For more wonder, rewild the world | George Monbiot

Translator: Anders Finn Jørgensen Reviewer: Allan Jensen

When I was a young man, I spent six years

Da jeg var en ung mand, brugte jeg 6 år

of wild adventure in the tropics

på vilde eventyr i troperne,

working as an investigative journalist

hvor jeg arbejdede som undersøgende journalist

in some of the most bewitching parts of the world.

i nogle af de mest fortryllede steder af verden.

I was as reckless and foolish as only young men can be.

Jeg var uforsigtig og tåbelig som en ung mand kan være.

This is why wars get fought.

Det er derfor krige kæmpes.

But I also felt more alive than I've ever done since.

Men jeg følte mig også mere i live end jeg har gjort siden.

And when I came home, I found the scope of my existence

Og da jeg kom hjem, fandt jeg at formålet med min tilværelse

gradually diminishing

gradvist blev formindsket

until loading the dishwasher seemed like an interesting challenge.

indtil det at fylde opvaskemaskinen blev en interessant udfordring.

And I found myself sort of

Og jeg følte at jeg ligesom kradsede

scratching at the walls of life,

på livets mur,

as if I was trying to find a way out

og jeg prøvede at finde en vej ud

into a wider space beyond.

til en mere åben verden udenfor.

I was, I believe, ecologically bored.

Jeg led, tror jeg, af økologisk kedsomhed.

Now, we evolved in rather more challenging times than these,

Vi udviklede os i mere udfordrende tider end disse,

in a world of horns and tusks and fangs and claws.

i en verden fuld af horn, stødtænder og klør.

And we still possess the fear and the courage

Og vi besidder stadigvæk frygten, modet

and the aggression required to navigate those times.

og aggressionen nødvendig for at navigere i disse tider.

But in our comfortable, safe, crowded lands,

Men i vores komfortable, sikre og overfyldte lande,

we have few opportunities to exercise them

har vi få muligheder for at udfolde dem

without harming other people.

uden at gøre skade på andre mennesker.

And this was the sort of constraint that I found myself

Og det var den slags bindinger jeg fandt mig selv

bumping up against.

viklet ind i.

To conquer uncertainty,

At erobre det ukendte,

to know what comes next,

at forudsige det næste,

that's almost been the dominant aim of industrialized societies,

det er næsten blevet det dominerende mål for den industrialiserede verden.

and having got there, or almost got there,

Og efter at have været der eller næsten været der,

we have just encountered a new set of unmet needs.

vi har bare mødt et nyt sæt af uopfyldte behov.

We've privileged safety over experience

Vi har prioriteret sikkerhed over oplevelse

and we've gained a lot in doing so,

og vi har opnået meget ved at gøre det,

but I think we've lost something too.

men vi har også mistet noget.

Now, I don't romanticize evolutionary time.

Jeg romantiserer ikke urtiden.

I'm already beyond the lifespan of most hunter-gatherers,

Jeg er allerede udover levealderen for de fleste jæger-samlere,

and the outcome of a mortal combat between me

og udfaldet af en tvekamp mellem mig nærsynet

myopically stumbling around with a stone-tipped spear

snublende rundt med et spyd med stenspids

and an enraged giant aurochs

og en ophidset kæmpe urokse

isn't very hard to predict.

er ikke svær at forudse.

Nor was it authenticity that I was looking for.

Det er heller ikke autencitet jeg er på udkig efter.

I don't find that a useful or even intelligible concept.

Jeg finder ikke at det er et brugbart eller meningsfuldt koncept.

I just wanted a richer and rawer life

Jeg ønsker bare et rigere og mere råt liv

than I've been able to lead in Britain, or, indeed,

end det er muligt at leve i Storbritannien eller selvfølgeligt

that we can lead in most parts of the industrialized world.

i størsteparten af den industrialiserede verden.

And it was only when I stumbled across an unfamiliar word

Og det var først da jeg stødte på et ukendt ord

that I began to understand what I was looking for.

jeg begyndte at forstå hvad jeg var på udkig efter.

And as soon as I found that word,

Og så snart jeg havde fundet ordet,

I realized that I wanted to devote

forstod jeg at jeg ønskede at hengive

much of the rest of my life to it.

meget af resten af mit liv til det.

The word is "rewilding,"

Ordet er "genvildning"

and even though rewilding is a young word,

og selvom genvildning et et ungt ord

it already has several definitions.

har det allerede mange definitioner.

But there are two in particular that fascinate me.

Men der er to så i særlig grad fascinerer mig.

The first one is the mass restoration

Det første er massegenopretning

of ecosystems.

af økosystemer.

One of the most exciting scientific findings

En af de mest ophidsende videnskabelige opdagelser

of the past half century

i det sidste halve århundrede

has been the discovery of widespread trophic cascades.

har været opdagelsen af udbredte trofiske kaskader.

A trophic cascade is an ecological process

En trofisk kaskade er en økologisk proces,

which starts at the top of the food chain

som starter i toppen af fødekæden

and tumbles all the way down to the bottom,

og forplanter sig hele vejen ned til bunden

and the classic example is what happened

og det klassiske eksempel på dette skete

in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States

i Yellowstone National Park i USA

when wolves were reintroduced in 1995.

da ulve blev genudsat i 1995.

Now, we all know that wolves kill various species of animals,

Vi ved alle at ulve dræber en masse slags dyrearter,

but perhaps we're slightly less aware

men hvad vi er mindre opmærksomme på

that they give life to many others.

er at de giver liv til en masse andre.

It sounds strange, but just follow me for a while.

Det lyder mærkeligt, men prøv at følge mig.

Before the wolves turned up,

Før ulvene kom,

they'd been absent for 70 years.

de havde været væk i 70 år.

The numbers of deer, because there was nothing to hunt them,

Var antallet af hjorte, fordi intet jagtede dem,

had built up and built up in the Yellowstone Park,

forøget kraftigt i Yellowstone parken,

and despite efforts by humans to control them,

og tiltrods for menneskers tiltag for at kontrollerer dem,

they'd managed to reduce much of the vegetation there

fik hjortene reduceret meget af vegetationen

to almost nothing, they'd just grazed it away.

til næsten ingenting, de bare græssede det væk.

But as soon as the wolves arrived,

Men ligeså snart ulvene kom,

even though they were few in number,

selvom de blot var nogle få,

they started to have the most remarkable effects.

fik de straks bemærkelsesværdige effekter.

First, of course, they killed some of the deer,

Først, selvfølgeligt, dræbte de nogle af hjortene,

but that wasn't the major thing.

men det var ikke det væsentligste.

Much more significantly,

Meget mere signifikant,

they radically changed the behavior of the deer.

så ændrede de hjortenes adfærd.

The deer started avoiding certain parts of the park,

Hjortene begyndte at undgå bestemte steder i parken,

the places where they could be trapped most easily,

steder hvor de nemmest kunne blive fanget ,

particularly the valleys and the gorges,

specielt dale og kløfter,

and immediately those places started to regenerate.

og med det samme begyndte disse steder at gendannes.

In some areas, the height of the trees

På nogle steder, blev træhøjden

quintupled in just six years.

femdobles på bare 6 år.

Bare valley sides quickly became forests of aspen

Bare dalsider blev hurtigt skove med asp,

and willow and cottonwood.

pil og popler.

And as soon as that happened,

Og ligeså snart det skete

the birds started moving in.

begyndte fuglene at flytte ind.

The number of songbirds, of migratory birds,

Antallet af sangfugle, trækfugle,

started to increase greatly.

begyndte at stige stort.

The number of beavers started to increase,

Antallet af bævere begyndte at stige,

because beavers like to eat the trees.

fordi bævere kan lide at spise træerne.

And beavers, like wolves, are ecosystem engineers.

Og bævere, ligesom ulve, er økosystemingeniører.

They create niches for other species.

De skaber nicher for andre arter.

And the dams they built in the rivers

Og dæmningerne de bygger i floderne

provided habitats for otters and muskrats

skaber habitater for oddere og muskusrotter

and ducks and fish and reptiles and amphibians.

ænder, fisk, krybdyr og padder.

The wolves killed coyotes, and as a result of that,

Ulvene dræber coyoter med et resultat at

the number of rabbits and mice began to rise,

antallet af kaniner og mus begyndte at stige

which meant more hawks, more weasels,

hvilket betød flere høge, flere lækatte

more foxes, more badgers.

flere ræve og flere grævlinge.

Ravens and bald eagles came down to feed

Ravne og ørne slog sig ned

on the carrion that the wolves had left.

på ådsler som ulvene har efterladt.

Bears fed on it too, and their population began to rise as well,

Bjørne spiste også af dem og deres population begyndte ligeledes at stige.

partly also because there were more berries

Blandt andet fordi der kom flere bær

growing on the regenerating shrubs,

på de gendannede buske.

and the bears reinforced the impact of the wolves

Og bjørnene forstærkede noget af effekten af ulvene

by killing some of the calves of the deer.

ved at dræbe nogle af hjortekidene.

But here's where it gets really interesting.

Men der hvor det for alvor bliver interessant.

The wolves changed the behavior of the rivers.

Ulvene ændrede flodernes opførsel.

They began to meander less.

De begyndte at sno sig mindre.

There was less erosion. The channels narrowed.

Der var mindre jorderosion. Strømløbene blev smallere.

More pools formed, more riffle sections,

Flere damme blev dannet, flere stenede stykker

all of which were great for wildlife habitats.

som alle er gode habitater for vilde dyr.

The rivers changed

Floderne ændrede sig

in response to the wolves,

som respons på ulvene,

and the reason was that the regenerating forests

og grunden var den gendannede skov

stabilized the banks so that they collapsed less often,

som stabiliserede bredderne, så de skred mindre sammen

so that the rivers became more fixed in their course.

så floderne blev mere konstante i deres forløb.

Similarly, by driving the deer out of some places

Tilsvarende, ved at drive hjortene ud fra nogle steder

and the vegetation recovering on the valley sides,

og vegetationen gendannet på dalsiderne,

there was less soil erosion,

var der mindre jorderosion,

because the vegetation stabilized that as well.

fordi vegetationen stabiliserede den.

So the wolves, small in number,

Så ulvene, få i antal,

transformed not just the ecosystem

ændrede ikke bare et økosystemmet i

of the Yellowstone National Park, this huge area of land,

Yellowstone National Park, dette kæmpe område,

but also its physical geography.

men også dets fysiske geografi.

Whales in the southern oceans

Hvalerne i i det sydlige ocean

have similarly wide-ranging effects.

har tilsvarende langtrækkende effekter.

One of the many post-rational excuses

En af mange efterrationaliseringer

made by the Japanese government for killing whales

som den japanske regering gør for at undskylde hvaldrabene

is that they said, "Well, the number of fish and krill will rise

er at de siger: "Altså, antallet af fisk og krill vil stige

and then there'll be more for people to eat."

og derfor vil der være mere for folk at spise."

Well, it's a stupid excuse, but it sort of

Det er en åndssvag undskyldning, men den

kind of makes sense, doesn't it,

giver en salgs mening, gør den ikke?

because you'd think that whales eat huge amounts

fordi du tænker at hvaler spiser enorme mængder

of fish and krill, so obviously take the whales away,

af fisk og krill, så hvis vi fjerner hvalerne

there'll be more fish and krill.

vil der blive mere fisk og krill.

But the opposite happened.

Men det modsatte skete.

You take the whales away,

Hvis du fjerner hvalerne,

and the number of krill collapses.

vil antallet af krill kollapse.

Why would that possibly have happened?

Hvordan er det muligt at det sker?

Well, it now turns out that the whales are crucial

Det viser sig at hvaler er afgørende

to sustaining that entire ecosystem,

for at opretholde hele økosystemet,

and one of the reasons for this

og en af grundene for dette

is that they often feed at depth

er at de ofte spiser i dybten

and then they come up to the surface and produce

og når de kommer op i overfladen og producerer

what biologists politely call large fecal plumes,

hvad biologerne venligt kalder fækalieskyer,

huge explosions of poop right across the surface waters,

kæmpe eksplosioner af bæ hen over overfladevandet

up in the photic zone, where there's enough light

oppe i den zone, hvor der er nok lys

to allow photosynthesis to take place,

til at fotosyntesen kan ske,

and those great plumes of fertilizer

og disse store skyer af gødning

stimulate the growth of phytoplankton,

stimulerer væksten af fytoplankton,

the plant plankton at the bottom of the food chain,

det planteplankton som udgør bunden af fødekæden

which stimulate the growth of zooplankton,

som stimulerer væksten af zooplankton,

which feed the fish and the krill and all the rest of it.

som er føde for fisk og krill og alt det andet.

The other thing that whales do is that,

En anden ting som hvaler gør at

as they're plunging up and down through the water column,

mens de bevæger sig op og ned gennem vandsøjlen

they're kicking the phytoplankton

trækker de planteplankton

back up towards the surface

op mod overfladen

where it can continue to survive and reproduce.

hvor det kan fortsætte med at leve og formere sig.

And interestingly, well, we know

Og interessant nok, så ved vi

that plant plankton in the oceans

at planteplankton i oceanerne

absorb carbon from the atmosphere --

absorberer CO2 fra atmosfæren

the more plant plankton there are,

og jo mere plankton der er

the more carbon they absorb --

jo mere kan det absorbere

and eventually they filter down into the abyss

og derefter trække det ned i dybet

and remove that carbon from the atmospheric system.

og fjerne det fra det atmosfæriske system.

Well, it seems that when whales were at their historic populations,

Altså, det ser ud til at da mængden af hvalerne var i deres oprindelige størrelse,

they were probably responsible for sequestering

var de muligvis ansvarlig for fjernelse

some tens of millions of tons of carbon

af nogle ti millioner tos af CO2

every year from the atmosphere.

hvert år fra atmosfæren.

And when you look at it like that, you think,

Og når du kigger på det på den måde, tænker du

wait a minute, here are the wolves

vent et minut, her er ulvene

changing the physical geography of the Yellowstone National Park.

som ændrer den fysiske geografi i Yellowstone National Park.

Here are the whales changing

Her er hvalerne som ændrer

the composition of the atmosphere.

atmosfærens sammensætning.

You begin to see that possibly,

Du begynder muligvis at se

the evidence supporting James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis,

fakta, som støtter James Levelocks Gaia hypotese,

which conceives of the world as a coherent,

der betragter verden som en sammenhængende

self-regulating organism,

selvregulerende organisme,

is beginning, at the ecosystem level, to accumulate.

begynder på økosystem niveau, at akkumulerer.

Trophic cascades

Trofiske kaskader

tell us that the natural world

fortæller os at den naturlige verden

is even more fascinating and complex than we thought it was.

er endnu mere fascinerende og kompleks en vi troede den var.

They tell us that when you take away the large animals,

De fortæller os, at når du tager de store dyr væk,

you are left with a radically different ecosystem

får du et radikalt anderledes økosystem

to one which retains its large animals.

end et som har bevaret sine store dyr.

And they make, in my view, a powerful case

Og går gør, syntes jeg, et stærkt forsvar for

for the reintroduction of missing species.

genintroduktion af manglende arter.

Rewilding, to me,

Genvildning, for mig,

means bringing back some of the missing plants and animals.

betyder at bringe nogle af de manglende planter og dyr tilbage.

It means taking down the fences,

Det betyder at fjerne hegnene,

it means blocking the drainage ditches,

det betyder at blokerer drænrørene,

it means preventing commercial fishing in some large areas of sea,

det betyder at udelukke kommerciel fiskeri fra store områder af havet,

but otherwise stepping back.

men eller at træde tilbage.

It has no view as to what a right ecosystem

Det har intet synspunkt om hvad et rigtigt økosystem

or a right assemblage of species looks like.

eller hvordan den rette sammensætning af arter ser ud.

It doesn't try to produce a heath or a meadow

Det forsøger ikke at lave en hede eller en eng

or a rain forest or a kelp garden or a coral reef.

eller regnskov, eller tangskov eller koralrev.

It lets nature decide,

Lad naturen bestemme,

and nature, by and large, is pretty good at deciding.

og naturen, som sådan, er temmelig god til at beslutte.

Now, I mentioned that there are two definitions

Nu, jeg sagde at der var to definitioner på

of rewilding that interest me.

genvildning, som interesserer mig.

The other one

Den anden

is the rewilding of human life.

er genvildning af den menneskelige liv.

And I don't see this as an alternative

og jeg ser ikke dette som et alternativ

to civilization.

til civilisationen.

I believe we can enjoy the benefits of advanced technology,

Jeg tror vi kan nyde frugterne af avanceret teknologi

as we're doing now, but at the same time, if we choose,

som vi gør det nu, men samtidigt, hvis vi vælger det,

have access to a richer and wilder life of adventure

have adgang til et rigere og vildere eventyrligt liv

when we want to because

når vi ønsker det fordi

there would be wonderful, rewilded habitats.

der vil være vidunderlige, genvildede habitater.

And the opportunities for this

Og mulighederne for dette

are developing more rapidly than you might think possible.

udvikler sig hurtigere end du tror er muligt.

There's one estimate which suggests that in the United States,

Der er et estimat som som siger at i USA

two thirds of the land which was once forested and then cleared

var to tredjedele af landet en gang dækket af skov og derefter fældet,

has become reforested as loggers and farmers have retreated,

nu er genopstået som skov, efter tømmerfældning og landbrug har fortrukket.

particularly from the eastern half of the country.

Specielt fra de østlige dele af landet.

There's another one which suggests

Der er et andet der anslår

that 30 million hectares of land in Europe,

at 30 million hektar land i Europa,

an area the size of Poland,

et areal på størrelse med Polen,

will be vacated by farmers

vil blive forladt af landbrugere

between 2000 and 2030.

mellem 2000 og 2030.

Now, faced with opportunities like that,

Nuvel, med sådanne muligheder,

does it not seem a little unambitious

så er det ikke helt ude i skoven,

to be thinking only of bringing back wolves, lynx,

at forestille sig at bringe ulve, los,

bears, beavers, bison, boar, moose,

bjørne, bævere, bisoner, vildsvin, elge

and all the other species which are already beginning

og alle de andre arter som allerede er begyndt

to move quite rapidly across Europe?

at brede sig hurtigt gennem Europa?

Perhaps we should also start thinking

Måske skulle vi starte med at tænke

about the return of some of our lost megafauna.

over noget af vores tabte megafauna.

What megafauna, you say?

Hvad er megafauna vil du spørge?

Well, every continent had one,

Nuvel, alle kontinenter havde en,

apart from Antarctica.

bortset fra Antarktis.

When Trafalgar Square in London was excavated,

Da Trafalgar Square i London blev udgravet,

the river gravels there were found

var flodgruset der blev fundet,

to be stuffed with the bones of hippopotamus,

fyldt med knogler fra flodheste,

rhinos, elephants, hyenas, lions.

næsehorn, elefanter, hyæner, løver.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen,

Ja, mine damer og herrer,

there were lions in Trafalgar Square

der var løver på Trafalgar Square

long before Nelson's Column was built.

længe inden Nelson's søjle blev bygget.

All these species lived here

Alle disse arter levede her

in the last interglacial period,

i den sidste mellemistid periode,

when temperatures were pretty similar to our own.

da temperaturene var meget ligesom i vores tid.

It's not climate, largely,

Det er ikke klimaet, stort set,

which has got rid of the world's megafaunas.

som har udryddet verdens megafauna.

It's pressure from the human population

Det er presset fra den menneskelige befolkning,

hunting and destroying their habitats

der jagtede dem og ødelagde deres habitater,

which has done so.

som har gjort det.

And even so, you can still see the shadows

På trods af dette, kan du stadigvæk se skyggerne

of these great beasts in our current ecosystems.

af disse kæmpe dyr i vores nuværende økosystem.

Why is it that so many deciduous trees

Hvorfor er det at så mange af vores løvtræer

are able to sprout from whatever point the trunk is broken?

har evne til at knopskyde fra ethvert sted stammen er knækket?

Why is it that they can withstand the loss

Hvorfor er det de kan modstå tabet

of so much of their bark?

af så meget af deres bark?

Why do understory trees,

Hvordan kan det være at småtræer,

which are subject to lower sheer forces from the wind

som er udsat for meget mindre kraft fra vinden

and have to carry less weight

og skal bærer mindre vægt

than the big canopy trees,

end de store trækroner,

why are they so much tougher and harder to break

Hvorfor er de meget sejere og sværere at knække

than the canopy trees are?

en træer med trækroner?

Elephants.

Elefanter!

They are elephant-adapted.

De er elefant-tilpassede.

In Europe, for example,

I Europa for eksempel

they evolved to resist the straight-tusked elephant,

er de udviklet for at modstå skovelefanten,

elephas antiquus, which was a great beast.

elephas antiquus, som var et kæmpe dyr.

It was related to the Asian elephant,

Det er beslægtet med den asiatiske elefant,

but it was a temperate animal, a temperate forest creature.

men den var tilpasset tempereret klima, til tempereret skov.

It was a lot bigger than the Asian elephant.

Den var meget større end den asiatisk elefant.

But why is it that some of our common shrubs

Hvorfor er det at nogle af vores almindelige buske

have spines which seem to be over-engineered

har torne som ser ud til at være overdimensioneret

to resist browsing by deer?

til at modstå græsning af hjorte?

Perhaps because they evolved

Måske fordi de er udviklet

to resist browsing by rhinoceros.

til at modstå græsning af næsehorn.

Isn't it an amazing thought

Er det ikke en forbløffende tanke

that every time you wander into a park

at hver gang du vandrer i en park

or down an avenue or through a leafy street,

eller ned af en allé eller en forstadsvej,

you can see the shadows of these great beasts?

kan du se skyggerne af disse enorme dyr?

Paleoecology, the study of past ecosystems,

Paleoøkologi, studiet af fortidige økosystemer,

crucial to an understanding of our own,

er nødvendige for at forstå vores nuværende,

feels like a portal through which you may pass

føles som en port hvor du kan komme ind i

into an enchanted kingdom.

et fortryllet kongerige.

And if we really are looking at areas of land

Og hvis vi kigger disse arealer af land

of the sort of sizes I've been talking about becoming available,

og i den størrelse jeg har talt om begynder at være tilstede,

why not reintroduce some of our lost megafauna,

hvorfor ikke genintroducerer noget af vores tabte megafauna

or at least species closely related to those

eller i det mindste arter nært beslægtede med dem

which have become extinct everywhere?

som er blevet udryddet overalt?

Why shouldn't all of us

Hvorfor skulle ikke os alle

have a Serengeti on our doorsteps?

have en Serengeti ved vores gadedør?

And perhaps this is the most important thing

Og måske er det mest vigtige

that rewilding offers us,

som genvildning tilbyder os,

the most important thing that's missing from our lives:

den vigtigste ting som mangler i vores liv:

hope.

Håb.

In motivating people to love and defend the natural world,

Ved at motiverer folk til at elske og forsvare den naturlige verden,

an ounce of hope is worth a ton of despair.

et gram af håb er mere værd en et tons af afmagt.

The story rewilding tells us

Det historien om genvildning fortæller os

is that ecological change need not always proceed

er at økologisk ændring ikke altid behøver

in one direction.

at foregå i en retning.

It offers us the hope

Det giver os håb

that our silent spring

om at vores tavse forår

could be replaced by a raucous summer.

kunne blive erstattet af en hæs sommer.

Thank you.

Mange tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)