![Figure][1] ![Figure][1] PHOTO: THINKSTOCK The term “rewilding” evokes everything from fear to outrage in the minds of the public, as they imagine lions and elephants haphazardly released into city streets. The term first appeared in print in 1998 and was used to describe conservation methods that focused on reducing habitat loss and fragmentation by promoting “cores, corridors, and carnivores” ([ 1 ][2]). Much literature has indeed focused on reintroducing large herbivores and apex carnivores to North America and Europe, because these keystone species play crucial roles in maintaining the structure and integrity of ecological communities In Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life , author George Monbiot challenges the reader to think more deeply on the subject of rewilding. He maintains that understanding how ecological communities persisted in the past and why they are degraded today is necessary to identify and set appropriate targets for restoration. Monbiot's dream is to rewild the world, starting with the barren and bleak British landscape and the depleted oceans. Monbiot bemoans how much of the British landscape that is perceived as wild and largely unspoiled is in fact damaged by overgrazing deer and sheep and argues that misguided local, national, and regional land management policies are to blame. His panacea is to supplant archaic subsidies that support unsustainable farming practices with an economy based on walking and wildlife. Throughout the text, Monbiot presents compelling evidence that the benefits of rewilding—including its effects on carbon sequestration, tourism, hunting, recreation, soil recovery, water regulation, and quality of life—far outweigh the costs. But he insists that rewilding should not take place without public consensus. Challenging public opinion that the restoration of rainforest or coral reefs, or the reintroduction of large herbivores and predators, is needed only in tropical areas or vast uninhabited lands, he envisions restoring small corners and pockets of urban environments to their original states as well. Rewilding, according to Monbiot, can occur everywhere and on many scales. Because humans now shape the future of the planet, the conservation and restoration of fauna and flora depend on our vision as much as on science. Yet, as Monbiot laments, our shifting expectations about what a healthy ecosystem looks like—an affliction referred to as “shifting baseline syndrome”—curtails our ability to identify problems and implement restoration efforts to protect biodiversity. Reconnecting with nature and examining our ecological history, he argues, is essential to appreciating what has been lost and is critical for repairing damaged ecosystems. Throughout the book, Monbiot's lyrical and provocative tales of his efforts to reengage with the wild stimulate the senses and arouse an innate urge to affiliate with nature. His efforts are reminiscent of those of biologist Edward O. Wilson, who theorizes that contact with nature is needed to reverse what he sees as a growing dissatisfaction and emptiness in our lives ([ 2 ][3]). In Feral , Monbiot takes you on an emotional roller coaster, at times plunging you into troughs of despair as he discusses the bleak plight of much of our wildlife and, at others, raising you up on peaks of hope as he discusses how much of the degradation can be reversed. Though daunting, his goals of renewing the public's engagement with nature and raising perceived ecological baselines may ultimately be more easily tackled than other challenges in the field of restoration ecology. Convincing the public that certain critical ecosystem functions may only be restored by introducing functionally similar exotic species or by species de-extinction (by means of cloning technologies and/or synthetic biology), for example, might prove more difficult. Part personal journal, part restoration ecology primer, Feral popularizes the concept of rewilding and will likely prompt wildlife managers, landowners, policymakers, and the general public to question their perception of the natural world and its role in our lives. In addition to stressing the inherent need to restore ecological interactions, Monbiot's thesis—that rewilding is in our own best interest—could become the catalyst for a rewilding movement. 1. [↵][4]1. M. Soule, 2. R. Noss , Wild Earth 8, 19 (1998). [OpenUrl][5] 2. [↵][6]1. E. O. Wilson , Biophilia (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA, 1984). [1]: pending:yes [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [5]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DWild%2BEarth%26rft.volume%253D8%26rft.spage%253D19%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [6]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text