I hate spiders

So lately I've been thinking about animals. To be honest its something I do a lot; as a veggie of 11 years and self confessed cat lady my mind wanders to the furry and cute far too often. But my train of thought has been specifically brought about by a good book. Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life by George Monbiot is one of the best insights into out relationship with the concept of nature and the natural and now its organises EVERYTHING we do. It's not a preachy vegan manifesto, and neither is it a wholehearted endorsement of our right to do whatever the heck we want as the 'dominant' species. It his a unique point in between and whilst I have my issues with some of his points, I thought it worth my time to think them out here.

First of all, the cover is fantastic. I'm usually not huge on photographic covers but this is just done so well, it almost is the book! In one picture! I will always fight the case of the written word but honestly Monbiot could have saved himself a lot of time and just stuck this up in a few train stations and still have made an impact. Our understanding of how our own urbanisation and organisation of out natural environment has left us with ecosystems entirely lacking in biodiversity and the 'natural'; but astonishingly we don't care or even really notice. Monbiot refers to this as a shifting baseline of the natural, whereby what we consider 'perfect' and 'natural' is completely dependant on our image of nature in our childhoods. Everyone views the nostalgic nature of their youth as pure, and therefore it becomes the baseline of biodiversity that those in charge of conservation strive for.

Monbiot does not advocate for nature for the sake of nature, as is commonly espoused by vegan and animal rights advocates. Too often animal rights circles are dismissive of the realities of achieving the harmonious green pastures of singing cows and emotionally stable sheep or whatever it is I'm trying to achieve through veganism. To protect animals and their natural habitats we need an understanding of what these animals can do for us beyond being a source of food- which Monbiot undoubtedly supplies- and that is why I'm now much more team wolf reintroduction than team sheep. Improving biodiversity can serve to improve our mental wellbeing as well as more banal things like soil quality and spider populations. Although as a arachnophobe I am very concerned with eradicating spiders- I'm all for biodiversity but please take the spiders away. 

I live in a fairly rural place. Sheep wander around all over the place and I'm more than familiar with trudging through a boggy moor. But as Monbiot demonstrates, I see these images as perfect nature. I ignore the lack of trees and wildlife, seeing these farming landscapes as wild. It seems mad, but government laws and processed frustratingly support the thinning out of our flora and fauna. If you have even a passing interest in how all that works, definitely pick up the book for yourself and I hope it gives you a different way of looking at your relationship with the landscapes you inhabit.