Note: This program first aired December 13, 2014.
The more I read and the more I see, the more I’ve been
feeling lately, that my life is increasingly irrelevant in this world. Or
better put, the way I live is increasingly irrelevant. I feel that the world
has rushed by eastern Maine, or hurtled past, perhaps when I had my head down
weeding carrots in the garden, or while I was in the wood shed stacking
firewood, and I am just now noticing, feeling the pull of the vortex created
when all that energy and technology blew by.
Currently more than half of the people in the world live in
cities, and that trend is expected to continue, by 2050, more than 66 % of
people world wide will be living in urban areas. In North America alone 82% of
people live in cities, the highest percentage in the world, which is probably
why I feel this irrelevancy so acutely. I feel like I live in the land time
forgot. Just to be clear, I know that by global standards, eastern Maine is not
the land time forgot. We have power and plumbing and the interweb and all that,
but by America standards we are a quiet and aging back water in a country that
worships youth and speed and technology.
I feel irrelevant when I hear yet another story on the radio
about how awesome Copenhagen is, with its high standard of living, its elevated
bike paths, or its green roofs. Or how Helsinki is getting rid of cars, or about
the latest apps for ordering pizza to be delivered at the push of a button and
the calendar that learns your daily routine and suggests ways to save time
during the day. When I go into a city I feel overwhelmed, astonished to be
reminded just how many people there are on this planet, how many lives are
being lived simultaneously. I wonder where the food comes from, where the heat
comes from, where the water goes.
And at the same time I am feeling irrelevant, another
feeling rises up in me, one that says that not only I am not irrelevant, but
that my way of life is exactly the opposite, it’s the most relevant thing you
can be doing right now. When I get home
from work, my house is cold. To get it warm, I have to start a fire. To start a
fire, I have to bring in wood. Wood from trees my husband cut down around our
house and our neighborhood. Much of the food I eat grew in earth I have
nurtured. I fed and watered the chickens and ducks and pig that fill my
freezer. I can see the path my survival takes from earth to warmth and
fullness, and I play an integral role in it. To me this seems perfectly
relevant, this life filled with details of natural rhythms and sunset,
moonrise, snow fall.
In having this feeling rising inside me I am not alone.
There’s a movement out there, gaining steam, changing lives. Its called
Rewilding, a term borrowed from conservation biology. In its original context
it referred to restoring chopped up urban and suburban landscapes and connecting
those landscapes on large scale levels, to ensure that high trophic level
predators would have enough connected habitat to survive and thrive. In the
human context it means taking actions to connect your self back to the natural
world and your own survival. It includes hard core survivalists preparing for
the zombie apocalypse, primitive skills aficionados, herbalists, botanists and
edible landscape enthusiasts, and soccer dads making tea from the flowers in
the back yard. Every action counts, this is a big tent kind of a thing.
Some will critique this as a first world issue, though the
most rapid 21rst century urbanization will be taking place in the global south,
and it isn’t clear exactly what economic opportunities that rapid urban
migration will yield, as most of that expansion will come in the form of urban
slums with no services. Others may say that I am speaking from a place of privilege,
and it is true, on a global scale, I am incredibly privileged, and I am using
that privilege as a soap box to stand on to call it like I see it. Any actions
you can take to be connected to or aware of natural rhythms and the unbreakable
laws of nature will improve your life in ways you may not understand at first.
You can do this in a city, you can do this in the country. Here in the land
time forgot, rewilding is sort of a no brainer. Its not even re-wilding, many
of us never got that domesticated to begin with.
References:
The UN World Urbanization Prospects 2014 http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Highlights/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf
A sample of the human rewilding movement popping up in this
country: http://rewildu.com/
Car free perfection in Helsinki: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=14-P13-00048&segmentID=2
More about how awesome Copenhagen is: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=14-P13-00048&segmentID=3
The calendar that “learns how you do thing and suggests ways
to make you better” http://www.businessinsider.com/11-hot-new-apps-you-may-have-missed-2014-8?op=1
