Really makes me think of that huge growth mindset in Anglo liberalism. The One Billion Americans and the “England still looks green so we can just build an unlimited number of condominiums for migrants everywhere” mentality. Oldest example of it I can think of was Locke seething at the possibility of America falling into the hands of inefficient manor lords that failed to squeeze maximum producitvity out of their estates. A particularly spicy example from recent years was people laughing at Russia’s weak GDP and salivating over the economic growth potential should Russia fall into Western hands. Annoyingly this strain of liberalism is getting stronger and stronger I suppose because of how anthropocentric it is which dovetails with the human rights focus. Not based on anything empirical, but it feels like the “forest hippies” faction on the left is getting crowded out and even positively targeted as politically problematic these days. There’s been a good amount of articles out there complaining about the implicit whiteness of back to nature beliefs, farmer’s markets etc. for awhile now. I even encountered a Tiktok page dedicated to attacking right-wing environmentalist takes ran by some Ivy Leaguer in a phd track dedicated to that subject specifically
Something about the wild landscape and it's native wildlife appeals to the soul of indigenous Europeans. It is a slap in the face of those who wish to create a denaturated, deracinated, rootless society of consumers. It reminds us of what really matters in life. And that is dangerous.
A key detail of how ruminants graze the land and how it effects the ecosystem is predation. The difference between what's called crash grazing where herds of ruminants eat as much as they can in a short period of time and move on to avoid predators is what creates grasslands that flourish and create biodiversity and therefore a functioning resilient ecosystem. If ruminants are not forced to constantly move they can overgraze or browse desirable plants multiple times weakening the plant and giving an edge to an undesirable plant that may not support the animals when they return. If a management systems goal is to create a functioning natural ecosystem then predators either have to be introduced, or we humans have to create the effect of predation with management through a technique like high density grazing or mob grazing which is time intensive but can be profitable and returns functionality to the land. I recommend the book Holistic Management by Alan Savoury for understanding this more. The sad part is in my home of Tasmania where our sole predator the Tasmanian tiger is extinct, there is essentially no way to get back to our native ecosystem.
Great article Keith keep up the great work you bloody legend!
Rewilding of the land is one of the most necessary yet overlooked mending efforts needed to ensure the survival of Europe's identity. The land mingles with the people. Great read.
Will read this soon. One thing I must say first, however, is that ‘rewilding’ is not real. Untouched landscapes become weed filled monocultures, it is only with proper management and human intervention that varied ecosystems can flourish, this is especially the case in Britain where we don’t have the space for significant predator populations, less true of course in places like Russia. ‘Re-wilding’ success stories are generally human managed like wisent reintroduction in Poland, Romania, and England. Beaver reintroduction requires a lot of observation and management.
People, typically lefty city folk, often think you can just plant a bunch of trees or introduce a new, or old, species and leave to them to their own devices, and all will be ok. Not the case. Plantations will not survive without massively controlling deer numbers and such.
A little ramble-y, sorry, excited to read the article and see what Keith says.
P.S. rewilding activists in England are largely the green party eco freak types like Chris Packham, vegans and urbanites, all of whom have silly idealistic ideas about non-interference and that shooting grouse is like another holocaust.
Thanks Keith. One of the three essential books for Irish Nationalism to read, is Blip by Christopher Clugston. Rewilding is the future and you have no choice. Read the book and a genuine Irish Nationalism will rise and shine. Make Irish babies, breed for intelligence, character and health, prepare and have graceful fun. There is much to look forward to......
“There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.” -Theodore Roosevelt
Outside of Chicago, we have the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie (created in 1996), which is about 18,000 acres and run by the United States Forest Service. This has to be actively administered, like a large garden, since many invasive species from Europe and Asia (such as garlic mustard) are continuously removed. They reintroduced bison in 2015, which is cool since the last recorded bison in Illinois was in 1837.
Good luck getting the free-market Richard Hanania types to see the value in things like this. They don't understand the difference between living in a home and living in an economic exploitation zone. Just another reason why I vote Democrat. It would be nice if the Republicans moved in a Teddy Roosevelt direction on the environment, but they seem to be enthralled by weird Yarvinist ideas at the moment.
I have angered people by pointing out some of the things you have in this essay. It's true, and needs pointing out that (i) Ireland is relatively barren, (ii) the current plantation, cheered/aided on by the 'Greens', is completely at odds with preserving whatever ecological integrity we have left.
This Summer, I walked for 7 days through the British countryside. They have an amazing (and ancient) 'right-of-way' system where people can enjoy the idyllic British countryside. Not so in Ireland. So, what's the solution? Our National Parks are not all they can be, we need to let farmers farm and throw the kitchen sink at our National Parks. We need to remove the sheep, cull deer, and let land recover. We can argue over what is the appropriate mix of wooded pasture and dense forests later!
I propose that after we retvrn our Nat. Parks to refuges for nature, then we start working on green belts and subtle links to join up nature areas in a network.
which period in history constitutes the wild state of the land? this land has been worked for thousands of years, so I'm assuming they must mean how the land was after the ice age and before the neolithic farmers. I think it's another tax dodge, just like when landowners used to plant acres of spruce.
Really makes me think of that huge growth mindset in Anglo liberalism. The One Billion Americans and the “England still looks green so we can just build an unlimited number of condominiums for migrants everywhere” mentality. Oldest example of it I can think of was Locke seething at the possibility of America falling into the hands of inefficient manor lords that failed to squeeze maximum producitvity out of their estates. A particularly spicy example from recent years was people laughing at Russia’s weak GDP and salivating over the economic growth potential should Russia fall into Western hands. Annoyingly this strain of liberalism is getting stronger and stronger I suppose because of how anthropocentric it is which dovetails with the human rights focus. Not based on anything empirical, but it feels like the “forest hippies” faction on the left is getting crowded out and even positively targeted as politically problematic these days. There’s been a good amount of articles out there complaining about the implicit whiteness of back to nature beliefs, farmer’s markets etc. for awhile now. I even encountered a Tiktok page dedicated to attacking right-wing environmentalist takes ran by some Ivy Leaguer in a phd track dedicated to that subject specifically
This is an appealing vision for Europe which will unfortunately go over the heads of the GDP obsessives.
Fantastic read
Thanks!
Something about the wild landscape and it's native wildlife appeals to the soul of indigenous Europeans. It is a slap in the face of those who wish to create a denaturated, deracinated, rootless society of consumers. It reminds us of what really matters in life. And that is dangerous.
Well said
Excellent read.
Thank you
No problem.
A key detail of how ruminants graze the land and how it effects the ecosystem is predation. The difference between what's called crash grazing where herds of ruminants eat as much as they can in a short period of time and move on to avoid predators is what creates grasslands that flourish and create biodiversity and therefore a functioning resilient ecosystem. If ruminants are not forced to constantly move they can overgraze or browse desirable plants multiple times weakening the plant and giving an edge to an undesirable plant that may not support the animals when they return. If a management systems goal is to create a functioning natural ecosystem then predators either have to be introduced, or we humans have to create the effect of predation with management through a technique like high density grazing or mob grazing which is time intensive but can be profitable and returns functionality to the land. I recommend the book Holistic Management by Alan Savoury for understanding this more. The sad part is in my home of Tasmania where our sole predator the Tasmanian tiger is extinct, there is essentially no way to get back to our native ecosystem.
Great article Keith keep up the great work you bloody legend!
Savoury Institute!
Yes! Also recommend Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels for gardening.
Fantastic read and it should be intuitively obvious even to hand-wringing normies.
This needs to go viral in print and audio.
Appreciate it
I would recommend "The Rape of Ireland" (1940) by John MacKay.
Had not heard of this, I'll have a look for it
Rewilding of the land is one of the most necessary yet overlooked mending efforts needed to ensure the survival of Europe's identity. The land mingles with the people. Great read.
Will read this soon. One thing I must say first, however, is that ‘rewilding’ is not real. Untouched landscapes become weed filled monocultures, it is only with proper management and human intervention that varied ecosystems can flourish, this is especially the case in Britain where we don’t have the space for significant predator populations, less true of course in places like Russia. ‘Re-wilding’ success stories are generally human managed like wisent reintroduction in Poland, Romania, and England. Beaver reintroduction requires a lot of observation and management.
People, typically lefty city folk, often think you can just plant a bunch of trees or introduce a new, or old, species and leave to them to their own devices, and all will be ok. Not the case. Plantations will not survive without massively controlling deer numbers and such.
A little ramble-y, sorry, excited to read the article and see what Keith says.
P.S. rewilding activists in England are largely the green party eco freak types like Chris Packham, vegans and urbanites, all of whom have silly idealistic ideas about non-interference and that shooting grouse is like another holocaust.
Thanks Keith. One of the three essential books for Irish Nationalism to read, is Blip by Christopher Clugston. Rewilding is the future and you have no choice. Read the book and a genuine Irish Nationalism will rise and shine. Make Irish babies, breed for intelligence, character and health, prepare and have graceful fun. There is much to look forward to......
“There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.” -Theodore Roosevelt
The return of the "Wandervogel"
Outside of Chicago, we have the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie (created in 1996), which is about 18,000 acres and run by the United States Forest Service. This has to be actively administered, like a large garden, since many invasive species from Europe and Asia (such as garlic mustard) are continuously removed. They reintroduced bison in 2015, which is cool since the last recorded bison in Illinois was in 1837.
Good luck getting the free-market Richard Hanania types to see the value in things like this. They don't understand the difference between living in a home and living in an economic exploitation zone. Just another reason why I vote Democrat. It would be nice if the Republicans moved in a Teddy Roosevelt direction on the environment, but they seem to be enthralled by weird Yarvinist ideas at the moment.
I have angered people by pointing out some of the things you have in this essay. It's true, and needs pointing out that (i) Ireland is relatively barren, (ii) the current plantation, cheered/aided on by the 'Greens', is completely at odds with preserving whatever ecological integrity we have left.
This Summer, I walked for 7 days through the British countryside. They have an amazing (and ancient) 'right-of-way' system where people can enjoy the idyllic British countryside. Not so in Ireland. So, what's the solution? Our National Parks are not all they can be, we need to let farmers farm and throw the kitchen sink at our National Parks. We need to remove the sheep, cull deer, and let land recover. We can argue over what is the appropriate mix of wooded pasture and dense forests later!
I propose that after we retvrn our Nat. Parks to refuges for nature, then we start working on green belts and subtle links to join up nature areas in a network.
which period in history constitutes the wild state of the land? this land has been worked for thousands of years, so I'm assuming they must mean how the land was after the ice age and before the neolithic farmers. I think it's another tax dodge, just like when landowners used to plant acres of spruce.