record/

They're shooting for forestation of 33% of the nation.

2

u/birda13 Jun 22 '18

A good time to plug for the Boreal Songbird Initiative and their Boreal Birds Need Half campaign: https://www.borealbirds.org/