Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith

“If we can restore large scale damaged ecosystems then why don’t we do it?” 

Sometimes it’s said that the environmental and rewilding movement is not ambitious enough. Ben speaks to Ties van der Hoeven, co-founder of The Weather Makers, who is working on probably the most exciting and ambitious rewilding idea you have ever heard of.

Drawing inspiration from landscape restoration taking place in China and elsewhere, Ties has an idea to regreen the Sinai peninsula, a triangle of desert that connects Egypt to Asia. It’s an area where people and nature have been unable to flourish but was once teeming with life of all kinds. 

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth.

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes.

The Devon Environment Foundation (DEF) is on a mission to accelerate nature restoration across Devon.

Devon’s beautiful natural landscapes are under growing pressure from farming, housing development, and sewage, plastic, and other pollution.

Grassroots nature restoration offers an inspiring, cost-effective response.

We raise money from people and businesses who love Devon, directing it where it delivers the greatest benefit for local nature.

We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated. 

“I thought well I can die tomorrow, it’s fine, they are back.”

Kristine Tompkins is founder of Tompkins Conservation and former chief executive of the outdoor-apparel company Patagonia. She and her late husband Douglas have been pioneers of rewilding since the beginning of the movement.

The couple purchased millions of acres of land across Chile and Argentina to restore to wilderness. Kristine speaks to Ben Goldsmith about her rewilding journey spanning the past three decades, including the reintroduction of jaguars.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth.

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes.

The Devon Environment Foundation (DEF) is on a mission to accelerate nature restoration across Devon.

Devon’s beautiful natural landscapes are under growing pressure from farming, housing development, and sewage, plastic, and other pollution.

Grassroots nature restoration offers an inspiring, cost-effective response.

We raise money from people and businesses who love Devon, directing it where it delivers the greatest benefit for local nature.

We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated. 

“I think people are afraid that we want to remove all the dams in the world.”

Dams can effectively act as concrete straight jackets. Weirs and dams and other obstructions cause all kinds of harm, some of which we understand and much of which we don’t. 

More than one million barriers are thought to exist in Europe’s rivers, with many of them over 100 years old. Some are old and obsolete, serving no economic or environmental purpose. 

Spain is leading the way in the number of structures being removed from its rivers. In this episode Ben Goldsmith speaks to Pao Fernández Garrido from Dam Removal Europe about why the movement is taking such a hold there.   

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth. 

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand. 

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes.

The Devon Environment Foundation (DEF) is on a mission to accelerate nature restoration across Devon.

Devon’s beautiful natural landscapes are under growing pressure from farming, housing development, and sewage, plastic, and other pollution.

Grassroots nature restoration offers an inspiring, cost-effective response.

We raise money from people and businesses who love Devon, directing it where it delivers the greatest benefit for local nature.

We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated. 

“If there is tens of thousands of hectares on the market then you might as well use them for conservation.”

Christoph Promberger from Carpathia Wilderness Reserve, is rewilding an enormous woodland across Transylvania, Carpathia and Romania. He joins Ben Goldsmith from his home at the foot of the Carpathian mountains, a range which stretches through seven countries and home to some of Europe’s rarest large mammals including brown bears, lynx and wolves.

Over the last few decades the area has been affected by logging and lots of pristine forest has been lost. Christoph and Barbara have been fighting this deforestation through buying land in an attempt to protect it.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth.

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes.

The Devon Environment Foundation (DEF) is on a mission to accelerate nature restoration across Devon.

Devon’s beautiful natural landscapes are under growing pressure from farming, housing development, and sewage, plastic, and other pollution.

Grassroots nature restoration offers an inspiring, cost-effective response.

We raise money from people and businesses who love Devon, directing it where it delivers the greatest benefit for local nature.

We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated. 

“Wild areas where you are going to be walking for two days completely alone, there is no one else.”

No country in western Europe has as much diversity and abundance of wildlife and landscapes as Spain. Ben Goldsmith speaks to Deli Saavedra from Rewilding Europe about the exciting things which are happening there on scale.

Deli is leading a project in the Iberian Highlands, the name given to an area of land stretching from Madrid and Barcelona of almost one million hectares. There, entire landscapes are returning to ecological health and populations of iconic wildlife such as wolves and bears are recovering.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth.

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand.

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. 

Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes.

The Devon Environment Foundation (DEF) is on a mission to accelerate nature restoration across Devon.

Devon’s beautiful natural landscapes are under growing pressure from farming, housing development, and sewage, plastic, and other pollution.

Grassroots nature restoration offers an inspiring, cost-effective response.

We raise money from people and businesses who love Devon, directing it where it delivers the greatest benefit for local nature.

We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated. 

“This is where they have been for millions of years and they deserve a home on the Northern Great Plains.”

The great American Prairies were once one of the greatest ecosystems in the world. We have all seen images and heard stories of great herds of bison roaming vast swathes of endless grasslands, but a lot of that landscape is now gone. 

But all is not lost. Alison Fox from American Prairie Reserve joins Ben Goldsmith to talk about plans to pull off a dramatic restoration project in Montana.

Ben Goldsmith is a rewilding enthusiast and activist based in the UK. In this podcast he’ll be speaking to the people behind some of the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects on earth. 

It’s easy to feel gloomy; climate science gets scarier and we lose more and more nature every year. However, the natural world is incredible and there are rays of hope and examples of habitats and wildlife returning and flourishing when it’s given a helping hand. 

This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach.

Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes.

The Devon Environment Foundation (DEF) is on a mission to accelerate nature restoration across Devon.

Devon’s beautiful natural landscapes are under growing pressure from farming, housing development, and sewage, plastic, and other pollution.

Grassroots nature restoration offers an inspiring, cost-effective response.

We raise money from people and businesses who love Devon, directing it where it delivers the greatest benefit for local nature.

We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated. 

Join Ben Goldsmith for this brand new podcast as he speaks to some of the most influential people behind the most exciting and dramatic rewilding projects across the globe. 

Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes.

The Devon Environment Foundation (DEF) is on a mission to accelerate nature restoration across Devon.

Devon’s beautiful natural landscapes are under growing pressure from farming, housing development, and sewage, plastic, and other pollution.

Grassroots nature restoration offers an inspiring, cost-effective response.

We raise money from people and businesses who love Devon, directing it where it delivers the greatest benefit for local nature.

We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated.