I know my perspective was biased, idealised, immature. Since then, I have thought more about what ‘original Eden’ might mean. To those who lived before the agrarian revolution, a life of hunter/gathering may not have seemed idyllic, especially in harsh conditions. Nevertheless, real wilderness gives us a faint glimpse of a time when our human ancestors lived with nature, as a part of it.

We wouldn’t want to revert to a time before antibiotics and so much else, but we nevertheless need a new way of living with nature. Today, we exploit, destroy, or simply neglect the wild world, having never learned that we are still utterly dependent on nature to provide everything that makes our lives possible, as individuals, communities, economies and nations.

It was difficult to return home, holding these special experiences close to my heart, wanting to preserve that connection with the wild in some real way. In the years that followed, life went on, including most importantly the arrival of a family for me and Jenny. But my appreciation of the significance of wilderness has never diminished. I have tried to return to wilderness when I could since, although these trips are often far apart, and can come with the major guilty question mark of a personal carbon footprint due to flights.

In my political view of landscape, I remain a romantic. My heart sinks at the sight of extractive agriculture; of land stripped of nature, over-worked , poisoned by toxins (better known as herbicides and pesticides) designed to kill everything that might compromise short-term, intensive production, and polluting waterways with runoff soils and excessive nutrients. The prospect of thousands of hectares of industrialised forestry, the fate of land across large parts of Europe, provokes that same sinking feeling. Exploitation and degradation of land has only accelerated on every continent with human expansion and development since that journey to Alaska in 1991. At the same time, efforts at conservation and restoration are growing, but are a mere fraction of the scale of land that is over-exploited.

Still, I am grateful to live in the UK, a country that has wonderful terrain and climate. Britain’s landscapes and biodiversity have inspired artists, poets, composers and photographers for hundreds of years. The cycles of life and season remind us of the abundance and resilience of natural flora and wild creatures. Unpredictable weather provides an endless and enjoyable artistic challenge.

While ecological damage continues (due to industry, urban sprawl, intensive farming, and social and political apathy), hundreds of campaigning organisations have protected species and habitats, and ensured access so it can be enjoyed and experienced by many. Woodland particularly is returning, with native trees being protected and planted, and appreciated as never before. Marginal landscapes, coast and mountains provide habitat where some wild animals and birds can be accommodated on our crowded islands.

All that is remarkable and positive. But a few eagles in the air and orcas off-shore cannot hide the fact that Britain’s landscape supports no major, non-human predators. In biodiversity terms, we may have the shallowest ecosystem of any major nation.

Those inspirational months in Alaska still haunt and guide my critical observations of landscape. I know the reasons for wilderness retreat. Human migration and expansion, over tens of thousands of years, has populated all the most habitable regions of the planet, pushing wild animals and places to the brink.

To many, no doubt it seems that advocacy for wilderness preservation is an irrelevance. But the nature and climate crises make it more relevant than ever before.

My intuitive self has drawn its conclusions and I am stuck with them. My heart feels there must be another way, where we cherish, respect, revere and protect all that is wild, all that is left, and restore what once was. I believe the only future that will work for people will involve preserving nature’s wild remnants and restoring degraded landscapes.

We must learn to see that it is in our interests to share this unique, life-supporting wonder planet with the millions of animal species who have as much right to be here as we do; to preserve remaining wilderness, and to restore and live with nature, not against it. We must learn that respecting the rights of wild creatures for whom it is home is also to preserve our sense of what it means to be fully human, for now, and for all future generations.”

JC April 2025