Wildness, infinity and freedom

Abstract

Biodiversity risks losing relevance in an increasingly urbanised, unequal and disembodied world. Beyond basic material needs, we might gain the greatest well-being from eudaimonia – the freedom to flourish and live meaningfully. Immersion in nature improves the fundamentals of eudaimonia: psychological, emotional and social health. This presents an opportunity to re-frame biodiversity from a passive entity needing to be saved by ‘good people’ to a catalyst in the quest to become good. Drawing on the capability approach, I propose that wild landscapes – defined as self-willed, ecologically complex communities comprising functioning ecosystems – are mediums that facilitate our search for meaning. Features of wild landscapes (organisms, habitats, structures) stimulate unique perception and experience that afford the elements of self-meaning (ideas, narratives, memories). Ecological processes (succession, disturbance, dispersal) generate dynamic perceptual experiences, which improves our ability to comprehend meaning by restoring cognitive functions and relational values. Functioning ecosystems continually create and permute features in space and time, instantiating ever-varying patterns from which to adapt meaning as our contexts and aspirations change. Wild landscapes thus provide infinite value for our freedom to become. As widening income inequity amplifies asymmetric power structures, increasing the agency of those who seek to improve society is one pathway to a sustainable future.