Let’s rewild large parts
by Gerard Sarnat MD
of the Earth while we rewild
large parts of ourselves.
My adult son is an entomologist, specifically a myrmecologist (in his case, an “ant man”) who has been primarily interested in digging in dirt before he could walk. As a pre-teen, we visited Harvard Professor E.O. Wilson’s ant-farm exhibit in Cambridge, which inspired him to write essentially the same increasingly sophisticated paper starting, “Ants have done agriculture and had slaves for millions of years” for grade, high school, college and PhD presentations — all of which I was privileged to attend, and be influenced by. His UC Berkeley college prof paid him the ultimate compliment of “likely being the next E.O. Wilson”.
Rewilding was developed as a method to preserve functional ecosystems and reduce biodiversity loss, incorporating research in island biogeography and the ecological role of large carnivores. In 1967, Wilson’s ‘The Theory of Island Biogeography’ established the importance of considering the size and isolation of wildlife conservation areas, stating that protected areas remained vulnerable to extinctions if small and isolated. By happenstance, a family friend and another geographer, Jared Diamond (most famous for ‘Guns, Germs, and Steel‘) has also influenced my once-boy to be a champion of re-wilding and biodiversity.
Further reading:
‘The Theory of Island Biogeography’, Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson, Princeton University Press, https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691088365/the-theory-of-island-biogeography
‘The Theory of Island Biogeography’, Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Island_Biogeography
‘Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies’, Jared Diamond, W. W. Norton Books: https://wwnorton.com/books/Guns-Germs-and-Steel/
‘Guns, Germs, and Steel’, Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel
Author bio:
Gerard Sarnat MD’s authored ‘HOMELESS CHRONICLES’, ‘Disputes’, ’17s’, and ‘Melting The Ice King’. Gerry’s published by Gargoyle, Newark Public Library, Blue Minaret, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, Main Street Rag, New Delta Review, Northampton Review, New Haven Institute, Buddhist Review, American Journal Poetry, Poetry Quarterly, Brooklyn Review, LA Review, SF Magazine, NY Times. You can find out more about Gerard’s work here: gerardsarnat.com