mission

this wild thing, ltd

The mission of this wild thing is fourfold:

Redefining community through kinship with wild places and beings.

Reimagining worth and wealth through voluntary simplicity.

Restoring humanity through authenic social connections.

Cultivating joy and happiness through intentional living.

Building Community

  • Extending community to include the natural world around us – the land and wildlife of our local region and the other-than-human beings.
  • Cultivating a culture of connection – focusing on togetherness. We’re experiencing a lack of willingness to communicate with each other. Some of this is fueled by social media and the internet. The world wide web is a false method of talking to people. This lack of connection to those who are actually in our community means that people are no longer humanized. 
  • Addressing the lack of connection in modern society and working to build social circles that encourage and support healthy behaviors. In the age of technology, our interactions have been reduced to virtual connections and social isolation. Mentally, emotionally, and socially healthy people require full lives of rich and dynamic engagement. 
  • Reducing the mania we perpetuate in our daily lives in order to slow down and truly engage with one another and the natural world around us. 
  • Loneliness and isolation has become an epidemic that affects our individual and collective health. The relationships we build can be an amazing source of healing and well-being – something that can help us live healthier, more fulfilled, and more productive lives. We should prioritize building social connections the same way we prioritize other public health issues.
  • Strengthen our social infrastructure: Connections are not just influenced by individual interactions, but by its physical elements – spaces, places, programs and policies. Can we work towards designing environments that promote connection, establish and scale community connection programs, and invest in the things that can bring people together?
  • Evaluating our relationship with technology, and our modes and means of communication – considering how frequently we interact digitally and how it might detract from meaningful connections with others.

Crafting a Lifestyle

  • Searching for meaning beyond a materialistic and consumer-driven society.
  • Voluntary simplicity as a lifestyle choice that minimizes the needless consumption of material goods and the pursuit of wealth for the sake of the planet and the people.
  • The reclamation of self through transformative self-development.
  • A slower and simpler approach to life that encourages living with intention and in the present moment.
  • You want to explore all the ways in which you might simplify your existence. Less overwhelm, less stress, less chaos. More intention. More balance. More quality of life.
  • You are interested in unbecoming all that is not you in order to live more true to self – a return to your natural state – authentically and unapologetically you.
  • You are curious about earth-based beliefs and practices – what it’s like to embrace a less traditional, rigid, and oppressive system. Or, you’re already walking a similar path and looking for kindred spirits.
  • You’re interested in growing your own food and medicine.
  • You seek transformative change in your life that can only be achieved by getting nitty gritty with the hard stuff – the inner work we’re often running from, not towards. 
  • Using herbs, plants, and flowers as medicine, locally sourcing your food, eating seasonally, and living in rhythm with the seasons.

Connecting with Nature

  • Conservation (backyard rewilding through native planting and biodiverse habitat cultivation, lawn descaling, herbal remedies, know your “weeds”, love the unloved, pollinators and backyard beneficials)
  • Purpose and passion (advocacy, volunteerism, local nonprofit work)
  • Therapeutic and healing modality (ecotherapy, meditation, grounding, restoration, healing, and self-discovery while in the wild).
  • Primitive and wilderness skills (rebuilding and regaining lost knowledge)
  • Personal Connection (nature-based path and practice, spiritual beliefs that move from organized and mainstream religion, connecting and working with other-than-humans, or even playing in the woods like you did as a kid)
  • Inspiration and motivation to learn about the flora and fauna of your local area/region as well as the original inhabitants and caretakers of the land you call home.
  • Giving back to nature – helping your local habitats and ecosystems, and doing what we can to preserve, conserve, and protect nature. And yes, this is possible even from our own backyards.

Working from an Ecopsychology Framework

The concept of ecopsychology holds that there is a synergistic interplay between planetary and personal well-being. The well-being of nature, society, and our individual and collective psyches are interconnected with one another.

Having the fortunate opportunity to learn from Andy Fisher for my certification, I’m going to discuss his take on ecopsychology here as it is a major influence on my personal perspective.

Andy Fisher is a key figure in the field of ecopsychology, particularly known for helping to shape its intellectual and philosophical foundations. He is best known for his book Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in the Service of Life. In this work, Fisher argues for a more politically and philosophically grounded version of ecopsychology, one that combines psychological insight with ecological awareness and social critique.

Fisher describes two main approaches within ecopsychology: recollective and critical.

Recollective ecopsychology, which focuses on healing and reconnecting people with nature on a personal, emotional, and spiritual level. It sees human well-being as intrinsically tied to the planet’s well-being.

Critical ecopsychology, which analyzes the social, political, and economic systems, especially capitalism, that alienate people from nature and degrade the planet. This perspective is less popular because it is uncomfortable and confrontational.

Fisher emphasizes that true ecopsychological work must unite these two aspects: the personal and the political, the inner and the outer. This integrative approach is what he calls “radical ecopsychology”, which aims not only to restore individual relationships with nature but also to challenge the systems that destroy ecological and psychological well-being.

Fisher argues that ecopsychology must integrate both dimensions to fully address the ecological crisis. While the recollective approach draws people in, a mature and effective ecopsychology requires facing the discomfort of critical inquiry.

TO READ ANDY’S FULL ARTICLE, CLICK HERE

Just as Andy poses, this too, is my question. How to get there? I believe we can begin by looking to the above. And so, this wild thing, ltd was born.