WRi member Mark Fisher is quoted in this article from the 16th October in the Earth Island Journal, a quarterly magazine of the non-profit Earth Island Institute based in Berkeley, California. The article, written by Dublin-based journalist Lenny Antonelli, is about the designation of an Irish wilderness earlier this year in Co Mayo, on 27,000 acres of bog, mountain, and forest land. Mark gave one of the opening presentations at the conference that launched Wild Nephin in May this year – Wild or natural — the challenges Europe faces in setting aside wilderness. Mark was interviewed by Lenny when he sought to get a wider perspective on wilderness in Europe. He explained that wilderness is not a word that is found in all European languages, so that there is little common literature or history of wilderness preservation. Mark also made the distinction between the scientific approach that guided early protected areas in Europe, compared to the scenic and recreational approaches of the history of protected areas in America. Because of that, an emotional response to wild places never became embedded in European culture.
