On our way home from watching the Wilding film my friend expressed her disbelief at how ridiculously long it had taken for The Knepp Estate to get beavers onto their land. How could it possibly have taken 10 years!?
10 years ago bringing beavers back to the British Isles felt like an impossible mission. Now it seems it was always inevitable and we look forward to beavers finding their way to our nearby rivers and waterways.
Impossible to inevitable is a concept brought to my attention by George Monbiot at a recent talk in Totnes. George was discussing neoliberalism and his utterly brilliant new book The Invisible Doctrine. One example of radical change he gave was the 2007 ban on smoking in public places. The nation thought this would never happen, that people wouldn’t accept it. Now we find it hard to imagine life before.
George's attitude toward making positive change reminded me of Derek Gow’s ‘You’ve just got to bloody get on with it’ approach. An attitude, along with enormous passion, determination and hard work that has inevitably seen beavers return to our shores.
While Derek turns his attention to wolves and George changes the face of capitalist centred politics, I will reconnect the nation with nature.
With the natural world back where it belongs, in the fabric of everyone’s everyday conversation, it will again be at the forefront of our consciousness and the decisions we make. What we eat, what we buy and how we live. Impossible? Inevitable.
BeWild is trailblazing this change. Championing and supporting businesses to promote local biodiversity, and celebrating their efforts to their customers and the wider community is already sparking a much needed, much wider conversation, with the natural world at its heart.
Not a business. Not making money. Just me on a mission... possible.