So, what the heck is biodiversity all about huh? Why are we seeing this word everywhere and what’s so great about it? This short and sweet passage should assuage any strange feelings of confusion about it and might even show you just how important biodiversity really is. We’ll get to the bottom of why there’s such a stir about it. People have been saying these things for years, trying to get everyone’s attention. There has been a constant knocking on the door that is only being heard now, and it is desperately important we all get up off our keisters and answer. ...what is biodiversity?  

Now for starters, what biodiversity stands for is biological diversity and is defined as the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity covers three main topics, the genetic diversity, the diversity of species and the diversity of the ecosystems they inhabit. 

Now without getting too sciencey, a gene pool is all the many genes and potential combinations of genes, in the population. - It is the sum of a population's genetic material at a given time. When we have a big gene pool of a species full of genetic variation, this is good, we need that. As a quick example, say, there is low genetic diversity, this can lead to deformities, low fertility and genetic diseases and it's simply not good for the species survival. We need a vast gene pool full of genetic diversity. 

Then we come to species diversity, which this neat quote can help us out with. "Species diversity is defined as the number of different species present in an ecosystem and relative abundance of each of those species". So, having a lot of different species as well as having even populations of them, what can we say this is? Nailed it, good, healthy species diversity. 

Then we come to ecosystem diversity which is simply, in a given area, how many ecosystems there are within it. A healthy ecosystem is one that can support a range of living species by providing habitat, food, clean air and fertile soil. It is flora and fauna being in a good condition in the natural world and having the capacity to fulfill their ecological niches. So the more thriving ecosystems we have in an area, the better and the more ecosystem diversity there is.

Let’s leave that there and create a picture of some A-Grade biodiversity.

Okay, we’re going to go back to a time long long ago and then, even longer ago than that. 250 million years ago (251.091 to 65 million years ago if we are being precise) to the Mesozoic Era where dinosaurs roamed and ruled supreme. Let’s set the stage, imagine, there is absolutely 100% no human influence whatsoever. Plants and animals were allowed to grow and prosper to their maximum capabilities with nothing stopping them. This means an explosion of animal and plant life. You would have seen gargantuan flocks of birds, humungous herds of grazing sauropods (the monstrous plant-eaters, diplodocus, brontosaurus) and a myriad of plant species, taking up any available space possible. What I’m edging at here is, you would have seen animals and plants, and lots of them, as well as it being one wild place. A huge species diversity which of course means there was a great genetic diversity as well as ecosystems far and wide, we could then say it had a rich biodiversity. Right? Right! 

Let’s now dial it in, we don’t need to travel a bijillion years in the past to see Biodiversity. 

Think of your local wild area and what you can see in it. Well, depending on where you live and how large it is, if it has healthy biodiversity it could support a wide range of species. You might find families of foxes and badgers as well as frogs, bats, deer and many different species of birds singing and soaring between the trees. We have all of these species, filling their ecological niches which gives the ecosystem balance as each have a part to play in supporting it, which we will look at a little more later. 

We can localize it again, think of even a pond in a back garden. It alone can home a vast amount of biodiversity. It attracts multiple types of insects who might lay their eggs in the water or the plants that grow in it. Frogs are also attracted to the water so they can lay their eggs as well as having a food supply. And of course, birds are going to arrive too, to get in on all this good eating of frogs and flies. Plant species too are supported by the pond and in turn support it by oxygenating the water as well as providing shelter or even food for birds, bugs and other cute critters. 

Phew. Okay, we good? Still here? We kind of getting it? Sweet. Here comes the tough bit though, we’re going to have to get at some hard truths for a second, we’ll bring it back up I promise, but now we need to talk about biodiversity and climate change. 

The earth's temperatures are rising and one reason biodiversity is getting so much attention lately is that it is inextricably linked to this change. This quote from Science.org.au sums it up exceptionally well, “Healthy ecosystems and rich biodiversity are fundamental to life on our planet”. 

We can think of it like this, if we continue the way we are heading, with forests being cleared, oceans being dredged and over-fished, we are exploiting and therefore destroying habitats and the biodiversity that exists within them. We know forests and the ocean play a vital role in capturing and sequestering CO2 but if we continue to disrupt these systems instead of protecting them, truly enormous negative changes are inevitable. However, if we pursue the other direction, protecting wild areas, restoring ecosystems and create more space for nature and wildlife, biodiversity can flourish. And as Sir David Attenborough says magnificently...

Forests are a fundamental component of our planets recovery they are the best technology nature has for locking away carbon and they are centers for biodiversity, the two features work together, the wilder and more diverse forests are the more effective they are at absorbing carbon from the atmosphere

Plants and animals have spent literally millions of years adapting to their ecosystems and are highly tuned to the conditions within them. Take some gorgeous grizzly bears. If your diet depends on salmon arriving every year up streams, but these streams are rerouted while modern-technology is being used to rapidly deplete fish stocks, you’re going to be in trouble. Your food source is a fraction of what it once was and you don’t have many other options. Monarch butterflies are another example. By getting cues from the weather, they know when it’s time to migrate, but also when to reproduce and hibernate. Temperature changes actually govern their entire 3000 km migration so they may be particularly threatened by climate change.

A change in climate can devastate entire species, especially if the change occurs rapidly and there is little time for them to migrate or adapt. The inter-connected nature of ecosystems means that the loss of species can have knock-on effects upon a range of ecosystem functions. This point is so pertinent. Everything in the natural world is connected, it’s a web and it's intricate and baffling (and don’t forget beautiful), making you say “PHWAHHHH, for real?”. 

And this brings me neatly to phytoplankton and whales and some in your face facts about how protecting biodiversity protects us from climate change. 

Protecting biodiversity protects us from climate change. 

Phytoplankton take in energy from the sun in the form of Carbon dioxide and then release oxygen back into the atmosphere, kind of like a plant or tree, which is pretty neat right? Furthermore, whales eat copious (and I mean copious) amounts of phytoplankton thus, taking in the carbon that they have stored so now the whale is storing it, up to 33 tons in their life (THAT’S HUGE!!)  Fine, easy, just let the phytoplankton do it, we don’t need the whales right? WRONG. We so need the whales, because the urea rich poops of the whales makes fine dining for our phyto-friends and helps them become big and strong little phytoplankton. 

When the whales (rest their noble souls) pass from this life to the next the carbon is then taken in by the ocean and can stay in the sediment. 

This is one brief example, we can see when one thing falls, another follows, and you can be sure, if you take one species out of the mix, another species or multiple others will be severely affected. 

I know I know, it got dark there, but we gotta keep ourselves on track. We now know what biodiversity is so let’s look at how we can help it.

It really is quite simple, when we look after biodiversity and aid it to prosper, we are looking after the planet. I’ll use another Sir David Attenborough quote (because c’mon, they’re perfect). 

“To restore stability to our planet, we must restore its biodiversity”. 

There is still time to fix it and if David’s chill, I’m chill but now is the time to act. By helping to restore and regenerate biodiversity and enabling it to thrive, the natural world can bounce back and we know it can.  We all can help and play our part by planting pollinator friendly plants in your garden or even building a pond to benefit your local biodiversity. Also supporting organisations such as Mossy Earth or Rewilding Europe who are focused on rewilding damaged ecosystems, makes an enormous difference. 

I hope this has cleared up any uncertainties you may have felt when hearing the word biodiversity, and it might even encourage you to look a little more favorably on all the beetles and bugs knowing they all play their role in life’s intricate web.   

But Let Us Not Despair, we can save biodiversity!

Species is a where a group of organisms that share common characteristics and have the ability to interbreed with one another. Species are ranked below genus and you will often hear people referring to a particular species of animal or plant.

Genes are made of nucleotides (a chemical compound) and are found on DNA which is passed from parent to offspring as essentially a code which can determine the hereditary characteristics and traits.  

Climate Change is where weather patterns over a long period of time are disrupted. This could lead to unpredictable weather and irreversible ramifications if left unchecked, which would affect the entire world.

Phytoplankton are tiny organisms that can be found in most of the earth's aquatic environments. They can be bacteria or protists although the majority are single-celled plants. Every type of phytoplankton uses photosynthesis.

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a compound made up of one Carbon and two Oxygen atoms. It occurs naturally in the earth’s atmosphere as an odorless gas however due to human beings, enormous quantities are now found in the air which causes the heating of our climate.

Sequestering is when something is being hidden or isolated. When we talk about CO2 being sequestered in forests or oceans it means it is being held there, taken from the atmosphere and kept locked up.

Ecosystem Functions are essentially the processes of interactions between biotic (living organisms) and abiotic (chemicals and matter) factors that work together to provide the correct environment to sustain life. 

So, what is biodiversity? We delve into biodiversity on both a micro and macro level, how climate change affects biodiversity, and why we should protect it.

What is Biodiversity and why should we protect it?

The term “rewilding” is not one that’s necessarily caught on widely in North America. Better-known in Britain, it’s a term that’s become somewhat polarizing in connection to conservation efforts. Even if the term is a little known in some circles and misunderstood in others, it ultimately speaks to a goal that a lot of environmental conservation and restoration organizations are working toward. Below, we’ll get into what exactly “rewilding” means, what it can do for our environment, how it’s misunderstood, and what’s in store for its future in North America.

As explained in our guide to rewilding in Britain, this term “basically means returning the landscape to a wilder state,” though not necessarily to a “pristine state of wilderness.” The idea is essentially that human intervention has altered landscapes and ecosystems, but that this doesn’t have to be a permanent change. By removing human intervention to whatever extent possible — and sometimes via some extra efforts like planting or fencing off areas — we can prepare pieces of our environment to be reclaimed by nature. At that point, the natural world can begin to act on its own with regard to growth, regeneration, predation, grazing, decomposition, and more. The world, or at least pockets of it at a time, can go back to spinning along without so much direct human impact.



What would a rewilded North America look like? 

There really isn’t a single answer to this question, or even a particularly clear one. But that, in a way, is the beauty of the rewilding concept. The North American continent is home to a vast array of different ecosystems and natural landscapes. Yet, most of these have been drastically impacted by human presence, through everything from deforestation, to air and freshwater pollution and the systematic devastation of a variety of animal species. Will we ever know the lush natural paradise that the first European explorers found when they landed in the “New World.”? Let's hope so, and that in time, proper rewilding would allow parts of this beautiful yet wounded land to be reclaimed by nature. Because the landscapes and ecosystems are so varied, this process will look different in different places. But from regrown forests and the gradual return of suffering species, to cleaner rivers and streams, there could be hints of the rebirth of a North America that was once nearly mythical in its natural wonder.

Fears and misconceptions of rewilding in North America

Insofar as rewilding has become part of regular environmental discourse in North America, it has not inspired much in the way of widespread fear or misconception. There are, however, some misplaced concerns. Some, for instance, fear the spread of predatory wildlife — particularly given the wolf’s prominent place as a de facto symbol of these efforts. Others, even within the environmental movement, see rewilding as something of a gimmick, perhaps subscribing to the theme park argument we’ve seen out of Britain (essentially that rewilding creates fantasy nature parks rather than actually solving environmental issues). But again, there is not a particularly widespread fear of or argument against rewilding in North America at this stage.

The benefits of Rewilding in North America

In the simplest of terms, a rewilded landscape allows nature to function as it’s meant to, which in turn translates to providing us with abundant natural resources and a cleaner environment. In this regard we can borrow again from the aforementioned piece on rewilding in Britain, because really the potential benefits are similar. We’ll see environments producing more food and medicine; we’ll enjoy cooler and cleaner air; reforested areas will perform natural carbon capture; and we may even see eco-tourism opportunities that further benefit the environment (through investment) and boost general wellness.

Rewilding success stories in North America

Among some of the more interesting experiments with rewilding around the world, there are some success stories from the United States and Mexico already. Most notable has been the success of reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park. This served to reduce an over-inflated deer population, which in turn meant less uninterrupted grazing by the deer in concentrated areas. Vegetation regrew, which supported the natural return of numerous other animals (from birds to beavers). And from there the chain reaction grew to the point that the park now supports countless animals that had been driven into either migration or small numbers.

In addition there is the excellent work of The American Prairie Reserve, a Montana-based nonprofit founded in 2004, who are creating a huge wildlife conservation area of over 3 million acres (12,000 km2). It is their objective to purchase and permanently hold title to private lands that glue together a vast mosaic of existing public lands to establish a fully functioning mixed grass prairie ecosystem, complete with migration corridors and native wildlife.

As an individual, how can I get involved in rewilding North America?

There are numerous rewilding organizations and efforts that you can contribute to in North America, and in a number of ways. However, with the rewilding movement still in its early days, there’s also an argument to be made that its biggest needs are in education and leadership. With the growing emphasis on the urgent need for conservation and environmental change, many in North America, particularly in the millennial generation, are returning to school and pursuing online education so as to gain credentials for “green” fields of work. To that point, an online sustainability degree in the U.S. today can lead to careers in conservation, environmental specialization, environmental protection and planning, and even management and legal positions relating to these areas. So, beyond helping organizations actively working on rewilding, one of the best ways to get involved is to pursue relevant education and gain qualifications to obtain a position of influence in the movement.

As we’ve conveyed, rewilding is still in its early stages on this continent And yet, there are plenty of organizations working on it, and there is a high likelihood of more attention being paid to the movement as general concern for environmental issues continues to intensify. Additionally, it should be noted that there is a real opportunity in the region. A few years ago, a university study on the last wild places on the planet essentially mapped where humans’ impact was growing more severe, and where it was stagnant or even subsiding. Various parts of North America produced a surprisingly encouraging picture. This does not mean natural environments in the region aren’t in trouble, nor that things haven’t gotten worse since this study. However, there is an impression that some natural ecosystems are enduring. By extension, rewilding efforts in and around these areas could have tremendous effect.

“Rewilding” is not a widely known term in North America, so here we look into its benefits, success stories, misconceptions & the future of Rewilding In North America.

Rewilding In North America

Its benefits, success stories, misconceptions & what the future holds. 

Climate change – we hear about it on the news, on social media, even on the streets. It is a ‘wicked problem’, one of the most defining and complex issues of our time. What is climate change? What are the causes and impacts and most importantly the solutions? In this article, we will try to break it down for you.

“Climate change is the single greatest threat to a sustainable future but, at the same time, addressing the climate challenge presents a golden opportunity to promote prosperity, security and a brighter future for all.”

Ban Ki-Moon, Former Secretary-General of UN

But, what is the definition of climate change? - Climate change encompasses both global warming driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases, and the resulting large scale shifts in global weather patterns. Although there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century, humans have had an unprecedented impact on the planet's climate system.

Over the past 800,000 years, carbon dioxide (CO2) and surface temperatures on Earth have remained at structured and reliable levels. In the last century, mainly due to the large use of fossil fuels, atmospheric CO2 levels have exceeded historical levels of over 400 parts per million (ppm). The greenhouse effect is a process through which gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun that would otherwise escape into space. This process makes our planet habitable, however, the continuous increase in greenhouse emissions such as CO2 causes extra heat to be trapped and global temperatures to rise. The planet’s surface temperature has risen about 1.1°C since the late 19th century. Most of the warming occurred in the past 40 years and 19 of the 20 warmest years since 1880 have occurred after 2001. 2016 ranks as the warmest year on record and there is a very high chance for 2020 to surpass it.

Human activities are changing our natural greenhouse. More than a century and a half of industrialisation and the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil have increased the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. Other causes for rising emissions include deforestation, increased livestock farming and large scale agriculture. The global forest area has decreased by 178 million hectares between 1990 and 2020, which is an area the size of Libya, or to put it in European terms an area 7 times bigger than the UK. Trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and regulate the climate; cutting forests down does not only reduces this function but also releases the previously stored carbon. One of the main drivers for deforestation has been agricultural expansion and a big reason for this expansion is to provide feed for the increased livestock farming. Cows and sheep produce large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times as warming as CO2, and the use of fertilisers containing nitrogen produces nitrous oxide emissions. 

We can already see the negative effects of climate change and with increasing emissions they will only get worse:

Weather: Besides the temperature rise, there are changes in precipitation patterns; heatwaves, floods, droughts and extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes occur more often and are more widely spread.

Ice: Temperature increase leads to ice melting. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased substantially in mass in the last 30 years, losing on average 150 to 280 billion tons of ice per year. Glaciers around the world such as the Alps, Himalayas, Andes or Rockies are also retreating yearly, and many are at risk of disappearing completely in the next 20-50 years. Not least the extent and thickness of the Arctic Sea Ice is declining rapidly as well.

Ocean: Melting of ice leads to an accelerated sea level rise. The global sea level rose about 20 cm in the last century, which is a threat for small islands and coastal communities. Increased temperatures also lead to a warming ocean , 0.33°C since the 70’s which along with the increased carbon emissions absorbed by the ocean has caused ocean acidification. This has a critical impact on our marine ecosystems.

 “It’s not that the world hasn’t had more carbon dioxide, it’s not that the world hasn’t been warmer. The problem is the speed at which things are changing. We are inducing a sixth mass extinction event kind of by accident and we don’t want to be the ‘extinctee.’”

In 1988 the World Meteorological Organization(WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) set up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide objective scientific information on climate change. Since then, they have released many Assessment Reports about the existing knowledge, causes, potential impacts and response options and Special Reports focusing on specific issues (e.g. Ocean and Cryosphere, Extreme Events, Carbon dioxide capture and storage, etc.) Among these they have also published a report on emissions scenarios, using climate modelling, to make predictions for different climate futures. They present four different pathways, the RCP (Representative Concentration Pathways) and use variables such as greenhouse emissions, energy and land use, technological and socio-economic change to determine different outcomes up to the year 2100. These include a very stringent mitigation scenario, RCP 2.6, two intermediate scenarios, RCP 4.5 and RCP 6 and a worst-case scenario with very high GHG emissions, the RCP 8.5. The first best-case scenario is the one that aims to keep global warming below 2°C by 2100.

In 2015, during the COP 21 (United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Paris, nations agreed to a legally binding commitment to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by pledging to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This is known as the Paris Agreement.

Even if we limit temperature rise to 1.5°C as proposed in the Paris Agreement, we're still not out of the woods. There are already serious climate impacts at 1.5°C including the complete melting of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean in summer, higher sea levels, the death of over 70% of coral reefs, etc.  Every fraction of additional warming is associated with more devastating impacts. Already at 2.0°C, 99% of coral reefs can be lost, the intensity and frequency of droughts and storms would increase, and the sea level would be 1m higher than at 1.5°C. To prevent warming beyond the 1.5°C, emissions need to be reduced every year to 2030 by 7.6% and with each year we fail to act the cost and difficulty goes up. Given the gravity of the impacts that can already be observed, over 1849 jurisdictions in 33 countries have declared a climate emergency.

The commitments will be reviewed and updated at COP 26 in 2021 and sadly most countries are not on track to fulfill their initial pledges. The United Nations says we could have just 11 years left to limit a climate change catastrophe.

There are two possible solutions to the climate emergency: climate adaptation and climate mitigation. Adaptation means addressing the effect, it is “the process of adjustments to actual or expected climate and its effects” (IPCC), trying to minimize the destruction caused by climate change.  Adaptation strategies vary across different sectors, here are some examples:

Infrastructure changes in coastal areas: sea walls, elevated buildings;

Crop changes: drought tolerant crops as a response to areas with less precipitation;

Water policy changes: reducing and recycling water use;

Prescribed fires in prevention to wildfires etc.

Climate Mitigation, the human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases, addresses the root cause of the problem rather than its effect. Here are some of the most well-known examples:

Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energies like solar, wind, hydro and geothermal;

Replacing internal-combustion vehicles with electric ones;

Carbon sequestration through forest and ocean preservation, reforestation, etc.

Climate Adaption is local, with immediate effect and often cheaper, making it the preferred option for many nations. To combat climate change, we need however both types of responses.

Carbon sequestration is the long-term storage of carbon in plants, soils, geologic formations and the ocean. It is one of the most important mitigation strategies in the fight against climate change. 45% of the carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere, the rest is sequestered by the environment. Historically 25% of the carbon emissions were captured by the Earth’s forests and 30% absorbed in the upper layer of the ocean, making these ecosystems vital carbon sinks. The movement of carbon between the atmosphere, land and ocean is known as the carbon cycle. Stopping the degradation and promoting the restoration of land and marine ecosystems has the potential to contribute to a third of the total climate mitigation required by 2030.

Forests are a well-known carbon sink, vast rainforests such as the Amazon are even referred to as the “lungs of the earth” due to their capacity to trap huge amounts of CO2 and release oxygen. Nearly 25% of the world’s population rely on forests for their livelihoods, they provide vital goods and services such as water and healthy soils and are home to 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. Currently, they are both a cause and a solution for climate change. About 10% of the global annual emissions are caused by deforestation. However, the remaining forests absorb 2.6 billion tonnes of CO2 yearly. To ensure resilience to climate change we must, on the one hand, combat deforestation and forest degradations and on the other restore forest landscapes.

Peatlands are a type of wetland, occurring in almost every country and covering 3% of the global land surface (e.g. moors, swamps, etc.). The term refers to the wetland and the peat soil underneath, formed through the accumulation of decomposed plants. High amounts of carbon are stored in the peat soil, double the amount as in the world's forests, making these ecosystems the largest natural terrestrial carbon store. Damaged peatlands release up to 6% of the global emissions, making their restoration and conservation as significant as that of forests. Besides their role as carbon sinks, they also regulate water flows, help minimise flood and drought risks and prevent seawater intrusion. 

Coastal ecosystems, mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows, known as blue carbon, have only recently been recognised for their significant potential in mitigating climate change. These ecosystems sequester and store more carbon per unit than any terrestrial forest. 83% of the global carbon is circulated through the ocean. Coastal habitats cover less than 2% of the ocean area but account for half of the total carbon sequestered in ocean sediments.

Additionally, these blue carbon habitats provide essential benefits and services such as coastal protection and food security. Tropical coastal ecosystems are also home to 25% of all known marine species, making them biodiversity hotspots. There is the need of better management action, such as the increase of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and inclusion of restoration and conservation in national and international climate mitigation plans.

A recent scientific study has found that rewilding natural landscapes damaged by human-driven exploitation can be one of the most effective ways to combat climate change while also recovering dwindling wildlife populations. For example, where herbivores exist at extremely high densities, excessive browsing is limiting the ability of woodlands to regenerate, thereby inhibiting their ability to sequester carbon. Returning predators to an area can therefore help woodlands regenerate and lead to more carbon being captured in the trees and soils. Similarly, an absence of marine predators, specifically whales, could lead to reduced rates of marine carbon sequestration.  Whales play a crucial role in ocean carbon sequestration by circulating essential nutrients from the bottom of the ocean to the surface, where they feed on phytoplankton and other carbon-sequestering flora. By conserving these species, we can protect their vital place in the ocean’s food web and secure their role in capturing carbon and fighting global climate change.

The Greta Effect - What can I personally do about global warming?

"I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is." 

The climate change evidence can seem overwhelming and it can often feel we are too small to achieve change. Don’t get discouraged, here are some things you can do:

Try to reduce your own carbon footprint – check our carbon calculator and read our guides to find out how you can reduce your emissions and impact on the environment in all the different areas of your life: diet, energy, lifestyle, travel , waste;

Get political – vote for parties and politicians who prioritise the issue of climate change;

Take to the streets – join climate activist movements such as Fridays for Future or Extinction Rebellion;

Be vocal – talk to friends and relatives and share knowledge about these urgent issues;

Become a Mossy Earth Member: plant 4 trees every month and contribute to 6 rewilding projects per year;

Support NGOs and businesses who care about the environment;

Stay informed – read about the latest climate science.

The climate crisis

Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot make short film on the climate crisis

Climate School Strikes & Extinction Rebellion

Following Greta's school strike for climate campaign, millions of students around the world have participated in a movement to skip school, mainly on Fridays to participate in peaceful demonstrations to demand immediate action from political and economical leaders, to prevent a climate disaster, and for fossil fuel industries to transition to renewable forms of energy. 

Running parallel to the climate school strikes, and with the same core values, is the Extinction Rebellion movement. Set up in the UK in 2018, Extinction Rebellion has become a global environmental movement with the stated aim of using nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of ecological collapse.

Multimedia tools to stay updated on climate change

Here are some interactive tools to help you stay updated on climate change and visualise what is happening worldwide:

Vital signs of the Planet – check latest climate change data from NASA, stay updated on the latest measurements for CO2, global temperature, Arctic sea ice minimum, ice sheets and the sea level

Climate vulnerability of your city explore how climate change can affect your city in the next 50 years. This tool, by National Geographic, shows you both the current conditions and the climate outlook in a RCP 8.5 worst-case scenario. It includes information on temperatures, precipitation and extreme weather events

Climate Time Machine – look at these satellite observations and time series on how CO2 levels, global temperature, sea ice and the sea level are changing over time

Images of Change – get interactive before-and-after satellite views of changes occurring in places around the world

Weather is short term. How will temperature, humidity, precipitation, clouds, visibility and wind change in the next hour, the next day or the next week?

Climate is long term. Climate is the weather in a particular area, averaged over a long period of time (30+ years), during which we can observe major trends and changes.

Fossil fuels are produced when organic carbon from ancient plants and animals is buried, heated and compressed in the earth's crust under high pressures for hundreds of millions of years. Burning fossil fuels releases stored carbon back into the atmosphere and increases the concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases trap heat in our atmosphere. These include, among others, carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, ozone and nitrous oxide. Without them, our planet would be much colder and would not support the ecosystems we know today.

Carbon sinks are natural environments that can absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for an indefinite period of time. Main natural carbon sinks are plants, soils and the ocean.

Blue carbon is the term used for the carbon absorbed by the ocean and coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses. 

Climate change is one of the most defining and complex issues of our time, but what is climate change? What are the causes, impacts and most importantly the solutions?

What is Climate Change? - The Causes, Impacts and Solutions!

The causes, the impacts but most importantly, the solutions!

Being out of sight for most of us, the subterranean world is a mysterious place that has always captured our imagination. Caves have featured in human folklore since the earliest times. However few stories are as surprising or exciting as the discoveries that are being made by the field of biospeleology which focuses on the creatures that inhabit them. 

Karst caves, the most common type, form through the gradual dissolution of limestone or dolomite bedrock caused by running water over thousands of years. The chambers and tunnels that result are characterised by environmental conditions that are nothing like those of the aboveground world which they are so close to. Low light or complete darkness and a dearth of nutrients makes them seem rather inhospitable to life. However, even in these obscure corners of our planet, there are lifeforms such as the elusive olm 'dragon' that live and thrive. 

If there is one feature that many cave-dwelling animals seem to share it is that they are utterly bizarre to the human eye. This is particularly true for troglobites which are the species that are strictly bound to underground habitats. Millions of years of evolution in this unique environment led to stunning and strange adaptations. Species that once saw daylight have lost many anatomical features. Eyes and skin pigment are of little use in the pitch black so there is nothing preventing the genes behind them from being lost from the population. 

An evolutionary experiment in bizarreness 

Some of the curious creatures of the underworld

Troglobites: Strange Cave Specialists | Planet Earth | BBC Earth

The olm, Proteus anguinus, is one of the most peculiar troglobites we know of and is also one of the most well studied. The first records of the olm salamander come from 1689 in present-day Slovenia when a naturalist called Valvasor found them washing up from underground waters after heavy rains. The local people believed them to be the babies of a cave dragon which is understandable given their appearance.

With a slender body of up to 40 cm the olm salamander swims with an eel-like motion through the well oxygenated underground water it inhabits. Unlike many other salamanders the olm has remained aquatic and relies on external gills to breathe. Generations of natural selection in the dark left the olm salamander blind with underdeveloped and skin-covered eyes. To hunt the crustaceans, insects and snails that make up its diet it relies instead on an acute sense of smell and sound, an ability to sense weak electrical signals and even magnetic fields. Surprisingly though, olms can survive without eating for an entire decade, a feat that seems useful given that food in these caves can often become scarce.  The average lifespan of an olm is estimated to be 58 years and it is thought that some individuals may survive for a century or more. This makes this species a complete outlier in the animal world because it lives much longer than expected for its body size. 

The glowworms of New Zealand, Arachnocampa luminosa, are another fascinating cave dweller. They are not actually worms but fungus-eating flies that have a peculiar hunting strategy during their larval stage. After hatching, the larvae find a good spot on the cave walls from which to hunt. They secrete several threads of sticky web that hang from the ceiling. Each worm is equipped with a specialised organ that uses a chemical reaction to generate blue light. Small flying insects are attracted to the light and are then trapped by the sticky threads. The larvae then start to consume the thread thus pulling the trapped insects and essentially “fishing” them upwards before eating them alive. In caves where glowworms are common, the walls can be seen glowing with dots of blue – a spectacular and strange sight indeed. 

Describing cave life without mentioning bats would be to miss an important part of the puzzle of many subterranean ecosystems. There are about 1400 bat species around the world many of which rely on the stability and protection of subterranean environments. Some species form roosts numbering in the millions. At dusk, they leave their caves to search for food in a spectacular show that has become a tourist attraction in many parts of the world. Some species feed on insects, thus controlling their populations, others are fruit-eaters and play a role in dispersing plant seeds, and some have an important pollinator function as they move around feeding on nectar.

When bats return to the caves and drop their guano (bat faeces) they are serving another important ecological function. They are bringing nutrients from the outside world to places where the absence of light prevents plants that form the base of the food chain elsewhere can’t grow. The guano provides energy for a community of insects, spiders and crustaceans uniquely adapted to take advantage of this cave resource. 

Being out of sight and often hard to access, cave ecosystems are relatively safe from the havoc that human influence is causing in other natural places. Unfortunately, this is often far from the truth. Urban pollution and garbage dumps can contaminate karstic springs and sinkholes which feed water to caves without anyone realising. The olm, for example, is very sensitive to water contamination and this is one of the issues that has to be addressed in its native range in Southeastern Europe. In certain areas, deforestation aboveground can affect water quality belowground as the filtration properties of the soil are altered. In other cases, dams may completely alter the course of rivers and the way in which they flow underground into caves thus altering their chemistry.

When humans visit caves, or modify them in any way, they also threaten this unique ecosystem. The light, noise and structural modification of many “tourist” caves renders the environment unsuitable for creatures which have adapted to a completely different environment. Even caves that have not been modified to accommodate human visitors are threatened by cavers if they are not careful. Groups such as the British Caving Association have come up with specific guidelines to help cavers explore without causing damage. 

Many cave dwellers have a very restricted range and some species exist only in a single cave. This high rate of local endemism means that damage to a single cave system could wipe out a species from the face of the earth. Given that so much of the subterranean world is yet to be explored, chances are that species are being lost in this way before even being described by science.

At Mossy Earth we believe that pristine nature not only provides us with useful services and great enjoyment but that it is valuable in and of itself. One way this translates into concrete work is through our ugly ones' programme which is specifically dedicated to the conservation of threatened species that are considered to be uncharismatic, boring or even “ugly”. Strange and hidden, cave creatures such as the olm are great candidates for this slightly unconventional but urgently needed work. You can expect more news from us about the mysteries of the amazing world under our feet!  

On a mission to help forgotten species and their ecosystems

Delve into the alien world of cave-dwelling animals, including the olm salamander, their conservation, the exciting discoveries that are being made in the field of biospeleology.

Cave-dwelling animals and the olm salamander

An alien world that deserves our attention 

Cave-dwelling animals and their conservation

Rewilding can help create a healthier, more resilient natural world. As we become ever more aware of the threats to our planet and the need to safeguard its future, rewilding offers us a crucial opportunity. But what do we mean by rewilding? The term is controversial and often misunderstood. It's frequently thought to refer to the reintroduction of apex predators, like wolves, to a landscape. Though this is often a piece of the puzzle, rewilding is about much more. Here we answer the question "What is Rewilding?"

For thousands of years, humans have changed landscapes and disrupted natural ecosystems. We've cleared large swathes of forest for agriculture, removed large carnivores from much of their range and changed the course of rivers. We're the ultimate ecosystem engineers and the natural world has suffered at our hands. In the face of climate breakdown and global extinctions, it’s now more urgent than ever that we not only protect what we have left but also restore and rewild the ecosystems that we have destroyed.

This is where rewilding comes in. Rewilding is based on the premise that nature knows best how to take care of itself. We can give it a helping hand and create the right conditions by restoring vital ecosystem processes like predation, grazing, regeneration and decomposition. For example, carnivores like wolves and lynx shape ecosystems in their role as top predators. They affect the numbers and behaviour of prey species and this has a knock-on effect on the other species in the ecosystem. The impacts of these carnivores can be felt as far down the food chain as the plant species, a phenomenon known as a trophic cascade. Today, initiatives across the globe are bringing these top predators back and restoring the species and natural processes that keep the Earth’s ecosystems healthy.

Ultimately, within a rewilded landscape there shouldn’t be much need for active management. Nature can look after itself better and more cost-effectively than we can. Rewilding is therefore about reducing human control over the land. It does not mean removing people from the land entirely. In fact, in these wilder landscapes, people and planet can flourish together.

When nature is healthy, it can provide us with abundant products and services, from food and medicine to flood defences and cool air. It offers rural communities economic opportunities through things like wildlife-based tourism. It makes us feel better too. Connecting with nature is good for our mental and physical health. Of course, it's good for the non-human animals that inhabit our earth too. Top predators and grazers are reclaiming lost ground across the globe while rare plants and insects are making a comeback in regenerating forests. These healthier, more intact ecosystems can also help us fight against climate breakdown by keep carbon stored in plants and soil.

To learn more about the benefits of rewilding, we also recommend reading our Reasons For Rewilding and Trophic Cascades articles. 

There are lots of opportunities for you to personally engage in rewilding, whether it is growing a wildlife-friendly garden of native wildflowers, writing to local councils to leave roadside verges uncut, or volunteering at your local wildlife trust or green space. You could also support one of the many conservation organizations working to restore the world's degraded habitats and protect endangered wildlife. Alternatively, you could sign up as a Mossy Earth member to contribute to monthly rewilding interventions across the globe. 

Rewilding focuses on restoring ecosystem processes. Landscapes are not restored with a fixed set of end goals in mind. It’s not about rebuilding what once was, but about supporting a constantly evolving, ecologically dynamic landscape. Through rewilding, we can create a future in which our natural world is allowed to work without interruption to shape our landscapes. In doing so, we can help bring wilderness back from the brink.

Rewilding is a positive approach to conservation based on that premise that nature knows best. Read on to discover the intricacies of what is rewilding.

What is Rewilding?

How Can It Help Create A Healthier Natural World?

The aurochs (Bos primigenius) is an extinct species of large wild cattle that roamed across much of Europe, Asia and North Africa for about 2 million years. Being a keystone species for many ecosystems, it is seeing a comeback in many European areas in an effort to help rewild the continent.

The auroch was one of Europe’s most important mammal; traces of the animal date back to ancient cave paintings and greek mythology. It played an important role in the development of agriculture, which began some 10,000 years ago. However, domestication, hunting and habitat degradation had already led to a decline of the species in the 13th century. With time, their range was further restricted, leaving only a small population in Poland’s Forest of Jacktorów, which became extinct in 1627.

What were the traits of this magnificent animal?

The auroch was the continent’s heaviest land mammal, with bulls weighing up to 1000kg and an average height of 1.60 m to 1.80m. Despite their size, they were agile animals and their long, thick horns (over a metre in length) provided powerful means of defence against predators. They lived in herds of up to 30 animals and had a lifespan of 25 to 30 years. 

Aurochs were able to adapt and live in various ecosystems across Europe including swamps, forests, steppes and mountains. Their diet consisted of grasses, herbs, leaves, foliage, and acorns in winter.

What makes the aurochs so special? For many thousands of years, Europe's lands have been grazed by wild herbivores like the aurochs, bison or wild horses. These were slowly replaced by domesticated livestock herds, which occupied much of the landscape. The recent decline in animal husbandry means animal grazing and herbivory has been lost from much of the landscape, which poses a great threat for the survival of these habitats. Grazing plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity, as it keeps parts of the land free from forest, therefore providing open habitats for a number of plants and animals. The auroch, or rather its descendent, fills this role of maintaining or in some cases recreating a wild mosaic landscape perfectly.

“We thought we needed a grazer that is fully self-sufficient in case of big predators...and could do the job of grazing big wild areas [...] We reasoned that this animal would have to resemble an auroch." Ecologist Ronald Goderie, Tauros programme

Besides grazing, these “ecological engineers”, help other species of animals, plants and insects thrive: the disturbed soil after grazing and the trampling makes space for pioneer plants. Smaller herbivores such as deer can find protection from predators in auroch herds and birds can feed on cattle insects or use the fur to build nests.

The aurochs filled an important role in Europe’s ecosystems and, though they have gone extinct, their genes are still present in modern cattle. Scientists have been trying to bring them back to life via a process known as back-breeding, a process of crossbreeding domestic cattle with similar characteristics to their auroch ancestors. These include large stature, long legs, a slender and athletic build, horns curving forward, black coats in the males and reddish brown ones in females. 

The first attempt to bring back the auroch was made in the 1920s by German biologists Heinz and Lutz Heck. The result was a breed called the Heck cattle, with some resemblance to the original species. Today, rewilding projects are using a variety of domestic cattle breeds to fulfill the role of the auroch, like Heck cattle and Highland cattle. More recently attempts have been made to achieve a breed that is closer to the auroch.  

Tauros Programme by the Taurus Foundation in collaboration with Rewilding Europe and European Wildlife

Taurus Project by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Biologischer Umweltschutz in Germany 

Uruz Project by the Nature Foundation, in Spain and Portugal

Wetlands project by Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus, GEF and UNDP

The dutch-based Tauros Programme is the largest initiative so far. Breeding of Tauros is happening in six different countries: Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania and the Netherlands and in 2017 there were more than 600 animals, of which 400 are part of the European Wildlife Bank. 

Though a domesticated breed of cattle, these taurus will act very much like their wild ancestors. They will be a free-roaming, self-sufficient herbivore grazing in large herds and restore the wild landscape and enhance biodiversity . They have the ability to defend themselves from predation by carnivores such as wolves and bears but some will inevitably be preyed upon by wild carnivores thereby restoring natural food chains. 

The process of reintroducing a species is slow, however existing initiatives show it is possible. We hope to see more and more of these magnificent free roaming bovines roaming the lands of Europe.

Aurochs and their role in Rewilding.

The Auroch, a species of large wild cattle, once roamed across much of Europe. Being a keystone species, it's seeing a comeback in an effort to help rewild the continent.

Aurochs and their role in rewilding

An extinct species that once roamed across Europe

In this article, we’d like to showcase some of the amazing wildlife in Ireland, discuss their characteristics, their threats and their importance in an ecosystem, while also investigating whether there really is room for a return of wolves in Ireland.

A hen harrier has recently been spotted close to our Irish reforestation project for the first time in 20 years, rousing hopes that the native raptor will return indefinitely to this area of Ireland. A spectacular bird of prey, famed for the differences between male and female, the former is slim, streamlined and mainly silver-grey and white, except for black wing tips while his better half is larger, predominantly brown with fine black markings.

Hen harriers are also notorious for flying very low when hunting, flickering wing-beats followed by short glides and “quartering” systematically back and forth and across its territory in pursuit of small birds and rodents. Harriers are also an indicator species that tells us whether the ecosystem they hunt over is healthy.

Pine Marten – Ireland’s Rarest Native Mammal

The pine marten is Ireland’s rarest native mammal, with just 2,700 individuals remaining. They like to roam well wooded areas with plenty of cover while their dens are commonly found in hollow trees or fallen root masses. Though excellent climbers they prefer to hunt on the ground preying on small rodents, birds, carrion, beetles, eggs fungi and berries.

The greatest threat to wildlife in Ireland, and no more so to the pine marten, has been humans. The loss of woodlands and the persecution of hunters who fear they take eggs and kill game birds have led to the pine marten's demise. Despite years of persecution, numbers in Ireland are fortunately recovering, coinciding with their new-found value as a rewilding species. The resurgent pine martens appear to have rolled back the grey squirrel population, allowing red squirrels to recolonise much of their old territory. Unlike reds, grey squirrels appear to be easy meat for the pine marten.

The hare is an inherent part of Ireland’s culture and wildlife in Ireland, it is as mystical and mythical as Ireland itself. The hare has graced Ireland’s green fields for 20,000 years, making the hare the nation’s oldest mammal.

Hares rely on high-speed endurance running to escape predation, having distinctive long hind legs and large nostrils to do so. Hares are herbivorous and feed mainly on grasses, field crops, buds, and herbs. While rabbits gather in social groups called ‘herds’ and nest underground in warrens, hares are solitary for most of their lives and sleep above ground in their grassland habitats. Generally nocturnal and shy in nature, hares change their behaviour in the spring, when they can be seen in broad daylight chasing one another around in fields.

Once the revered animal of the Saxon goddess of dawn and a sacred creature in Gael mythology, the hare is facing her biggest challenge yet, modern Ireland. Farmers argue hares strip the fields of good grass leaving little for the dairy cows to eat. Though numbers are in decline due to snares, agricultural chemicals, and habit loss, there are some signs of hope …at Ireland’s airports, where they are free from predators and farmers.

One can not discuss wildlife in Ireland without mentioning the misconceived badger. The European badger is a powerfully built black, white, and grey animal. It is a nocturnal, social, burrowing animal that sleeps during the day in one of several setts in its territorial range. These burrows, which may house several badger families, have extensive systems of underground passages and chambers and have multiple entrances. Some setts have been in use for decades. Badgers are very fussy over the cleanliness of their burrow, carrying in fresh bedding and removing soiled material, and they defecate in latrines strategically situated around their territory. Moreover, they are known to even share their burrow with other species such as rabbits and foxes.

Their greatest threat is the controversial government program which culls 7000 badgers a year to minimise the spreading of Bovine tuberculosis, costing the country 3.6 million a year. Despite the lack of any verifiable statistical data linking TB from badgers to cattle, the culling continues with inhumane snares. 80% of badgers caught are not even carrying TB, and when a lactating female is caught her young are left to starve.

IRELAND'S BEAUTIFUL WILDLIFE - A Tribute to some of the amazing wildlife in Ireland - Nature

In the spring and summer months, Ireland is home to the Atlantic puffin. They’re found mainly on the west coast, and a few locations along the east coast. Great Saltee, The cliffs of Moher (close to our Foraois reforesting Ireland project) and Horn Head are good places to see puffins. The Skellig islands off County Kerry are internationally renowned as one of the most important sites for puffins and other breeding seabirds in Ireland. The remainder of the year, Ireland’s puffins migrate to the open ocean of the cold northern seas, before returning again to breed and raise chicks in the safety of Ireland’s cliffs and sea-stacks.

Before becoming extinct in 1786, wolves were once an integral part of wildlife in Ireland and Irish culture, and up until the Middle Ages Ireland was often referred to as Wolfland because of the high number of wolves in Ireland. The Irish landscape was the perfect environment for wolves, with mountains, forests, and tundra to roam, and an abundance of deer and wild boar.

In recent years there has been a call, by various groups, for the reintroduction of wolves in Ireland. But just how realistic is this romantic rewilding Ireland idea? On the one hand, a re-introduction could help manage deer overpopulation, decrease tree damage from grazing, and boost eco-tourism in such areas as wolf watching in Ireland. However, Ireland is a country with a huge agriculture industry, where livestock can be found everywhere. Though wolves pose no danger to humans, the damage to livestock would present huge problems. Furthermore, as there is not enough wild territory nor corridors in Ireland to accommodate a successful wolf pack, only a small number of wolves can be reintroduced and this small population would have to be extensively managed and artificially controlled.

Discover wildlife in Ireland, their characteristics, threats, and importance in an ecosystem. Also, find out whether there is room for wolves in Ireland.

Wildlife in Ireland

A single bee colony can pollinate 300 million flowers each day. Grains are primarily pollinated by the wind, but fruits, nuts, and vegetables are pollinated by bees. Seventy out of the top 100 crops that humans consume, which supplies up to 90% of the world’s nutrition, are pollinated by bees! No bees, no food, it’s that simple. We need to save the bees from bee extinction!

Why are bees under threat of extinction? 

Bee communities, both wild and managed, have been declining over the last half-century. Scientists have found that bees are dying from a variety of factors; pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, nutrition deficit, air pollution, and climate change.

Though many of these causes are interrelated, the bottom line is that humans are largely responsible for the two most prominent causes: pesticides and habitat loss.

Let's look a seven ways we can help reverse the bee's recent demise and prevent a bee extinction. 

Honeybees feed on the flowers from nearby crops and ornamental plants, and it is vital that these are not coated in pesticides that could weaken the hive. Organic farming is the overarching new policy trend that will stabilize human food production, preserve wild habitats, and protect the bees. The nation of Bhutan has led the world in adopting a 100% organic farming policy, while eight European countries have followed suit and banned particular pesticides and genetically modified crops to help revive bee numbers.

Ensure your fruit and vegetables are organically and locally grown if possible, and that you are not using any pesticides in your own garden …even if those weeds do look unsightly on the driveway!

Like human hotels, by building a bee hotel, you’ll be supplying accommodation, refreshment, and even breakfast for bees. Building a bee hotel is an easy win to saving your local bees. Follow this step-by-step guide on how to build and where to put a bee hotel.

If possible, recycle and reuse scrap pieces of wood or furniture, plastic bottles, and old garden canes for your bee hotel. If you have nothing at home, visiting your local waste tip to source your materials. 

Planting for pollinators and rewild your garden, allotment, or even balcony will help honeybees immensely. Bees forage from flowers rich in nectar and pollen, the former contains the sugar they require for energy while the latter provides them essential proteins and oils. When flowers are scarce, bees can starve. Use this plant for pollinators guide to discover which plants (flowers, herbs, shrubs, and trees) to grow, and when they flower. Different bees are active throughout the year, so you’ll need flowering plants from spring to winter.

You can make a huge impact on the health of your local ecosystem by starting a beehive. Having your own beehive can help you learn about bee biology, bee ecosystems, and improve the environment around you. Plus, you get the added benefits of bee products such as raw honey and beeswax, as well as the satisfaction and joy derived from working with a hive. Contact your local beekeeping club for more information.

If you’re not ready for a hive of your own, you can indirectly help bees by supporting your local beekeeper. These keepers work hard to nurture their bees and better the local community for bees and humans alike. The easiest way to do this is to buy locally-made honey and beeswax products. Such as soaps, lotions, and candles.

If you’d like a hive but don’t have the time nor space, why not help fund new hive installations? The Honeybee Conservancy in the U.S. and The British Beekeeping Association are working to install stocked honeybee hives and solitary bee homes in communities across the United States and the UK respectively. By sponsoring/adopting a beehive, you aren’t only helping to save the bees, but to improve communities – beehives provide training and learning opportunities for both young and old, and the bees can help improve the local ecosystem. Such sponsorship programs provide bees and equipment to help people safely set up, maintain and observe such on-site bee sanctuaries at schools, community gardens, and green spaces.

Rewilding is vital for pollinator conservation and the conservation of pollinators is vital for the survival of wild plants that support a diversity of wildlife. Unfortunately, three bumblebee species have become extinct in recent decades and the recent European Red List for Bees reports that almost one in ten species of wild bee face extinction. This is due to a combination of agricultural intensification, habitat loss and fragmentation, as well as pesticides and herbicide use. Wildflower meadows, a prime pollinator habitat, has declined by around 97% in the UK since the 1930s. Rewilding can help restore these vital wildflower meadows and support the conservation of bees and other pollinators. Similarly, by supporting populations of pollinators, we can support the reproduction of native wildflowers and help restore this vital habitat.

Save the bees from extinction! But How?

Save the bees! But how? | Brandon Dawson | TEDxDuke

If you’d like to learn more about bees and/or beekeeping we can recommend the following titles:

The Bee Book: Discover the Wonder of Bees and How to Protect Them for Generations to Come (2016) by DK

Beekeeping: Inspiration and Practical Advice for Beginners (National Trust Home & Garden) (2017) by Andrew T. Davies

Rewilding Articles

What is Biodiversity?

Rewilding In North America

What is Climate Change?

Cave-dwelling animals and their conservation

What is Rewilding?

Aurochs and their role in rewilding

Wildlife in Ireland

Save The Bees

Romania's Brown Bears

Rewilding In Britain

Trophic Cascades

Salmon Farming in Scotland

Rewilding Ireland

A Review of George Monbiot's Feral

Saving Scotland's Wildcats

Lynx in Britain

Tracking Eurasian Lynx

Reasons For Rewilding

Protecting Scotland's Natural World

Wild Boar

Vultures in the Douro Valley

Rewild Your Garden

Rewilding Romania

The Return of European Bison

Rewilding Scotland

What Is The Sixth Mass Extinction?

Tree Extinction

Nature-Based Tourism