Reflections from the book “What would nature do?" by Ruth DeFries

Nature doesn’t predict. It prepares.

In a world that changes faster than we can plan,nature never clings to control.It learns. Adapts. Begins again.

For millions of years, living systems have faced uncertainty — droughts, storms, extinctions — and yet life continues, not through perfection, but through pattern.Through principles that protect what matters most: connection, renewal, resilience.

To rewild learning is to bring these same principles into how we teach, lead, and imagine the future.

Diversity - Many ways to live, many ways to learn

A forest doesn’t rely on one species.It thrives through difference — each tree, each insect, each fungus holding a role.

Our classrooms should do the same.Encourage dissimilar minds.Let children approach ideas in their own rhythm and style.Diversity isn’t decoration; it’s resilience.

Redundancy - Strength in backup

Nature repeats what works.Several pollinators visit one flower.More than one seed takes root.

In education, we call this redundancy waste —but nature calls it wisdom.Create multiple paths to understanding: stories, experiments, fieldwork, reflection.If one fails, another takes root.

Decentralisation - Let life decide

In a coral reef, decisions happen everywhere — at the edges, in the currents, between creatures.No single brain commands the whole.

Rewilded learning works the same way.Students, teachers, communities — all sensing, deciding, adapting together.The closer the decision is to the ground, the more alive it becomes.

Feedback - Listening as intelligence

Every living system listens.When light shifts, leaves turn.When water runs low, roots search deeper.

Rewilded education must build this same sensitivity.Ask, observe, adapt.What do learners need now?Where does curiosity pull them next?Feedback is not correction — it’s conversation.

Renewal - The cycle that keeps life alive

In nature, nothing stays in bloom forever.There are seasons of growth, rest, decay, and rebirth.

Our learning systems, too, must pause to renew.Not endless acceleration, but seasons of reflection.Let teachers breathe. Let students wonder.Stillness is not a break from learning — it is part of it.

Modularity - Small worlds, shared purpose

Ant colonies, root networks, bird flocks —all grow through modular design:independent units, connected through shared purpose.

Design learning ecosystems the same way.Each school, community, or circle should be able to adapt to local needs while staying part of a larger rhythm.Decentralised doesn’t mean disconnected.

Adaptation - The art of staying alive

Nature never stands still.It changes, not out of panic, but practice.

When the climate shifts, species adjust shape, size, rhythm.When the world changes, our ways of knowing must too.

Rewilding learning means teaching adaptability —how to sense change, respond creatively, and remain rooted through it all.

The Rewilded Question

Nature doesn’t ask, “What’s the plan?”It asks, “What’s needed now?”

That question —alive, humble, listening —is the heart of rewilded education.

When we ask, “What would nature do?”we remember that life has always known the way.