What if we were to focus our efforts towards environmental protection on moving forward, rather than looking back to an idealized past that is impossible to attain? Our guest on this week’s show, writer and ecologist Richard Nairn, centers his most recent book, Future Wild: Nature Restoration in Ireland, on this very question.

When Richard first started working on a nature reserve in the 1970s, awareness of conservation in Ireland was very poor. The passage of the Wildlife Act in 1976 marked a turning point, but despite having to comply with environmental laws and regulations as part of joining the European Union, Ireland had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the environmental world of Europe. Thankfully, things began to improve at a bit of a faster pace in the 1990s.

Richard went on to become the first Director of BirdWatch Ireland, ran an environmental consultancy business for over 30 years, is an Irish Times columnist, and has published seven books. On this week’s show, we speak with Richard about Future Wild and his thoughts on the state of nature restoration in Ireland. Beginning with an overview of Irish conservation history, we discuss greenwashing and paying lip service to environmental protection; the need for Ireland to address whole landscapes rather than isolated patches of land; and the tendency of the environmental movement to focus on loss.

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