14 | A Rewilding Nation
Illustrations for a campaign to make Scotland a global leader in rewilding
Dear friends,
If you’re living in the UK, I hope you’ve managed to safely weather the storm.
Today, whilst travelling back to Wales in the wake of Storm Dharrag, I received a stream of photo messages from my mum that made my heart sink
Two. Three. Four—no, wait—five photos of fallen trees in the wild wood surrounding our house.
Broken limbs and uprooted trunks from trees I’ve known since I was a young boy.
It is these trees, in this woodland, that first deepened my connection to the more-than-human world, inspiring a yearning for wilderness and a desire to protect it in later years through my creative work.
It feels like the cruellest of ironies: the more the Earth warms, the more trees fall, meaning less carbon is drawn from the atmosphere, resulting in increasingly turbulent weather systems*.
In describing our human predicament, D.H. Lawrence says we are like a great uprooted tree with its roots in the air and we must plant ourselves again—in our bodies, hearts and spirit.
And on this note, I’d like to share a project launched last week, that is inspiring a groundswell of hope in the Scottish rewilding movement.
*This is a prime example of a ‘negative feedback loop’ caused by human-induced climate change.
Rewilding Nation
There’s something so profoundly hopeful about rewilding.
It’s not about looking back or clinging to what once was, but about looking forward to what’s possible.
It’s not about halting the economy or sacrificing livelihoods; it’s about creating a new world where humans and nature coexist harmoniously.
That’s why contributing to this campaign with Rewilding Nation, who are on a mission to make Scotland a global leader in restoring the natural world, feels so meaningful.
Scotland currently ranks as one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth.
This campaign urges the Scottish Government to declare Scotland the world’s first Rewilding Nation by committing 30% of land and seas to rewilding, while benefitting farmland and making space for more wildness in our day-to-day lives.
For me personally, creativity is the vehicle to achieve this—to inject colour and playfulness to captivate hearts and minds, and share the sense of natural wonder and curiosity in wilderness that I’m fortunate to hold.
Since moving to Scotland (as I wrote about previously), it has been a joy to get involved and work on a variety of projects within the rewilding movement.
To see my creative work being used in a political landscape—and in this case, in the hands of a Scottish Government minister at an event in the city where I now live—was a proud moment for me.
I’d like to thank the Rewilding Nation team for all of their hard work (with a special shoutout to Charlotte Maddix) and for bringing me on board for this innovative initiative to drive positive change for people and planet.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, all the way through.
I hope you can find moments of stillness whilst navigating your own personal storms.
As always, free to send a reply. Your thoughts and messages of note are always welcome.
