Hi, I’m Elena and I’ve just joined the Wild Card team, and I’m proud to now call myself a Wild Cardigan! I’m a writer and an artist, and currently retraining as an ecologist after years spent working in international events.
It’s a harsh world, the events world, that creates a lot of pollution and adds a heap of carbon to the atmosphere with all the flights and shipping of equipment, not to mention building events on land better left to nature. Unable to ignore the fact that the world my career was built on was an environmental disaster, as well as being complicit in sports-washing and green-washing, I decided that I needed to step back and forge a new path. I’m lucky that I’ve come to Wild Card at such an exciting time, with ongoing discussions with the Crown Estate, and a well-supported campaign to get the Duchy of Cornwall to agree to rewild their land in Dartmoor, allowing our native temperate rainforests to spread their gnarled roots and twisted, lichen-covered branches up hillsides and along river valleys. Nature has always been a grounding place for me, as it has for many of us. When the stress of the job got too much, going and planting my feet on the grass or splashing my face with wild river water allowed me to come back to earth. Walking to work in Switzerland across wildflower meadows early in the morning, and having close encounters with foxes, deer, mice and owls lifted my heart even as I headed to the office, and washed away the long day as I walked home again. The science behind the effect that nature has on our nervous systems is well documented, with studies done looking into the benefits of forest bathing*, walking barefoot**, being by water*** and the calming and healing effects of the colours blue and green****. Being in nature and around animals has even been shown to help those suffering from severe mental health issues, such as being in the presence of bees to help veterans with PTSD*****. But our connection to nature should be more than just breathing in the chemicals of the trees or feeling bare feet on the ground. We have lost our enchantment of the natural world. Sharon Blackie, author of The Enchanted Life, says that, “our growing modern malaise – anxiety, depression, disease and dis-ease, a multiplicity of dysfunctions – springs in good part from our alienation from the natural order of the world and from our natural selves.” Once, every bird call, every flower, every tree would have held meaning for us as we went about our daily lives. Story, myth, legend and history was woven into the world around us, the big stone we pass on our way to work that the devil dropped, the river we cross where river sprites live. A rejuvenation of our folklore can help us connect more deeply to nature. Dee Dee Chainey, folklorist and author says, “Folklore is often used to restore a sense of tribal identity based on quite a selective view of the past. Often this can be positive – tying people to the land around them, providing a sense of environmental responsibility and producing a social cohesion that leads to supporting others in the community”. There has been a big resurgence in recent years in folklore and folk custom, as a response to our growing disconnection from the places we live and the wonder of the natural world. It can be hard in our modern world to switch off from our phones, the tech that pulls our focus. And with ever increasingly busy lives (despite the promise of industrialisation to give us more free time), finding time to go outside and simply be can seem impossible. There’s an old zen proverb that says, “you should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day – unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.” We can say the same about spending time in nature. When I’m at my most frazzled, most busy, that is when I need the calming sound of the ocean or the sun and wind on my skin. We can all reconnect to our local area and the nature there through spending time identifying our wildlife, our animals, plants, trees and flowers. We can read signs and tracks, and forage wild food. Even something as simple as gathering a few herbs and adding them to some home-cooked bread can ground us and connect us to the natural world around us. We can learn our local folklore and see what it tells us about the area, what animals and plants feature in them? Perhaps there are places named for the type of tree that used to make up a woodland in the area, or hints that owls once filled the night sky. As I feel the call of the wild, I am trying to shift course and put all my skills and experience into leaving the world, in some small way, better than when I arrived. And considering the depletion of nature since the eighties, it would take some doing even just to leave it as good as when I arrived! A part of my journey is taking part in the flagship rewilding training at Embercombe, with heavyweights of the field such as Derek Gow (the man that reintroduced beaver to the UK), Alan Watson Featherstone (founder of Trees for Life), Alastair Driver (Director of Rewilding Britain) and Cain Blythe (CEO of Ecosulis). With tutors like this, I am a sponge waiting to soak up the skills and knowledge I need to go out into the monoculture fields, empty skies and polluted rivers of the UK and start undoing some of the harm we’ve all contributed to. So what could the future look like, if we returned our peatlands, temperate rainforest, fens and chalk river valleys to their natural state? What would it look like if we all had access to them? What would it look like if everything around us in the natural world had meaning for us, conjured stories and myths and histories? A future where Sherwood was a forest again, where we could hear the song of the nightingales, the call of the curlews, where we could see the dams of beavers and the footprints of lynxes? We can have a future filled with the wonder and enchantment of nature, with better mental and physical health, a feeling of guardianship over the land and waters that we can all access, a sense of belonging and community, a new Merry Old England. *https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11469-020-00363-4 **https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/could-walking-barefoot-on-the-grass-improve-your-health-the-science-behind-grounding/2018/07/05/12de5d64-7be2-11e8-aeee-4d04c8ac6158_story.html ***https://qz.com/1347904/blue-mind-science-proves-the-health-benefits-of-being-by-water ****https://www.apa.org/monitor/apr01/greengood *****https://nypost.com/2019/09/11/veterans-with-ptsd-anxiety-turn-to-beekeeping/
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As each day passes, as we head towards the Coronation, we learn about more and more announcements coming from Buckingham Palace about actions that WE can take in honour of the King. These actions are increasingly shifting the responsibility to us, the "loyal subjects", to take action against the climate and ecological crisis. Here at Wild Card we've pulled together a couple of small actions to help remind the King that whilst he's encouraging us to take action, he too, has a responsibility to act! Print Some BuntingIf your street is having a street party, why not print out some Wild Card q̶u̶i̶c̶h̶e̶ s̶l̶i̶c̶e̶ bunting and start awkward conversations with your neighbours about how the Royals aren't doing enough! Don't forget to take a photo and tag us on social media using the #rewildtheroyals hashtag! Update Your Social Media AvatarLet's flood social media with little reminders of what King Charles III should actually be doing. Don't forget to tag us on social media using the #rewildtheroyals hashtag. Send The King A PostcardLet's send the King a little post card reminder. Don't forget to take a photo and tag us on social media, using the #rewildtheroyals hashtag.
1. Download and print this file 2. Fold it in half and glue it together 3. Write a little message introducing yourself 4. Sign it 5. Stick a stamp on it and post it Our petition to William, Prince of Wales, asking to “Bring back Britain’s rainforest” has nearly reached 30,000 signatures, which is a great start.
Here’s a selection of the comments… “I know Dartmoor well, having been brought up on its edge. Don't fall for the hill farmers' patter! Dartmoor farms produce negligible quantities of food and its farmers' incomes comprise almost entirely of taxpayer-funded subsidies. It would be far better to pay the farmers to manage the land for wildlife. Currently most of Dartmoor is just a bland desert of molinia grasses supporting very little wildlife of any kind. It's time to regrow the temperate rainforests and re-wet the peat bogs.” John L. “Rewilding and recovery of lost ecosystems and biodiversity is proven to have wide ranging benefits to the environment and society. It also unlocks local employment in rural areas of the UK. Huge support for the Duke of Cornwall to show the rest of the UK landowners what they should all be doing.” Oliver W. “If Prince William wants to be seen as being truly eco-friendly then allowing these lands to become rewilded makes obvious and environmental sense to help alleviate the climate crisis we are suffering worldwide. This small island needs all the rainforest we can manage to help restore its rich biodiversity that is being continually destroyed with impunity.” Jason S. “Rewilding in other areas has brought back rare species and produced wonderful benefits for wildlife and humans alike. What’s not to like?” Helen W. You can view and sign the petition here… LET’S GET IT TO 100,000 You might have noticed that the Wild Card website has had a little revamp. As part of this makeover we’ve now got a blog area where we’ll be inviting our core team to post their latest thoughts, updates and news as well as inviting guest bloggers to post on specific subjects. This new addition should hopefully make the site a bit more dynamic and engaging whilst giving you a reason to keep checking back! It’s been an exciting beginning of the year for us and lots of work has been going on behind the scenes to ensure that 2023 has the greatest positive impact it can for wildlife and humans alike. Last weekend we joined 3000 other nature lovers on Dartmoor to demand the right to wild camp (thanks for the photo Eddy). We believe having a strong connection with nature instills a desire to protect it. We firmly believe that everybody should be able to access truly wild places. Whilst on Dartmoor we took the opportunity to explore some of the last remaining fragments of temperate rainforest in the area. Yep, you read that correctly - RAINFOREST! Temperate rainforests occur in mid-latitude, temperate zones, in places which receive heavy rainfall due to an 'oceanic' climate. Put more simply: temperate rainforests are very damp woodlands – so damp that plants grow on other plants. A UK temperate rainforest is one of the rarest and most diverse ecosystems that we have in the UK. A good example of this habitat could contain up to 400 different species of bryophytes and lichen and the tree canopies can support a rich diversity of birds; wood warblers, pied flycatchers, redstarts, treecreepers, green woodpeckers, jays… the list goes on. Since the death of the Queen, Prince William is now the largest single landowner in England and as the new Prince of Wales, he is now officially the custodian of ⅓ of Dartmoor. Despite always being outspoken about the environment… much of this land is an ecological disaster.
Dartmoor falls under Britain’s ecologically significant ‘rainforest zone’ and believe it or not, should be covered in ancient lichen and moss covered trees, just like Wistman’s Wood. We’ll be launching a new campaign very soon; together, we can help encourage Prince William to take simple steps, like fencing off existing areas of rainforest and allowing it to spread naturally without being grazed by domestic animals. More on that coming very soon. For now please enjoy and explore our new website. |
AuthorOur blog posts are written by our core team and guest bloggers. If you have an idea for a blog post please pitch it to info@wildcard.land Archives
May 2023
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