THE REWILDING INSTITUTE - IT’S WORTH.A READ

REWILDING EARTH JOURNAL | May 8, 2026 Photo by Kenyon Fields Rewilding Isn’t About Saving Nature. It’s About Letting Go of Control Rewilding is often mischaracterized as nostalgia — a sentimental longing for some imagined pre-human wilderness, or a technical conservation strategy dressed up in romance. That framing misses what rewilding actually disrupts. Rewilding isn’t a return. It’s a refusal. A refusal of the extraction-first worldview that treats land as inert matter, animals as units of production, and ecosystems as systems that must be optimized, managed, or corrected. Rewilding asks us to reconsider the stories we’ve inherited about land, ownership, and human centrality. The emphasis on cores, corridors, carnivores, compassion, and coexistence isn’t a checklist or a branding exercise — it’s a challenge to the deeper cultural logic that produced ecological collapse in the first place. And for those looking to engage, rewilding offers tangible entry points. READ MORE Photo by Mariano Rodriguez Chile’s Vast Kelp Forests Promise Climate Refuge, with a Warning An interdisciplinary team led by Rewilding Chile has completed the first phase of the Patagonia Megatransect — an ambitious, multi-stage underwater journey spanning 745 miles from the Gulf of Corcovado to Cape Horn. The project documents one of the planet’s largest intact kelp forests and uses advanced technology to advocate for their protection. The expedition ventures into a little-known ecosystem of monumental scale: the forests of Macrocystis pyrifera, giant kelp that reach lengths up to 260 feet. One of Earth’s most efficient natural carbon sinks, giant kelp are able to absorb up to 20 times the amount of carbon as forests on land. By measuring their precise capacity, the new data could position Chile as a leading planetary reservoir of blue carbon. READ MORE Photo by Kenyon Fields LISTEN / WATCH Laiken Jordahl on the battle for Big Bend (Rewilding Earth podcast) Wild beyond borders with Kris Tompkins (The Explorers Club) TAKE ACTION Stop attack on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (Wilderness Society) READ A time to rally: When Ted Turner gave Jacques Cousteau an end-of-life pep talk (Yellowstonian) Voyageurs Wolf Project captures first evidence in a century of cougars reproducing in Minnesota (WDIO News) Trump administration moves to push bison off Montana land (USA Today) The strange reason why wildlife agencies want Americans to buy more guns (Vox) Immaculate wilderness, uncertain future: Paddling the Boundary Waters (New York Times) UPCOMING DONATE NOW GET INVOLVED WITH REWILDING This is a place for writers and photographers to share your work and reach a wide audience of committed rewilders. Check out our Rewilding Earth Submission Guidelines. For more ways to become involved, contact us at volunteer@rewilding.org. SUBSCRIBE Facebook icon Instagram icon Spotify icon YouTube icon Adirondack Park and bighorn photos by Kenyon Fields, giant kelp by Mariano Rodriguez View email in browser REWILDING INSTITUTE, PO BOX 13768, ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87192 update your preferences or unsubscribe