Summary Of Rewilding By Mackinnon

MacKinnon’s beautifully written and moving novel is very poetic. The novel uses a lot of imagery to get the reader to truly connect with the stories being told. It is written in a way that makes the reader feel the experiences and make realizations as the book progresses and genuinely change the way you see the world. MacKinnon wants us to realize our short-sightedness when it comes to nature and advocates for a deeper connection to the ecosystem. Through his anecdotes, vivid descriptions as well as examples the author takes you through an emotional rollercoaster when he goes over nature as it was, as it is, as it could be. He raises and presents some important ecological facts without boring the reader through the well-balanced use of quotes,
MacKinnon has started this ‘rewilding’ movement where humans work, not to get back what is lost but rather work towards restoring wilderness, conserving what is left. The question is; will we accomplish this concept of ‘rewilding’ the world? The novel is like a story about mankind and it’s surrounding, the ecological world. “The lone person on a wild landscape is a baseline of human liberty, a condition in which we are restrained only by physical limits and the bound of our own consciousness” (MacKinnon, 2013, p.102). For so long we have based on conservation, and although it has been great we need to go beyond that to have wilderness exist in the future. As the author says waiting for an ecological crisis to persuade mankind to change their troubled relationship with nature would mean waiting a long, long time.” (MacKinnon, 2013). The author’s novel has impacted my understanding and appreciation of nature and has raised questions and concerns about its fate. As a result, I have gained a more diverse perspective on environmental thought and human nature