I've always been drawn to the wilderness. It's perhaps a sense of adventure, but perhaps also an understandable response to growing up in our painstakingly curated and unyieldingly artificed Singapore. The wilderness represents an otherness, a mystery, a case of what-could-be. I've also been fortunate enough to have had opportunities to spend time in various remote landscapes, far away from the vicious machine of modern civilization. It's never truly wild, but it's a stark contrast to the glass-and-concrete jungles we walk daily. 

Recently, I've somehow fallen into something of a 'rewilding' Youtube rabbit hole. To oversimplify, rewilding is a form of ecological restoration that tries to increase biodiversity in areas to support and accelerate natural processes. To think about it a different way, it's effectively to give the land back to itself. 

Now, I will immediately raise my hand to concede that I am no eco-warrior. I have not given up meat, I still very much partake in consumerist behaviour, I don't do the greatest job in recycling, I still ride a large-capacity petrol-burning motorbike. I have in recent years tried to be a little bit more mindful about my general carbon/waste-footprint, but I will also admit that my using a dabao box when eating lunch at the office is perhaps equally about saving the 30 cents each meal as it is reducing the use of waste and single-use plastics. 

Call it selfish (a fair assessment, potentially), but I've also never really spared much actionable thought about conversation and like. I support it and acknowledge the value and importance of sustainability and green-focused action, but I also have never volunteered or donated to green initiatives. Never really done anything about it, basically.  

So, I have been thinking about why is it that over the past days, these rewilding videos have suddenly dominated my screen time. 

I suppose part of it is that some of these projects are equal parts surprising and inspiring - delivering seemingly simple and obvious solutions to complex and long-standing problems. Whoever thought that digging a bunch of holes in the ground would be the solution to regreening areas of Africa undergoing rapid desertification, with the additional impact of increasing food security and guarding against the expansion of the Sahara. (The high production value and beautiful scenic shots are a nice plus.) 

There are admittedly some rather hyperbolised and clickbaity titles (well, I clicked, so it worked), but at the heart of the effort of these organisations is a sense of drive and purpose that I find quite heroic. It is, in my eyes, quite an ethical and moral endeavour, but ultimately made more heroic because of how they are trying to push back against the sheer and unceasing exploitative and consuming nature of modern industrial society. There's a 'goodness' about these people and these efforts that feel like a refreshing and welcome break from the bleakness that seems to perpetually swirl about our lives (I almost don't dare to read the news these days, nothing good seems to happen). And the fact that these efforts work, that solutions are possible, is certainly a cause of celebration. 

And, I've also found it plenty educational. For example, learning about monocultures, and how actually perhaps a lot of the 'nature' that we see is actually unnatural. That some of the beautiful tree-covered scenery that we covet on holidays are in fact plantations sucking life out of the places. For example, I remember being wowed by the Scottish scenery when I holidayed there some years ago, but have just that a majority of woodland in Scotland is planted, non-native trees. Plantations, not forests. Really makes you wonder. 

There is, however, a cognitive dissonance. While I wholeheartedly support and admire what these organisations are doing, I cannot help but wonder about the futility of it all. For so long, humans have been exploiting and consuming our surroundings, accelerated by industrialisation and our pursuit of more. For all the non-climate change deniers out there, we should be plenty familiar with the science already out there. The world is burning, suffering, dying, and that's mostly because of our species. And the cynic in me cannot help but ponder if we're already too far gone - is this all too little too late? Have we already done so much damage that recovery, in spite of small triages here and there, is fundamentally unachievable? 

Furthermore, how effective can these efforts be, when the giant foot of capitalism continues its metronomic march? Do we even dare to believe that the Musks and Zuckerbergs and Bezos' of the world will trade shooting themselves into the sky in spaceships to instead plant trees and support communities in remote, poor regions? It's certainly easy to feel hopeless and futile - and perhaps also why many people (possibly myself included) thus tend towards apathy. Ahh, what can even be done ~shrug~. 

It is, at its core, another story of David vs Goliath. The earnest, well-meaning, hopeful Davids of the world vs the numerous Goliaths of corporations, power-hungry politicians, and bureaucratic stasis. I reckon what speaks to me is that struggle, that fight against overwhelming odds - the underdog story. 

And perhaps it is also the successes that are a flickering light of hope - of what is possible if people try. It's a reminder about small wins. Many of the problems we face are so grand in scale, but there are no grand solutions and magic wands. (Heck, just considering one particular area I'm more familiar with, EVs, is plenty telling.) And it is perhaps also because recent times have felt increasingly bleak that I want to believe in hopeful people, even if I may not be one myself. 

I'm not one for making new year resolutions. But as the calendar soon flips over, I am thinking about what I can do. As Michael Jackson famously sang: "Heal the world, make it a better place." I have no grand ambitions about saving the world, but perhaps making it better is something worth at least thinking about. These little Davids remain steadfast in their fight, taking small steps and yielding small wins, and maybe so can I. 

Small steps, then. I guess the first is this, just to talk about it and hopefully have just one more person start thinking more about it. And I guess I could drink on or two fewer beers each month and instead support one of these organisations with that money. And sure, that's not going to surely make the world a better place. But if any effort I can make can make my world feel just a little bit better, those small wins must surely count for something.