As I write this, there is turmoil in the Scottish parliament following the ending of the relationship between the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Greens. The war in Ukraine seems never ending. Crops cannot be sown because of the exceptionally wet weather. And conflict in the Middle East seems in danger of escalating into a major war at any moment. The list of things to be worried and anxious about seems to grow by the day and it is very easy to get lost in feelings of despair about the future.
I remember discussing the situation the world finds itself in with our founder, Alan Watson Featherstone, many years ago. His response was that the best thing we can all do is work on positive things that make a difference; that way hope is reborn. His guest article provides a positive vision for the next thirty years.
This edition of Caledonia Wild is full of hope about the future too: hope that we can make Scotland the world’s first rewilding nation, dedicating 30% of our land and sea to nature recovery; hope that we can manage deer at Dundreggan so that wild trees will ‘grow themselves’ through natural regeneration; hope that we can identify, protect and then restore lost Caledonian pinewoods that are just about surviving in remote parts of the Highlands and; hope that we can bring back beavers to parts of Scotland they have been missing from for generations.
This hopefulness is, for me personally, part of the magic of rewilding. Every seed our volunteers collect, every visitor to the Rewilding Centre, every person that signs the Rewilding Nation Charter, and everyone who makes a donation to our work are all adding to this growth in hope and positivity for the future.
So when I watch the news and see governments arguing among themselves, countries fighting each other, or targets to reach net zero being dropped, with the climate breaking down in front of our eyes, I think of the hope and positivity that surrounds rewilding. That provides more than a little solace.