Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith

Ben Goldsmith
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Join Ben Goldsmith as he speaks to some of the most influential people behind the most exciting and dramatic rewilding and nature recovery projects across the globe. 

  1. 5d ago

    Reclaiming our dark skies with Megan Eaves-Egenes

    "Eighty percent of the world’s population lives underneath a light polluted sky of some kind.  When you look specifically at Europe and North America that statistic rises to ninety nine percent. So basically almost nobody can see the Milky Way, or can see a truly dark night’s sky."  Most of us in Britain can no longer see the Milky Way from our homes, and we have barely noticed the loss. My guest on this edition of the Rewilding the World podcast is Megan Eaves-Egenes, author of the wonderful new book Nightfaring: In Search of the Disappearing Darkness. Megan explains why darkness matters so much to wildlife and to us, and how easily we could bring it back. Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. The Devon Environment Foundation (DEF) is on a mission to accelerate nature restoration across Devon. Devon’s beautiful natural landscapes are under growing pressure from farming, housing development, and sewage, plastic, and other pollution. Grassroots nature restoration offers an inspiring, cost-effective response. We raise money from people and businesses who love Devon, directing it where it delivers the greatest benefit for local nature. We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated.

  2. Sep 23

    Why Africa must lead its conservation future with Kaddu Sebunya

    "Come to Africa, find who should be responsible to carry out conservation and support that. Don’t take away the responsibility of Africans, because that hasn’t given us the results we need, and it’s very expensive.  Find those government institutions, community institutions, those households that must carry out this work, and support them to do that." For too long the story of conservation in Africa has been told by outsiders. In the latest episode of the Rewilding the World podcast Ben Goldsmith talks to Kaddu Sebunya of the African Wildlife Foundation. Kaddu argues brilliantly that the future of Africa's magnificent wildlife depends on Africans leading the way.  Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated.

  3. Sep 9

    Europe is burning, here's what could stop it with Frans Schepers

    "Nature would like to change all the time, and that's guided by those landscape architects like large herbivores, but also other processes; wind, storm, disease, fire, flooding - you name it. Anything can change a landscape if we allow it."  According to the European Commission as of 7 September, 650,458 hectares of land has burnt since the start of 2026, the worst year on record.  Restoring big herds of wild herbivores such as bison and wild horses is one the keys to managing wildfire in Europe.  In this episode of Rewilding the World Ben Goldsmith is joined by Frans Schepers, founder and chief executive of Europe’s most important rewilding organisation, Rewilding Europe. Frans is leading the transformation of vast tracts of Europe.  Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated.

  4. Aug 26

    How nature became Ukraine's secret weapon with Jasper Humphreys

    "This is a natural progression of how to protect your borders. And the other advantage is that it's cheaper; it's already there. So I can see that as demands on the defence budgets go up and up and up, that warWilding will become more and more prominent because it's a cash win-win situation for the beleaguered defence budgets."  Ben's latest guest is Jasper Humphreys, director of programmes for the Marjan Study Group in the department of war studies at King’s College London who has coined a new phrase: warWilding, “using nature in warfare”.  In the early days of the Russia-Ukraine war the dying Irpin River was reflooded for the first time in more than 70 years. The rising water stopped the Russians literally in their tracks, leaving behind a trail of tanks and military hardware.  In this episode find out how Jasper thinks that warWilding can be used by military departments at a time when budgets and resources appear thin.  Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated.

  5. Aug 12

    Hope for a wilder Britain with George Monbiot

    "For me, the driver has always been love. It's been a love of thriving nature, it's been a love of rich and interesting landscapes and it's been this despair at seeing so few of them in our own country."  Reading George Monbiot's book 'Feral' a decade ago opened Ben Goldsmith's eyes to the truly dire state of nature in Britain, and to the notion that rewilding is the big idea which has the potential to turn things round. George is a truly brilliant and articulate nature campaigner. He emphasises that many of the landscapes in the UK are pretty dire in ecological terms but that this damage can be reversed through rewilding.  Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated.

  6. Jul 29

    How to rewild your garden without walking away, with Tom Stuart-Smith

    "This was very much an aesthetic concept in renaissance Italy; the three natures. The sort of ornamented nature, the cultivated nature and then the wild. So I've always thought about that as a fairly key principle. There comes a point where you've just got to sort of let up on the tiller a bit, and that it's lovely to grow dahlias and tulips outside your door but for God's sake there comes a point where you've just got to stop!" Legendary garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith is Ben Goldsmith's latest guest on Rewilding the World. Tom and Ben debate the growing trend for wilder gardening, and opposition to it from the likes of Alan Titchmarsh and Monty Don.  Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated.

  7. Jul 15

    A vision for rewilding at Emblehope with Benedict MacDonald and Gil Martin

    "Our aim is to re-create that sort of biosphere level peat land on a massive scale and unsurprisingly everything begins with water. And we need flowers and of course with flowers we’ll build insects so really straight and extraordinary complex botany on site and that’s gonna be really very difficult." "The aim in any rewetting project that we might do, and Emblehope is one of them, is to restore the dynamism and a natural function of that landscape." A big announcement on Rewilding the World! In the latest episode, visionary nature writer Benedict MacDonald and experienced rewilder Gil Martin from Restore tell us about England's newest huge rewilding project.  Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated.

  8. Jul 1

    The battle for the American Prairie with Alison Fox

    "The bison will stay, no matter what happens here, and we will pursue all legal remedies for appealing this decision... but we will continue to manage a herd of bison, we will continue to open these lands to the public, we will continue to grow American Prairie."  Ben Goldsmith is joined once again by Alison Fox, CEO of American Prairie, the ambitious conservation organisation working to protect and restore one of the world's great remaining wilderness landscapes across the Northern Great Plains of Montana. Since Alison's last appearance on the podcast, the ground has shifted dramatically. In a move that has sent shockwaves through the conservation world, the Bureau of Land Management has revoked American Prairie's grazing permits for their bison. A decision that strikes at the very heart of the organisation's rewilding mission. This episode is a candid, urgent conversation about the realities of large-scale rewilding in the modern American West - where ranching culture, federal land politics, and a bold conservation vision are in direct collision. Ben Goldsmith is a British financier and rewilding enthusiast. Join him as he speaks to people from all over the world who champion nature and are helping to restore habitats and wildlife to some of the most nature depleted parts of our planet. This podcast is produced by The Podcast Coach. Text Rewilding the World here. Let us know what you think of the podcast and if there are any rewilding projects you would love Ben to feature in future episodes. We'd love to know what you think of the podcast. Do you have suggestions for guests, stories or topics you'd like to hear more about? To help us develop the show please consider taking a couple of minutes to complete our listener survey. Thank you very much if you've already done so, it's much appreciated.

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Join Ben Goldsmith as he speaks to some of the most influential people behind the most exciting and dramatic rewilding and nature recovery projects across the globe. 

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