How do we envision a rewilded future?

As a response to the anthropocene, initiatives are being taken to ‘rewild’ many parts of the globe. There is a lot riding on these efforts, and because of that, it is important that the media characterization of this work conveys the real messages of the movement. In order to be effective, it needs to incorporate both the practical, physical elements and the personal, individual changes that should be made. In this essay, I will provide a brief explanation of the anthropocene and rewilding, followed by an analysis of the work of the American Rivers non-profit in relation to the public image of the rewilding efforts for the Saint Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in the Mississippi River Gorge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I argue that an unclear or disconnected presentation of rewilding can be harmful to the important work that is being done in these initiatives.

The anthropocene is the proposed geological age that has come into being as a result of human impacts on the environment. Humans have altered their environmental surroundings to accommodate their desires for advancement, and this ‘advancement’ takes many forms. It encompasses industrialization, commercialization of agriculture, and settlement that allows for increases in population. Anthropocenic actions have had ripple effects, such that the impacts of one alteration reverberate into other spheres and other parts of the globe. For instance, the burning of fossil fuels in industrial centers has led to the greenhouse effect, damaged the ozone layer, and furthered glacial melting at the North and South Poles. Additionally, deforestation has had devastating impacts on ecosystems and species survival worldwide. An editorial from March of 2018 on the Wildlands Network blog explores the ways in which the ecosystems of Iowa have been impacted by the agricultural industry. There, “93% of [the] state has been transformed for agricultural purposes,” more than any other state. According to the author, “the loss of species diversity is incomprehensible.” People’s daily actions also play into the anthropocene, with things such as waste habits and water use. Anthropocenic action takes place around the world, but it has local causes with global effects.

Dealing with the anthropocene demands that humans renegotiate their roles on earth in relation to plants, animals, bodies of water, and technology around us. Rewilding is one possible means through which that renegotiation can be carried out. Just as it sounds, to “re-wild” is to make something wild again, to return it to its ‘natural’ state before humans intervened and altered the landscape. Rewilding initiatives can take many forms. A large portion of the rewilding efforts concern the landscape directly, functioning by reversing changes that have been made. This can be be done by removing roads that run through forests, removing dams, and reintroducing species into their natural habitats. There are efforts across the Great Plains to reintroduce native buffalo to the area, and there are even more initiatives that are prioritizing full-scale restoration of depleted biodiversity of ecosystems.

An alternative approach to rewilding concerns the human directly, encouraging people to rewild themselves. This means reconnecting with nature and revisiting what it means to be a human on earth. These initiatives emphasize living in harmony with nature, letting go of modern amenities. One approach to rewilding the self relies primarily upon spiritual and emotional changes, working to foster an approach dealing with a mindset. Other approaches focus on the more practical and tangible tasks of shifting consumption habits and means of waste management. These “more practical” approaches, however, almost necessarily include elements of the former approach. In order to renegotiate one’s relationship with nature, a full-scale rethinking of one’s ways of living needs to happen. The book Unlearn, Rewild by Miles Olson addresses the mental and more philosophical elements of rewilding the self, but presents them alongside suggestions for how to implement rewilded practices into lived experience. This kind of approach to rewilding is missing from much of the prominent literature, which focuses on reintroduction of species and reversal of environmental control projects. Some progress could be made by combining the physical and personal methods of rewilding, enacting a holistic approach to the movement.

The Mississippi River is of particular importance in regard to the implications of rewilding efforts. It is and has been for centuries the site of countless cultural and economic flows, and is a source of food, water, and jobs for the communities that live along its banks. A 2000 study found that on the northern half of the river alone, there were approximately 15 million people reliant on the river and its tributaries for their drinking water (National Parks Service). Not only does it supply drinking water, but also water for irrigation for growing crops and raising animals. There is a reason why this is the most surveilled river in the world. The entire United States and the entire world have a stake in the power of this river, and thus in the effort to sustain it and the ecosystems around it.

There is currently an initiative taking place that is working towards the rewilding of the Saint Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in the Mississippi River Gorge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The American Rivers website shares the goals of their work, foregrounding the need to restore the biodiversity that once existed in that area. They discuss the fishing that once was done there, but they are primarily concerned with the river’s ability to function and exist as naturally as it did before it was tamed and used as a source of hydropower. The imagery associated with this rhetoric, however, is less than consonant.

Given the reasoning behind rewilding efforts, the artist’s renditions of the rewilded river are particularly baffling and problematic.The decision to show a white water kayaker instead of something in line with the goals of the rewilding project (fish, for instance) indicates that this group is not actually critical of man’s domination of nature. Extreme sports are a means of performatively reinforcing man’s power over nature, the civilized triumphing over the wild. By venturing into the wild for the sole purpose of proving that one is stronger than nature, the ideology of man being the most valuable being on earth is sustained. Prioritizing the adventure sports over the ecosystems does not require any behaviors or power dynamics to change. The river becomes a site for new means of commodified leisure, nevermind the potential to feed the communities who have relied on it for hundreds and thousands of years for their livelihoods. Climate change disproportionately impacts the lives of poor people and people of color, for whom access to food will be of primary concern. Posing the rewilding of the river as a way that people can do more kayaking instead of showing its more crucial impacts maintains the idea that what is important and what deserves attention is that which will impact people in positions of privilege. Additionally, rhetorics that encourage displays of power like this, no matter how harmless they may seem, lead to the perpetuation of the desire to feel ‘stronger than’ and thus prove that strength. This act of proving translates not only into a domination over nature, but also over other people who do not have the same means to show their might. If any steps toward global environmental healing are going to be made, people need to be encouraged to work together and it is important that that goal is projected in the imagery of the movement. The vision of the future in these artist renditions of a rewilded Mississippi River furthers the exact mindset that environmental activists should be trying to counteract.

Ultimately, rewilding initiatives can be most effective by targeting both the physical landscape and the human interaction with that landscape. The Iowa initiative mentioned briefly in the first paragraph encourages the reader to “nurture a healthier human relationship with Nature,” and I think that that provides a clear example of work that is directly concerned with the immediate manifestations of the anthropocene while also acknowledging that there is a fundamental shift that needs to take place in order to counteract any of the damage that has been done. For the Saint Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in the Mississippi River Gorge, a clearer and more consistent rhetoric could make for a more effective initiative and work to counteract harmful human relationships with the environment.