Two thousand years ago, a sailor passing on a ship to Italy heard a voice calling from the distant shore of a Greek island. “Tell them,” the voice cried, “tell them that the great god Pan is dead!”
The sailor spread the word, but people murmured their disbelief. The lord of the wild wasn’t gone! The wild places still existed! With belief that Pan could still protect the forests, the meadows, and the valleys, and all the creatures who lived there, the people built indiscriminately. Empires expanded; great industries for production and commerce rose, and the earth itself was overturned to accommodate the people and their creations.
Two thousand years later, our people lament the great loss of the wild, which suffers without the protection of its rustic lord. Since the turn of the century, an estimated 420 million hectares of forest has been lost – much of which was turned into vast agricultural landscapes to feed our hulking, densely populated metropolises (https://www.unep.org/resources/state-worlds-forests-forests-biodiversity-and-people).
The different subjects of Pan – animal, fungi, plant, bacteria – face urgent threats of extinction, the most hopeful estimations of which still describe between 200 to 2,000 species extinctions a year (https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/biodiversity/biodiversity/#:~:text=1%20The%20rapid%20loss%20of%20species%20we%20are,species%20will%20become%20extinct%20each%20year.%20More%20items). Unlike the devastating extinction events of the past, the one our planet is currently facing is one which our species is wholly responsible for.
Without Pan we despair. You and I, we cannot stop the logging, the poaching, the pollution or the overfishing. I may choose a 15 minute walk rather than a 5 minute bus ride, but across the ocean an acclaimed singer chooses to fly 37 minutes on her private jet, producing roughly 3 tonnes of CO2, so what good have I actually done (https://www.vice.com/en/article/taylor-swift-private-jet-emissions-explained/)?
But organisations such as UNEP call for individuals to protect the remaining pockets of wild we can reach; to vote for greener parties, be mindful of what we consume, to educate our loved ones (https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/heres-what-happens-if-world-loses-its-rainforests).
Lund, where I will spend my exchange year, is a city marked by pedestrian-friendly urban planning and infrastructure. The citizens there lobbied for sustainable mobility, and 74% of excursions are done on foot, bike or via public transport (https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?344273/lund). For the wild we’ve lost, and are still losing, I can set aside convenience and grasp the handlebars of a bicycle to make my daily journeys across the city. I will join a 4000-volunteer strong environmental organisation for hikes, excursions and public lectures (https://lund.naturskyddsforeningen.se/in-english/).
Two thousand years ago, a voice from a distant shore cried out a warning. It warned the people that the protection of the wild kingdom now fell upon their shoulders; a warning that they tossed aside. Two thousand years later, our scientists cry out the same warning. I could choose to thrust all responsibility upon the politicians, corporations and big tech industries – could I be faulted? But in doing so, I forget I too am part of Pan’s kingdom. Today, it is the forests, meadows and wild creatures that suffer. Tomorrow, we must remember, it could be us.
