“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” – John Muir
The trophic cascade: a miracle of nature
This four-and-a-half-minute video, narrated by author George Monbiot, powerfully portrays the phenomenon called the trophic cascade: “an ecological process that starts at the top of the food chain and tumbles all the way down to the bottom.” It shows the remarkable effect of the reintroduction of wolves in 1995 to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming after 70 years. It was predicted that as a natural predator, wolves would decrease the deer population. What has thrilled scientists and ecologists is to find they have brought life to so many other populations and ecosystems. Their impact has, in fact, changed the course of the river!
Web Of Interconnectedness
This story demonstrates something I feel spiritually and viscerally: that our natural world—including all forms of live from microbes to humans— is a miraculous web of interconnectedness, and artificial disruption can have enormous unintended consequences. This is an example of just one small move towards restoration of an ecosystem that created a positive ripple effect — a trophic cascade — in an amazingly short period of time.
Don’t read politics into this. Just enjoy it for the beautiful portrayal it is.
This video is excerpted from a longer TED talk given by Mr. Monbiot and posted to TED.com in July, 2013:
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The Lamar Valley, in northeast Yellowstone, is where the wolves were first introduced. It is, for my money, as near the Garden of Eden as any place I’ve been in this country. We haven’t seen wolves there but have seen elk, swans, geese, bison, and deer. If you get to Yellowstone, be sure to visit this off-the-beaten-path portion of the park. Take good binoculars, a camera, and find a comfortable place to sit to enjoy the beauties and bounties of this valley.
Thanks for this travel tip, Esther. Yellowstone is definitely on my bucket list, and I’m so glad to have this wonderful guidance on what not to miss. My daughter said they studied this project when she was in graduate school learning about environmental policy at Princeton.
Fascinating! And yes, we are ALL interconnected – wish more of us understood that.
Me, too, Pamela! Even understanding it, we can all be oblivious at times to the impact our smallest actions can have, for good or bad. I’m so glad this video affected you as much as it did me. I was just enthralled by it. Thanks so much for taking time to comment!
Great video. And incredible! I had no idea this was happening and this is my own country.
That was exactly my reaction, Karen. It was thrilling and gave me great hope to realize that even relatively small changes on behalf of our planet can reap great rewards. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!