For more wonder, rewild the world | George Monbiot

Prevodilac: Stefan Zrnović Lektor: Mile Živković

When I was a young man, I spent six years

Kada sam bio mladić, proveo sam 6 godina

of wild adventure in the tropics

divlje avanture u tropima

working as an investigative journalist

radeći kao novinar istražitelj,

in some of the most bewitching parts of the world.

u jednom od najzačaranijih delova sveta.

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

Bio sam nepažljiv i glupav kao što samo mladi čovek to može da bude.

This is why wars get fought.

Zato su se i ratovi vodili.

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

Ali sam se osećao življim nego što sam ikada bio.

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

Kada sam došao kući, shvatio sam da se širina mog postojanja

gradually diminishing

postepeno smanjuje,

until loading the dishwasher seemed like an interesting challenge.

dok punjenje mašine za pranje suđa nije izgledalo kao zanimljiv izazov.

And I found myself sort of

Osetio sam se kao

scratching at the walls of life,

da grebem zidove života,

as if I was trying to find a way out

pokušavajući da pronađem izlaz

into a wider space beyond.

u šire i otvorenije mesto.

I was, I believe, ecologically bored.

Verujem da sam bio ekološki smoren.

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

Evoluirali smo u mnogo izazovnijim vremenima od ovog,

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

u svetu rogova, kljova, zuba i čeljusti.

And we still possess the fear and the courage

A i dalje posedujemo strah i hrabrost

and the aggression required to navigate those times.

ali i neophodnu agresiju za upravljanje tim vremenima.

But in our comfortable, safe, crowded lands,

Ali u našim komfornim, sigurnim i prenaseljenjim zemljama

we have few opportunities to exercise them

imamo malo mogućnosti da ih primenimo,

without harming other people.

a da ne povredimo druge ljude.

And this was the sort of constraint that I found myself

Ovo je bila neka vrsta prinude

bumping up against.

protiv koje sam se borio.

To conquer uncertainty,

Da bih pobedio kolebljivost,

to know what comes next,

da bih znao šta sledi dalje,

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

to je bilo dominantni cilj industrijalizovanih društava,

and having got there, or almost got there,

i stižući tamo ili skoro stižući

we have just encountered a new set of unmet needs.

naišli smo na novu grupu nepredviđenih potreba.

We've privileged safety over experience

Dali smo prednost sigurnosti u odnosu na iskustvo

and we've gained a lot in doing so,

i dobili smo mnogo u tome

but I think we've lost something too.

ali mislim da smo nešto i izgubili.

Now, I don't romanticize evolutionary time.

Ja ne romantizujem evoluciono vreme.

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

Ja živim van životnog veka većine lovaca,

and the outcome of a mortal combat between me

a ishod smrtonosne borbe između mene,

myopically stumbling around with a stone-tipped spear

koji mašem kamenim kopljem

and an enraged giant aurochs

i ogromnog agresivnog divljeg goveda -

isn't very hard to predict.

nije teško pretpostaviti.

Nor was it authenticity that I was looking for.

Nisam tražio čak ni autentičnost.

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

Ne smatram to korisnim ili čak razumljivim konceptom.

I just wanted a richer and rawer life

Hteo sam bogatiji i grublji život

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

od onog koji sam vodio u Britaniji

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

ili čak u većini delova industrijalizovanog sveta.

And it was only when I stumbled across an unfamiliar word

A onda kada sam naišao na nepoznatu reč,

that I began to understand what I was looking for.

tek tada sam počeo da shvatam šta sam tražio.

And as soon as I found that word,

Čim sam pronašao tu reč,

I realized that I wanted to devote

shvatio sam da sam želeo da posvetim

much of the rest of my life to it.

većinu preostalog života tome.

The word is "rewilding,"

Ta reč je "odivljavanje".

and even though rewilding is a young word,

Iako je to mlada reč

it already has several definitions.

već ima nekoliko definicija.

But there are two in particular that fascinate me.

Ali postoje dve posebne koje me fasciniraju.

The first one is the mass restoration

Prva je masivna obnova

of ecosystems.

ekosistema.

One of the most exciting scientific findings

Jedno od najuzbudljivijih naučnih otkrića

of the past half century

prošle polovine veka

has been the discovery of widespread trophic cascades.

bilo je otkriće široko rasprostranjene trofske kaskade.

A trophic cascade is an ecological process

Trofska kaskada je ekološki proces

which starts at the top of the food chain

koji počinje na vrhu lanca ishrane

and tumbles all the way down to the bottom,

i pada sve do dna,

and the classic example is what happened

i klasični primer toga je nešto što se desilo

in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States

u Nacionalnom parku Jeloustoun u Sjedinjenim Državama

when wolves were reintroduced in 1995.

kada su vukovi vraćeni 1995. godine.

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

Svi znamo da vukovi ubijaju različite vrste životinja,

but perhaps we're slightly less aware

ali smo ipak malo manje svesni

that they give life to many others.

činjenice da daju život mnogim drugim životinjama.

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

Deluje čudno ali ispratite me još malo.

Before the wolves turned up,

Pre nego što su se vukovi pojavili

they'd been absent for 70 years.

bili su odsutni 70 godina.

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

Broj jelena je rastao i rastao u Jeloustoun parku

had built up and built up in the Yellowstone Park,

jer nije bilo nikoga da ih lovi

and despite efforts by humans to control them,

i uprkos ljudskim naporima da ih kontrolišu,

they'd managed to reduce much of the vegetation there

uspeli su da smanje većinu vegetacije tamo

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

do ništavila, sve su obrstili.

But as soon as the wolves arrived,

Ali čim su vukovi stigli,

even though they were few in number,

iako ih je bilo nekolicina,

they started to have the most remarkable effects.

počeli su da daju zapažene efekte.

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

Prvo, naravno, ubili su neke od jelena,

but that wasn't the major thing.

ali to nije bila glavna stvar.

Much more significantly,

Mnogo bitnije je

they radically changed the behavior of the deer.

da su oni radikalno promenili ponašanje jelena.

The deer started avoiding certain parts of the park,

Jeleni su počeli da izbegavaju određene delove parka,

the places where they could be trapped most easily,

mesta gde bi mogli biti lako uhvaćeni,

particularly the valleys and the gorges,

posebno uvale i klisure

and immediately those places started to regenerate.

i momentalno ta mesta počinju da se regenerišu.

In some areas, the height of the trees

U nekim oblastima, visina drveća

quintupled in just six years.

se učetvorostručila za 6 godina.

Bare valley sides quickly became forests of aspen

Gole strane kotlina brzo su postale šume jasike,

and willow and cottonwood.

topola i jablana.

And as soon as that happened,

I čim se to dogodilo,

the birds started moving in.

ptice su počele da se useljavaju.

The number of songbirds, of migratory birds,

Broj ptica pevačica ili ptica selica

started to increase greatly.

je znatno počeo da raste.

The number of beavers started to increase,

Broj dabrova se povećao,

because beavers like to eat the trees.

jer oni vole da jedu drveće.

And beavers, like wolves, are ecosystem engineers.

Kao i vukovi, dabrovi su inženjeri ekosistema.

They create niches for other species.

Oni prave skloništa drugim vrstama.

And the dams they built in the rivers

A brane koje oni naprave na rekama

provided habitats for otters and muskrats

stvorile su staništa vidrama i bizamskim pacovima

and ducks and fish and reptiles and amphibians.

patkama, ribama, reptilima i vodozemcima.

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

Vukovi su ubili kojote i kao rezultat toga,

the number of rabbits and mice began to rise,

broj zečeva i miševa počeo je da raste,

which meant more hawks, more weasels,

što znači više jastreba, lasica

more foxes, more badgers.

više lisica i jazavaca.

Ravens and bald eagles came down to feed

Gavrani i goloždravi orlovi spustili su se da se nahrane

on the carrion that the wolves had left.

leševima koje su vukovi ostavili.

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

Medvedi su se isto hranili, a i njihova populacija je počela da raste

partly also because there were more berries

delimično jer je tu bilo više bobica,

growing on the regenerating shrubs,

koje su rasle na obnovljenom grmlju,

and the bears reinforced the impact of the wolves

a medvedi su povećali uticaj vukova,

by killing some of the calves of the deer.

ubijajući neke od mladunčadi jelena.

But here's where it gets really interesting.

Ali evo gde postaje interesantno.

The wolves changed the behavior of the rivers.

Vukovi su promenili ponašanje reka.

They began to meander less.

Počele su manje da meandriraju.

There was less erosion. The channels narrowed.

Nije bilo erozije. Kanali su se suzili.

More pools formed, more riffle sections,

Stvoreno je više bara, slapova,

all of which were great for wildlife habitats.

sve one stvari koje su bile dobre za stanovnike divljina.

The rivers changed

Reke su se promenile

in response to the wolves,

uticajem vukova,

and the reason was that the regenerating forests

a razlog je bio to što su regenerisane šume

stabilized the banks so that they collapsed less often,

stabilizovale obale tako da su se ređe urušavale,

so that the rivers became more fixed in their course.

pa su rekle bile mnogo stabilnije na svom toku.

Similarly, by driving the deer out of some places

Slično tome, raseljavajući jelene izvan nekih mesta

and the vegetation recovering on the valley sides,

i oporavljajući vegetaciju na padinama doline

there was less soil erosion,

bilo je manje erozije zemljišta,

because the vegetation stabilized that as well.

jer se takođe i vegetacija stabilizovala.

So the wolves, small in number,

Tako da su vukovi, iako u malom broju,

transformed not just the ecosystem

preuredili ne samo ekosistem

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

nacionalnog parka Jelouston, ove ogromne površine zemlje,

but also its physical geography.

već i njenu fizičku geografiju.

Whales in the southern oceans

Kitovi u južnim okeanima

have similarly wide-ranging effects.

imaju isti efekat širokog delovanja.

One of the many post-rational excuses

Jedan od mnogih post-racionalnih izgovora

made by the Japanese government for killing whales

koje je japanska vlada dala za ubijanje kitova

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

bio je: "Pa, broj riba i krilova će porasti

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

i biće više hrane koju mogu da jedu ljudi."

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

To je glup izgovor, ali na neki način

kind of makes sense, doesn't it,

ima smisla, zar ne,

because you'd think that whales eat huge amounts

jer mislite da kitovi jedu ogromne količine

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

ribe i krilova, pa očigledno izuzimanjem kitova

there'll be more fish and krill.

biće više ribe i krilova.

But the opposite happened.

Ali desilo se suprotno.

You take the whales away,

Sklonite kitove,

and the number of krill collapses.

a broj krilova se smanjio.

Why would that possibly have happened?

Zašto bi se to dogodilo?

Well, it now turns out that the whales are crucial

Sad ispada da su kitovi presudni

to sustaining that entire ecosystem,

za održavanje čitavog ekosistema,

and one of the reasons for this

i jedan od razloga za ovo

is that they often feed at depth

je da se oni često hrane u dubini,

and then they come up to the surface and produce

i onda se pojave na površini i stvaraju

what biologists politely call large fecal plumes,

ono što bi biolozi pristojno nazvali velikim fekalnim perjanicama,

huge explosions of poop right across the surface waters,

što su ogromne eksplozije kake direktno preko površine vode,

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

u eufotičnoj zoni, gde ima dovoljno svetla

to allow photosynthesis to take place,

za obavljanje fotosinteze,

and those great plumes of fertilizer

i te velike kugle đubriva

stimulate the growth of phytoplankton,

stimulišu rast fitoplanktona,

the plant plankton at the bottom of the food chain,

planktonske bilje na dnu lanca ishrane,

which stimulate the growth of zooplankton,

koja podstiče rast zooplanktona,

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

koji hrani ribe i krilove i ostatak vrsta.

The other thing that whales do is that,

Druga stvar koju kitovi čine je da,

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

dok zaranjaju i izranjaju kroz vodu,

they're kicking the phytoplankton

izbijaju fitoplankton

back up towards the surface

prema površini

where it can continue to survive and reproduce.

gde može da nastavi da živi i da se reprodukuju.

And interestingly, well, we know

Interesantno, znamo

that plant plankton in the oceans

da biljka plankton u okeanima

absorb carbon from the atmosphere --

apsorbuje ugljenik iz atmosfere -

the more plant plankton there are,

što je više planktona tu,

the more carbon they absorb --

više ugljenika upijaju -

and eventually they filter down into the abyss

i eventualno uvlače u dubine

and remove that carbon from the atmospheric system.

i uklanjaju ugljenik iz atmosferskog sistema.

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

Čini se da kada su kitovi bili u svojim istorijskim populacijama,

they were probably responsible for sequestering

verovatno su bili odgovorni za oduzimanje

some tens of millions of tons of carbon

desetine miliona tona ugljenika

every year from the atmosphere.

iz atmosfere svake godine.

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

A kada sagledate to kao takvo, mislite,

wait a minute, here are the wolves

čekaj malo, ovde su vukovi,

changing the physical geography of the Yellowstone National Park.

menjaju fizičku geografiju nacionalnog parka Jeloustoun.

Here are the whales changing

Ovde su kitovi, menjaju

the composition of the atmosphere.

sastav atmosfere.

You begin to see that possibly,

Počinjete da shvatate da verovatno,

the evidence supporting James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis,

dokazi koji podržavaju hipotezu Džejmsa Lovloka Gaja

which conceives of the world as a coherent,

koja smatra svet kao koherentni,

self-regulating organism,

samoregulišući organizam,

is beginning, at the ecosystem level, to accumulate.

i počinje, na nivou ekosistema, da se akumulira.

Trophic cascades

Trofske kaskade

tell us that the natural world

nam govore da je prirodni svet

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

čak fascinantniji i kompleksniji nego što smo mislili da jeste.

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

Govore nam da kad sklonite velike životinje,

you are left with a radically different ecosystem

ostaju vam drastično različiti ekosistemi

to one which retains its large animals.

od onih koji čuvaju svoje velike životinje.

And they make, in my view, a powerful case

A oni prave, po mom mišljenju, snažan argument

for the reintroduction of missing species.

za vraćanje nestalih vrsta.

Rewilding, to me,

Odivljavanje, za mene

means bringing back some of the missing plants and animals.

znači vraćanje nekih od nedostajućih biljaka i životinja.

It means taking down the fences,

To znači spuštanje ograda,

it means blocking the drainage ditches,

blokiranje drenažnih jaraka,

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

smanjenje komercijalnog pecanja u nekim većim oblastima mora,

but otherwise stepping back.

ali i odstupanje.

It has no view as to what a right ecosystem

Nema prikaza kako pravilni ekosistem

or a right assemblage of species looks like.

ili pravi skup vrsta izgleda.

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

Ne pokušava da stvori stepu ili poljanu

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

kišnu šumu, zajednicu morskih algi ili koralni greben.

It lets nature decide,

Ono prepušta prirodi da bira,

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

i priroda je, uopšte uzev, dobra u odlučivanju.

Now, I mentioned that there are two definitions

Pomenuo sam da postoje dve definicije

of rewilding that interest me.

odivljavanja koje me zanimaju.

The other one

Druga je

is the rewilding of human life.

odivljavanje ljudskog života.

And I don't see this as an alternative

Ne vidim to kao alternativu

to civilization.

civilizaciji.

I believe we can enjoy the benefits of advanced technology,

Verujem da možemo da uživamo benefite napredne tehnologije,

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

a to i činimo, ali u isto vreme, ako biramo

have access to a richer and wilder life of adventure

da imamo pristup bogatijem i divljem životu avanture

when we want to because

kada poželimo, jer bi bilo

there would be wonderful, rewilded habitats.

prelepo, kada bismo imali odivljenija staništa.

And the opportunities for this

Prilike za to

are developing more rapidly than you might think possible.

se razvijaju brže nego što mislite da je moguće.

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

Postoji jedna procena koja navodi da je u Sjedinjenim Državama

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

dve trećine zemlje koja je jednom pošumljena, a potom ogoljena

has become reforested as loggers and farmers have retreated,

postalo pošumljeno kad su se drvoseče i frameri povukli

particularly from the eastern half of the country.

naročito sa istočne polovine zemlje.

There's another one which suggests

Postoji druga koja pretpostavlja

that 30 million hectares of land in Europe,

da će 30 miliona hektara zemlje u Evropi,

an area the size of Poland,

oblasti veličine Poljske,

will be vacated by farmers

farmeri isprazniti

between 2000 and 2030.

između 2000. i 2030.

Now, faced with opportunities like that,

Suočeni sa takvim mogućnostima,

does it not seem a little unambitious

zar ne deluje pomalo neambiciozno

to be thinking only of bringing back wolves, lynx,

razmišljati samo o vraćanju vukova, risova,

bears, beavers, bison, boar, moose,

medveda, dabrova, bizona veprova, losova,

and all the other species which are already beginning

i svih ostalih vrsta koje su uveliko počele

to move quite rapidly across Europe?

da se pomeraju prilično brzo preko Evrope?

Perhaps we should also start thinking

Možda bi trebalo da počnemo da mislimo

about the return of some of our lost megafauna.

na vraćanje nekih od naših izgubljenih megafauna.

What megafauna, you say?

Kakvih megafauna, reći ćete?

Well, every continent had one,

Svaki kontinent je imao jednu,

apart from Antarctica.

osim Antarktika.

When Trafalgar Square in London was excavated,

Kada su kopali Trafalgar skver u Londonu,

the river gravels there were found

rečni šljunak koji je tu pronađen

to be stuffed with the bones of hippopotamus,

bio je pun kostiju nilskih konja,

rhinos, elephants, hyenas, lions.

nosoroga, slonova, hijena, lavova.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen,

Da, dame i gospodo,

there were lions in Trafalgar Square

bilo je lavova na Trafalgar skveru,

long before Nelson's Column was built.

mnogo pre nego što je Nelsonova statua podignuta.

All these species lived here

Sve te vrste su živele tu

in the last interglacial period,

u poslednjem interglacialnom periodu,

when temperatures were pretty similar to our own.

kada su temperature bile prilično slične našim.

It's not climate, largely,

U većini slučajeva klima nije ta

which has got rid of the world's megafaunas.

koja se rešila svetske megafaune.

It's pressure from the human population

To je pritisak ljudske populacije

hunting and destroying their habitats

koja je lovila i uništavala njihova staništa

which has done so.

i koja je kriva za to.

And even so, you can still see the shadows

I dalje čak možete videti senke

of these great beasts in our current ecosystems.

ovih velikih zveri u našim trenutnim ekosistemima.

Why is it that so many deciduous trees

Zašto postoji toliko listopadnog drveća

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

koje može da nikne sa bilo koje tačke na kojoj je stablo slomljeno?

Why is it that they can withstand the loss

Kako mogu da izdrže gubitak

of so much of their bark?

velike količine svoje kore?

Why do understory trees,

Zašto podsečeno drveće,

which are subject to lower sheer forces from the wind

koje je izloženo nižim vazdušnim silama vetra

and have to carry less weight

i mora da nosi manje težine

than the big canopy trees,

nego velike krošnje drveća,

why are they so much tougher and harder to break

zašto je toliko snažnije i teže za slamanje

than the canopy trees are?

nego drveće sa krošnjama?

Elephants.

Slonovi.

They are elephant-adapted.

Prilagođeno je slonovima.

In Europe, for example,

U Evropi na primer,

they evolved to resist the straight-tusked elephant,

uspelo je da se odupre šumskim slonovima sa ravnim kljovama,

elephas antiquus, which was a great beast.

antičkim slonovima, koji su bili velike životinje.

It was related to the Asian elephant,

Bio je povezan sa azijskim slonom,

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

ali je bio temperamentna životinja, temperamentno šumsko biće.

It was a lot bigger than the Asian elephant.

Bio je mnogo veći od azijskog slona.

But why is it that some of our common shrubs

Zašto neki od naših običnih grmova

have spines which seem to be over-engineered

imaju granje koje je suviše skovano

to resist browsing by deer?

da odoli bršćenju jelena?

Perhaps because they evolved

Možda zato što su uspeli

to resist browsing by rhinoceros.

da odole bršćenju nosoroga.

Isn't it an amazing thought

Zar to nije fantastična misao

that every time you wander into a park

da svaki put kada nabasate na park

or down an avenue or through a leafy street,

ili aleju ili kroz ulicu punu lišća,

you can see the shadows of these great beasts?

možete videti senke ovih ogromnih zveri?

Paleoecology, the study of past ecosystems,

Paleoekologija, izučavanje prošlih ekosistema,

crucial to an understanding of our own,

važno je za shvatanje nas samih,

feels like a portal through which you may pass

izgleda kao portal kroz koji možete ući

into an enchanted kingdom.

u začarano kraljevstvo.

And if we really are looking at areas of land

A ukoliko vidimo da oblasti zemlje,

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

vrsta i veličina o kojima sam govorio, postaju dostupne,

why not reintroduce some of our lost megafauna,

zašto ne bismo vratili neke od izgubljenih megafauna

or at least species closely related to those

ili u najmanju ruku vrsta, blisko povezanih onima

which have become extinct everywhere?

koje su svuda postale izumrle?

Why shouldn't all of us

Žašto ne bi svako od nas

have a Serengeti on our doorsteps?

imao Serengeti na svom kućnom pragu?

And perhaps this is the most important thing

Ovo je možda najvažnija stvar

that rewilding offers us,

koju nam odivljavanje nudi,

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

najvažnija stvar koja nam nedostaje u našim životima:

hope.

nada.

In motivating people to love and defend the natural world,

U motivaciji ljudi da vole i brane svet prirode,

an ounce of hope is worth a ton of despair.

gram nade vredan je tonu beznađa.

The story rewilding tells us

Priča o odivljavanju nam govori

is that ecological change need not always proceed

da ekološka promena ne mora uvek da raste

in one direction.

u jednom pravcu.

It offers us the hope

Ona nam nudi nadu

that our silent spring

da bi naše tiho proleće

could be replaced by a raucous summer.

moglo biti zamenjeno glasnim letom.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)