Monthly Inspiration: December

Find out about some people and stories we’ve been taking inspiration from!

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Find out about some people and stories we’ve been taking inspiration from!

In this new column we will share what’s inspiring us at Sylvester, what is shaping the ideas behind a project like this and what gives us some theoretical background for Sylvester. In the future we will share some of those things once a month with you so you can find out more about how we got involved and excited about #collectivelyrewildingeurope and our idols.

First, there’s the British journalist and author George Monbiot, who is a true pioneer of rewilding and finding new narratives about our society. Monbiot is a real explorer himself and has written multiple books about rewilding and nature. What we especially love about his approach is the stoke about wilderness you can really feel listening to Monbiot.

Here is a TED-Talk by Monbiot where you can get an idea about his passion for a wilder life:

In another TED-Talk he talks about the ‚big lines‘ of societal narratives and how we can overcome the never-changing idea of egoistic and fearful human beings:

And an episode of the Planet A Podcast with the Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities Dan Jørgensen:

Another concept we’ve been finding really inspiring is the concept of the so-called Purpose Economy. That is a concept strongly represented by German economist Armin Steuernagel. His main idea is that ownership doesn’t necessarily mean exploitation and a rich, capitalist employer versus relatively poor employees.

With his Purpose Economy foundation Steuernagel gives advice to companies who want to know more about a purposeful way of economizing. He’s certainly someone we will be reaching out to, once we have an official company!

Here’s the website of Purpose Economy:

Purpose Economy

And of course, Steuernagel has held a TED-Talk too:

Let’s close this month’s inspirations with a very interesting take on purpose economy: As you might have already heard, Patagonia is trying to go the purposeful way. Its founder Yvon Chouinard decided he is giving his company a purpose and donated the ownership to a foundation that makes sure, climate protection is the goal and „Earth the only shareholder“ of Patagonia.

Read Yvon Chouinard’s letter here

Thanks for reading – we hope we could share some of our inspiration with you! If you want to give us some feedback or are just equally excited about rewilding Europe with us, please reach out to us on Social Media or join our updates via the mail subscription on the bottom of the page!

More of that next month!