We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
Often attributed to Albert Einstein without a clear source
This class is about furthering cultural rewilding; a quest to find the human place in the ecologies where we dwell. While rewilding has been used to mean many things over the years, this older definition continues to carry weight and meaning for those who dream of living in reciprocity with the land where they live.
With lecture, readings, and group discussions, Peter Michael Bauer is your guide in bringing together various sciences and areas of study to paint broad strokes of what it means to be human and how to reclaim the resilience of humanity’s past for a regenerative, sustainable, and most importantly, wild future.
***Special Offer: Sign up with a friend and both receive a 20% discount off of your chosen price tier. Use the coupon code “MYBUDDY” when you sign up together.
ONLINE || via Zoom March 10, 17, 24, 31 || 6:30pm-9:00pm (PST) $147-347 Tiered Pricing || Read our Pricing Policy
Stay Grounded in Evidence-Based Theory Rewilding 101 is focused on being able to back up claims about humans and our place in the world through peer-reviewed science. Interpretation of data can vary, and room for multiple perspectives should always be welcome. However, evidence based logic prevails over fantasy building such as ancient “aliens.” Come to this class to learn what the evidence says, and how to back up claims with it.
Interpret Archeology Archaeology is the science of studying the physical remains left behind by human cultures of the past. Using contemporary data, you’ll learn the various theories around what drove human technological changes over the vast period of time we’ve been on the planet.
Dive Deep Into Ecology To understand the human place in the wild, we must understand the inner workings of ecology, natural selection, predator and prey relationships, cycles of death and rebirth and more. Through the science of ecology, Peter creates a unique foundational understanding of how ecosystems function in relation to the species who make them up.
Explore Human History While archaeology can teach us about pre-literate culture, “history” began when humans started to write things down. Learn when, where, and why certain humans invented writing, and why others never did. Explore the challenges we’ve faced since settled societies began colonizing others and what the motivating factors were.
Unlock Anthropology’s Insights The majority of what we know about living cultures today comes from anthropology. Anthropology has been a double edged sword; at once destroying notions of “race” and creating equalizing concepts like cultural relativism, while also being used as a blunt tool of colonialism. Come learn how anthropology has improved our understanding of humans.
Discover Human Behavioral Ecology What makes people tick? Are humans good or evil or does it depend? Human Behavior Ecology has revealed the complexities of this question, demonstrating that our behaviors are largely dependent on our environment and cultural contexts. Explore this area of inquiry and find out how we can modify our environment to transform our behaviors.
Choose Resilience in the Face of Collapse The future is uncertain. Adaptation, engagement, and direct participation in the world brings hope and meaning. There is still time to connect with the wild world and to transform our way of life into one of reciprocity.
Weekly Breakdown of Course Material
Week 1: Defining Rewilding & Exploring Prehistory “Rewilding” is a buzzword right now, but what does it truly mean? Where did our ideas about “the wild” and “wilderness” come from, and why? Do these concepts hold up? In this class we discuss the different and conflicting ways in which people use the term “rewilding,” and how we can work to shift rewilding communities to come together around a common vision. What is “pre”history and why should we care about it? Much of what is considered to be “common knowledge” of cavemen has long been disproven by science but still remains a core mythology about human origins. We will review a timeline of human evolution and see how humans have evolved and impacted ecosystems in the past and present.
Week 2: Terms of Subsistence In this class we breakdown the process of ecological succession and how the cycles of disturbance and regeneration form the basis of these systems and their diversity. In the second half we look at human subsistence strategies and how the directly impact ecological succession in a myriad of ways. These overlapping reflections reveal which subsistence strategies are the most effective for maintaining biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and which ones are responsible for conspicuous consumption and the sixth mass extinction.
Week 3: Kinship in Rewilding Rewilding is a transformative worldview. How do we integrate and transform the cultures that we exist in today to be more in accord with natural systems? How do we connect with and elevate place-based people and regenerative systems that have been suppressed by civilization? In this third class we address what stands in the way of rewilding, how to rewild with mutual respect, and how to form bonds of kinship across cultural divides.
Week 4: Rewilding in Action What does rewilding actually look like? Rewilding isn’t just for weekend warriors or for Luddites looking to run off to the wilderness. Rewilding is a spectrum, or mosaic, of many people trying out many alternative ways of living that align with wildness. We’ll look at examples of current forms of rewilding and explore what is possible in the future.
Instructor
Peter Michael Bauer is an internationally known leader in the cultural rewilding movement. For over 20 years he has written and taught about rewilding. He is the host of the Rewilding Podcast and founder of Rewild Portland.
Testimonials
“I took this class last Autumn and it was so much fun. I met some really cool people, learned a ton and loved Peter Michael Bauer’s approach to teaching. If you are looking for something completely different and possibly mind blowing, you should take this class.”—Martha Grover
“I highly recommend this class! It was super fun—so great to have a chance to talk about rewilding in depth with likeminded folks, guided along by someone as knowledgeable and passionate as Peter Bauer. I came away with a much clearer picture of the movement and a stronger sense of my own role in it.”—Mindy Seale Fitch
“In this time of cynicism fueled by a culture ruling over the Earth, a lot of us are looking for new ways to live that could have a positive impact on ecosystems. Rewilding 101 goes over the history of human-life on Earth to try and understand how our problems came to be and, ultimately, discusses possible paths forward. This is the class that reenergized me at a time I really needed it. I met a bunch of awesome people and discovered a perspective on life that left marks on me much beyond what you’d normally expect from such a short class.”—Alexandre Normand
“Peter’s rewilding class was paradigm shifting for me. It gave me a new framework. Specifically, a new way to think about human behavior in the context of current day civilization and systems. More specifically, it helped me to understand that for the main of human existence, we have lived peacefully and cooperatively and that, furthermore, such a way of life is possible and quite possibly genetically hardwired. I know I am sounding like a new freak, and the fact is that vetted information and logic are very important too and Peter is very careful to make sure he has the most up-to-date information. He also uses a feminist and a racial justice lens through which he teaches this class, which is extremely refreshing and important.”—Christine Dupres
“I enrolled in Peter’s course during a time of personal transition. Expecting information, I received powerful insight-into how we got to this place in history, what really mattered to me at my core, what I could contribute going forward. The scope of Peter’s knowledge is amazing!”—Trish Stormont
Rewilding 101
This class is about furthering cultural rewilding; a quest to find the human place in the ecologies where we dwell. While rewilding has been used to mean many things over the years, this older definition continues to carry weight and meaning for those who dream of living in reciprocity with the land where they live.
With lecture, readings, and group discussions, Peter Michael Bauer is your guide in bringing together various sciences and areas of study to paint broad strokes of what it means to be human and how to reclaim the resilience of humanity’s past for a regenerative, sustainable, and most importantly, wild future.
***Special Offer: Sign up with a friend and both receive a 20% discount off of your chosen price tier. Use the coupon code “MYBUDDY” when you sign up together.
ONLINE || via Zoom
March 10, 17, 24, 31 || 6:30pm-9:00pm (PST)
$147-347 Tiered Pricing || Read our Pricing Policy
In-Person || Portland, OR
April 7, 14, 21, 28 || 6:00pm-8:30pm (PST)
$147-347 Tiered Pricing || Read our Pricing Policy
In this course you will…
Stay Grounded in Evidence-Based Theory
Rewilding 101 is focused on being able to back up claims about humans and our place in the world through peer-reviewed science. Interpretation of data can vary, and room for multiple perspectives should always be welcome. However, evidence based logic prevails over fantasy building such as ancient “aliens.” Come to this class to learn what the evidence says, and how to back up claims with it.
Interpret Archeology
Archaeology is the science of studying the physical remains left behind by human cultures of the past. Using contemporary data, you’ll learn the various theories around what drove human technological changes over the vast period of time we’ve been on the planet.
Dive Deep Into Ecology
To understand the human place in the wild, we must understand the inner workings of ecology, natural selection, predator and prey relationships, cycles of death and rebirth and more. Through the science of ecology, Peter creates a unique foundational understanding of how ecosystems function in relation to the species who make them up.
Explore Human History
While archaeology can teach us about pre-literate culture, “history” began when humans started to write things down. Learn when, where, and why certain humans invented writing, and why others never did. Explore the challenges we’ve faced since settled societies began colonizing others and what the motivating factors were.
Unlock Anthropology’s Insights
The majority of what we know about living cultures today comes from anthropology. Anthropology has been a double edged sword; at once destroying notions of “race” and creating equalizing concepts like cultural relativism, while also being used as a blunt tool of colonialism. Come learn how anthropology has improved our understanding of humans.
Discover Human Behavioral Ecology
What makes people tick? Are humans good or evil or does it depend? Human Behavior Ecology has revealed the complexities of this question, demonstrating that our behaviors are largely dependent on our environment and cultural contexts. Explore this area of inquiry and find out how we can modify our environment to transform our behaviors.
Choose Resilience in the Face of Collapse
The future is uncertain. Adaptation, engagement, and direct participation in the world brings hope and meaning. There is still time to connect with the wild world and to transform our way of life into one of reciprocity.
Weekly Breakdown of Course Material
Week 1: Defining Rewilding & Exploring Prehistory
“Rewilding” is a buzzword right now, but what does it truly mean? Where did our ideas about “the wild” and “wilderness” come from, and why? Do these concepts hold up? In this class we discuss the different and conflicting ways in which people use the term “rewilding,” and how we can work to shift rewilding communities to come together around a common vision. What is “pre”history and why should we care about it? Much of what is considered to be “common knowledge” of cavemen has long been disproven by science but still remains a core mythology about human origins. We will review a timeline of human evolution and see how humans have evolved and impacted ecosystems in the past and present.
Week 2: Terms of Subsistence
In this class we breakdown the process of ecological succession and how the cycles of disturbance and regeneration form the basis of these systems and their diversity. In the second half we look at human subsistence strategies and how the directly impact ecological succession in a myriad of ways. These overlapping reflections reveal which subsistence strategies are the most effective for maintaining biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and which ones are responsible for conspicuous consumption and the sixth mass extinction.
Week 3: Kinship in Rewilding
Rewilding is a transformative worldview. How do we integrate and transform the cultures that we exist in today to be more in accord with natural systems? How do we connect with and elevate place-based people and regenerative systems that have been suppressed by civilization? In this third class we address what stands in the way of rewilding, how to rewild with mutual respect, and how to form bonds of kinship across cultural divides.
Week 4: Rewilding in Action
What does rewilding actually look like? Rewilding isn’t just for weekend warriors or for Luddites looking to run off to the wilderness. Rewilding is a spectrum, or mosaic, of many people trying out many alternative ways of living that align with wildness. We’ll look at examples of current forms of rewilding and explore what is possible in the future.
Instructor
Peter Michael Bauer is an internationally known leader in the cultural rewilding movement. For over 20 years he has written and taught about rewilding. He is the host of the Rewilding Podcast and founder of Rewild Portland.
Testimonials