(55) "Breaking News: Wilderness Needs Truth" with Todd Wilkinson

Todd likes to focus on three main ideas that many of us in this community are well acquainted with, and yet rarely stop to unpack them. First: wild places. Second: rewilding. And third: how to prevent ‘de-wilding’ or the quiet deletion of the natural world?

Todd Wilkinson has been a journalist for over 40 years. Believe it or not, he began his career as a violent crime reporter in Chicago, but his roots trace back to just north of Minneapolis—a place where nature was often seen as something to use, not protect. 

That perspective shifted when he became an environmental journalist, writing for National Geographic, The Guardian, and many others. Much of his recent work focuses on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. This is the last great wild system in the lower 48 that still has all of its large, charismatic species intact.

Today, as more people live in cities and suburbs, Todd observes what he calls an epidemic of ‘ecological illiteracy’. This is why he sees his work not just as journalism, but as a kind of activism—not pushing a specific agenda, but insisting that we ground our decisions in fact. A concept that might seem foreign and lost these days…

He’s written extensively about our relationship with animals like wolves and bears, not to romanticize them, but to ask real questions like: Does wildlife matter? Do we want it to be here for future generations? And if so, are we ready to change how we live to make that possible?

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