Thoughts: Getting back to nature (and getting out of nature’s! way!) with tropic cascade

 “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” – John Muir.

I love this idea of re-wilding.

When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the United States after being absent for nearly 70 years, the most remarkable “trophic cascade” occurred. What is a trophic cascade and how exactly do wolves change rivers? 

Wolves were once native to the US’ Yellowstone National Park — until hunting wiped them out. But when, in 1995, the wolves began to come back (thanks to an aggressive management program), something interesting happened: the rest of the park began to find a new, more healthful balance. In a bold thought experiment, George Monbiot imagines a wilder world in which humans work to restore the complex, lost natural food chains that once surrounded us. (Here’s his TED talk; and here’s Sustainable Man’s mixdown, below.)