IT is one of the bleaker facts of contemporary life that children in Scotland grow up with the knowledge that our natural world is struggling.
We choose to educate them about the realities of climate change and biodiversity loss because we know these are challenges they will one day have to reckon with.
“Kids, particularly teenagers, they’re nobody’s fool,” said Ben Martynoga, author of the children’s book Rewilding.
“They completely understand just how serious the climate crisis is. But there’s no point in skirting around these topics.
“It’s much better to provide children with the evidence so they can see what’s bad, what’s not so bad, and provide some solutions.”
After spending nearly a decade as a neuroscientist researching brain cells, Martynoga left his job to pursue work as a writer.
This book is the latest instalment of his Explodapedia series, which takes on large and complex biological subject matter with the aim of demystifying them for children.
“People tend to get a bit fed up with biology at school,” he said.
“They think it’s all dry facts and definitions. But, actually, I think the field contains some of the most interesting stories of them all.
“During the pandemic I thought: why not share them?”
He wrote his first book for children during lockdown and tackled the subject on everybody’s mind at the time: viruses.
Alongside illustrator Moose Allain he has since tackled some of the biggest topics in biology: the gene, the cell, and evolution.
Rewilding, then, may seem like an unexpected next step.
“I wanted to write something that addressed humanity’s relationship with the rest of the living world,” he said.
“Because there’s no doubt that human activity over centuries and millennia has caused havoc for the rest of the living world. Species are going extinct and for the most part that’s on us.
“But I think rewilding and doing what we can to restore nature is a big part of the solution to that.
“You can’t fix something unless you understand how it got broken”.
In Scotland, the topic of rewilding can be somewhat polarising.
While organisations such as Scotland: The Big Picture and Rewilding Britain get on with returning ravaged or lifeless landscapes to nature, others in rural Scotland fear it prioritises the health of the environment over the communities which live there.
Indeed, the word itself has become controversial.
Martynoga said: “It’s quite a divisive word. I understand that for some it conjures up feelings that it’s either rewilding or people, rewilding or farming.
“But I understand the word in a broader sense. It’s just anything that brings nature and restoration of nature to the forefront and sets it up as a priority.
“It’s not about getting rid of all farms. It’s about seeing if you can farm more efficiently or alongside nature.
“The other advantage is that if you think of rewilding in this sense it’s much more interesting for kids.
“They see opportunities for it everywhere, even if it’s just a little corner of the playground or their garden.”
Martynoga added that it’s a topic with particular relevance to Scotland following Leonardo Dicaprio’s appeal to make it the world’s first rewilding nation.
“Scotland has this opportunity to really define itself as beacon of rewilding,” he said.
“Young people deserve to be part of that conversation”.
