what does the wilderness need asked for them, or if you walk through a forest that time to baz links, isn't wolves today, you realize that you're not at the top of the food chain in yesterday. the 1st few nights i was often a bit scared here on the edge of the forest, i saw 2 eyes glowing in a hollow. i couldn't explain them with ah, when the corona virus pandemic broke out righty. lena's high, flynn was desperate to get away out of berlin. he fled to the countryside. ah, then living in solitude, he had a surprising realization. he shot the canal. no for not to wood. i had no clue about nature of issues. you could say i liked nature either, but i didn't know the animals, for example are thus ism, i didn't know the bird station. i'll that i could see that it was a bird's only got that, but that was really, it was just with maybe i could identify a great hit or something and i and i had no idea what kind of animals they're worse . my mom lame. so just being here alone without distractions, these animals took on a certain meaning for the 1st time in my life 3 in to see him big. i started getting interested in them versus the what kind of bird is that? it's a mentioned is that male or female this emma, do i keep seeing the same one seat or are there several that looked the same like how soon i actually started to get interested in what was in front of me. it does to this nature even though i'll do you not to iceland. school friend has a small cabin in the woods beyond o'hana and brook and can see north of berlin. he spent weeks and months living there alone. a kind of cautious, mutual observation, developed the animals, watched the strange man. the man watched the strange animals yamaha the room to see the temperament that they have different temperaments goes, for example, among the birds. there are huge differences between both inches and not hatches that they have completely different mentalities, like italians, and i don't know icelanders barely. the bull finch is our sedate and quiet, all they look around, feel they don't move that much. and so under is the nut, hatches are constantly excited. that the sis as soon, that's how it is august indian their individual to sing, but it's like they also have different cultures or mentality. soto mentally thought me. ah, the experience inspired lenise high. flynn spoke. i'm stuck mench. invite a city dweller in the forest. iceland uses the pseudonym h d. weldon, a reference to the seminal work by american rice, a henry david thorough. the writer finds himself in a parallel universe. his previously only heard about nature. he's shocked and a shame to realize how little he knows this world, surrounded by unknown creatures. his perception and sense of time begin to change. sounds that are frightening at 1st, like nocturnal cracks, snuffles or creeping, become familiar. he realizes that humans are not alone. there is a whole world out there. ah, ah. in an estimation of the 1st few nights i was often a bit scared by leon valden here on the edge of the forest. i saw 2 eyes glowing in a hollow. okay. i couldn't explain them. see men, she looks too low down to be human geography, but kind of too high for an animal dung off to go than there were the sounds a line. yeah. which seem much louder when you're here all alone fee loud, much louder than they really are. yes, you see i'm so i was a little bit scared to cut this from dr. essex. miss long's ah, what is nature? what do we mean when we use the word? where does it begin and end? what should we do and not do to protect it? some answers to those questions can be found in the upolu, sasha region of east and germany. here, decades of late night strip mining turned the land into a mean scape of barren earth and contaminated water. but now it's the size of a large scale environmental experiment. and life has returned unexpectedly quickly into santa susanna. see, it's interesting to see that they crossing the trail of them here in the walls. territory the day have to be morrow, may god from the cement the wolves of a predators and predators themselves, often light to move a long trail. that's why this is a great example of it. why would a wolf walk beside the trail where it's hot on solid and on the trail? everything is firm. it's feet don't sink in so much. so the animal uses less energy . whereas pray, animals will often just cross the trail that i'd like to move along them. what's monique's will gandalf on globe ah, large parts of this region i'll be critically referred to as post mining landscape . it's also wolf country. 20 years after the 1st modern wolf, citing, there are now more than 50 parks in the states of saxony and brandenburg, and they are spreading across germany. the predators come back also spells the return of a form of nature. humans had forgotten how to live with wilderness. the question is, can it still exist in a modern, densely populated germany, in the heart of europe? of was had canals as i am, platforms i'm with the wolf has just as much right to a place in nature as any other creature people. we can't always think about it in terms of positive and negative. i could say for me, the wolf is a positive because i run nature tours. my people come and want to see the world, the one and for a shepherd, it would be a negative nigger. that's the wrong way to look at it. it just doesn't work that way of the wolf is there, period thought it has a right to be there just like me and the shepherd and so on. we have to figure out how we live together to them. when the excavator has left apple, you say shes open cast league night, mine's leaving behind massive flag heaps. authorities tried doing something new. nothing. the maltreated earth was simply left alone. it wasn't a miracle that brought nature back to the beaten, but many small miracles. first came some pioneer plants and insects followed by more and more species. to day the li, sation lake district is home to unusual animals and unusual people, like caston niche who wrote a book about his journey from coal industry worker to nature guide to the self image on puts us as well. but no, it was a process for me than english. i'm from this region. my words go back to the sold ethnic rudolfo. i've watched the villages die out and that's what affected me the most. at the beginning, it was terrible the way this landfill vacant down to the excavators went elegant vaughan. what ended up happening was i moved to a little village here in the area near where i had worked. and i decided to go and look at the edges of the old strip mining area to see what the landscape was like. now. i'm on charleston margie's, a bunch of data, not comes on on the hottest as somebody who's a highly. and i had this aha moment with me when i got up to a high place like this something i saw that there were loads of small water holes filled with masses of toads and grassland birds. all kinds of birds like lap win lodgers lashley. it was crazy how much was going on, and for the 1st time i realized that nature could reclaim this place, even the few notorious. so we'll go and come in many places, the concept of untouched nature has become a romantic fantasy. humans are everywhere and have largely pushed nature aside. around half of europe, species of trees and freshwater fish are endangered, as are a total of around 60 percent of all protected species. but even in densely populated central europe, true wilderness can be found. even if opinions differ on how to define it. austrian wildlife photographers, christine, is on villa and mark cough have spent years travelling through europe's national parks and protected areas. for then wilderness isn't only untouched nature, but also respected nature. they're observing the re introduction and natural return of predators to european forests. today they've come to southern slovenia to photograph one of them. the brown bear. again, i'll go and pretend to be the bat and fit within. you're not in frame yet going listen, i'm a self spin off there actually include your hillsman clearfield. i grew up with the animal stories and films from the serengeti, from africa and north america. there is a little shy. it really is a shame from the point of view of a nature filmmaker not to be able or allowed to tell the stories of central europe's animals. besides the very personal happiness you get encountering bears wolves, or lynx is, is also the urge to act like a sort of p r agent for european nature, for the people shouldn't forget that there's also a wildlife behind a house on the outskirts of berlin from hor, in the alps in south to roll, and those stories can and should and must be told, younger sister absolutely will cellphone zone villa and cough spectacular photos make the animals themselves ambassadors for their species. at the same time, the photographers are documenting the successful re introduction. all resettlement of particular animals. like scottie, the lynx, who was picked up by a camera trap in the snow of austria's limestone alps. the female lynx is now the cover girl of a book whose title translates as the wild heart of europe. in it, photographers and authors, christina's on villa and mark, cough go in search of central europe's primeval forests. they still exist in austria, germany, switzerland, northern italy, slovenia, poland, and slovakia. these are forests left to their own devices where rivers flow freely and we're big predators like wolves, bears, and lynx is, are now slowly returning. how is the process going? how much wilderness can central europe tolerate? how much does it need? and why a forest without lodge predators like the wolfy on the bed and the links feel somehow empty? that's what we've learned and risen is in the wrong room as beautiful as nature can be. it seems incomplete without lodge predators. onforce thing, we know this because we've gotten to know the parts of central europe that are to exaggerate a bit full of bears, like southern slovenia, full of wolves, like lou sasha in germany, or lynx, is like in our homeland austria or dr. luke's zenato. herman. interesting. is this lisa, it's hard to describe since if, if you walk through a forest at home to bez links, isn't wolves, and it heightens your senses. so maybe you realize that you're not at the top of the food chain. oh though, actually in the case of the bear, it's not really true because the european brown bears here a mainly herbivores helpful council fair. so they're really not out to proud humans . optis in many still believe that when you walk through a forest, there are wild animals everywhere, ready to jump out from behind the next tree to kill you. well, and that's not true. i had these animals are always careful to stay away from human scores. that includes the big predators and even europe's largest predators, the brown, back for men from council high for a long time, the largest predator in lou sasha was coal mining in his book cast in neat rights. nothing and no one could stop strip mining. it asap the land and everything in it. it was like a black hole, not in space, but here on earth. at the time, people couldn't imagine life ever returning to these barren landscapes of mining waste. but nature found a way we do not was issued a bus. we'd have to look over this vet sort of resurgence is no problem for nature . nature has been doing that sort of thing for thousands and even millions of years . rush hour, earth and it's landscapes are constantly changing. we're calm, i compare it to a volcanic eruption fund. but when the volcanoes dormant the slopes are full of growth and people might even settle their work, then there's a major option and everything is gone again. i think a lot the landscape looks as hostile as another planets all, but it won't be long until the landscape comes back to life. that's what's happening here too. i'm going to going on guns. can also it sounds too good to be true. turning a barren wasteland into a natural paradise just by doing nothing. but it's not quite that simple. this animal haven is still dangerous for humans. 60 percent of the mining lands are now forested, but much of the land is inaccessible. it's too dangerous and unpredictable. ah, it will continue to shift for centuries, and large areas could slide away. it won't stay as it is now. after all, landscapes are always dynamic when viewed over large periods of time. muslim to listen, but one guy because we have to decide what we want to find at some point after thousands of years on this lake would get more and more clogged by water plants on by animals and so on. what it would turn into a bog, and that bug would eventually silt up and one day they'd be a forest too much. of course that takes a very, very long time on monday. so we have to decide what we do. we permit that process. do we allow nature and landscape to keep changing or good or do we want to maintain its condition in order to keep certain species in these areas? hutton and using the beaten species like the praying mantis which is considered extinct in germany in the last century. only isolated specimens have been cited all the read, the eater, seeing them return and seeing a research and german wilderness would be a huge success in ecological terms. but is it actually necessary of good chronic the home of the of it with paulson? well, it's not about whether we need the wilderness. i mentioned that is thinking about it from a human perspective on what we needed for. we can also ask, what does the wilderness need us for them? but because we're part of nature, we can see that the question doesn't make sense. it's obvious that something like wilderness has to exist and it will definitely do us good. but above all, we have a responsibility now because we've developed to such an extent and we've been constantly trying to destroy this system, which works very well on its and which has evolved over millions of years or so if the justification is always that 1st we need to think about jobs or this and that, and eventually we'll get down the list of priorities. but at some point it will be too late for. and then nature may very well show us al limits under, at some point that's going to happen. a lot of perfume and alice drive south of lavine as capital louisiana is an area home to one of the densest brown bay populations in the world. nearly 1000 bears are said to live here in an area twice the size of luxemburg. their numbers are growing, the bears could spread out into neighboring countries, but roads and densely populated alpine valleys block their way. what's missing is the willingness among humans to make migrations possible. of increasing look fresh tracks. me thinking, oh, because you can see there were drinking and i think i'll be definitely a bare is mucous fallen there on top of the really exciting and reassuring thing is that nature is coming back by itself. one example is the wolves in germany, lungs and another is the bears in southern sylvania, you know, they're returning without human intervention. as of now it's just a matter of finding a way to exist together. we're ang, demands almost all is colinza is keep good concept. there, when there are already ideas that link the economy and nature conservation ended, and they're working with being homeless, kept after a classic example is a soft tourism, or eco tourism, which aims to make nature accessible to people of productive bisman. this works especially well in less economically developed regions where there's no large industry morning when school was clinical will signal thinking. for example, in the high tantra mountains, between poland and slovakia, the brown bears here are a veritable tourist magnet with 50 animals, drawing millions of visitors to one to the national parks trails every year. if that kind of coexistence works here, surely it can work elsewhere in central europe. in that book zone villa and cough imagined a europe of protected zones interconnected by green bridges that allow large predators to migrate. forests would be left to grow wild and the forestry industry would largely stay on the sidelines. in the end, it would benefit every one. the home in middle hope on at sea are feeling their weakness. we don't have very much real wilderness in central europe, but we visited quite a few of these places and they all have one thing in common. it's always cumbersome, or the path is always arduous or impossible. the steep, rocky, or blocked by a fallen tree. all the paths of flooded ezekiel and the me that's the real core of what wilderness is, the uncertainty that needs you can bring up the whooping and i think the impetus in europe in the last few centuries has been to eliminate the uncertainty to time nature, to know exactly what to expect in the foreign, all berries was and an ride out that if we leave nature alone, will everything work out for the best zone? villa and coughs, book argues that we should no longer think of wilderness as something that's only far away. they photos show the almost unearthly beauty of nature. they write, we must stop seeing it as a consumer good and a backdrop for fun. we are the last generation that can still reactivate wilderness before it no longer exists. a co hoopa safe, he national vendor europe has many opportunities to become wilder again, that there's even a relatively young conservation movement with the english name re wilding by at thrift. the idea is to give momentum to certain landscapes that have the potential to become wilder. again, we're still to help the process along d. so to saddle, the, for example, by leaving deadwood where it is in the forest, when we're allowing rivers to meander more freely again it does when free. so he does. it's a way of withdrawing again as humans and allowing nature to follow its original impulses not isn't yet in person. the idea is spreading more and more in europe, monia in over hostile pride. nature doesn't have to be spectacular or exotic to and the right to exist. re species are good, but having many species is better reserves and national parks are not a panacea either because people have to live somewhere in the middle ages. more than a 1000 pounds were artificially created in the li sasha, written mainly for fish farming, which is still practiced there today. but there's also wilderness business. we each summer, but wilderness as i understand it is everywhere. it function, it appears very quickly. as soon as we take our hands away and let nature be free, there's a great example in these stones right here on a someone dumped them here at some point. maybe they were meant for construction work on the pond. they've been lying there for several years, and you can see mos foaming everywhere. if we leave them alone, legions will grow, but leaves will get blown in hopeful small trees will take root from all the seeds that are here. and animals, light, lizards or toads, will use them as a hiding place. a mice will colonize them, and already it will have become a little wilderness which one untruths. when a crown of looseness, when cost a neat, finished school in what was lent still communist east germany, his parents wanted him to take up a proper career in lieu, sasha, that meant working in the coal industry. niche became an electrician at the club, one hotel ignite mine despite being drawn to nature. the coal has since disappeared, as has the mind and even the state that operated it. but the nature has returned. his life has come full circle. yar i'm as you like to run up because as with all the good women, it started when i was a child to give a phone to my bicycle around here. and of course there was always something to discover, had known. it would always meant i became more aware through my old mentor and ornithologist in the pre cut probably cuz he worked at a factory making cobra cat sooner. so he was also involved with collins on a plateau only to login or to a photograph in his spare time, he was a bird watcher and photographer who would have moved at some point. when i was a child, i heard about him and saw his pictures blocked. after that, i really stopped him because i was very persistent. eventually he took me along and we cycled to the ponds. and he showed me a few things i liked the basics of identifying species and bird calls. i learned a lot from him, which dumont philosophically mila. we often speak of getting back to nature, but we part of it. in his book, coslyn writes that while he was reading about forest animals, he looked up an entry for humans. it turns out we're happy to rinds. strictly speaking, wild animals that cannot be domesticated. today humans are the most widespread mammal on the planet. that was once the wolf, his return to central europe. we await with mixed feelings. ah, we long for seemingly untouched and wild nature. does that stem from a longing to rediscover the nature in ourselves? these authors have tried to answer that question in their books for their own sake, and for the sake of their readers. for the cold, the home with this model was him, or the reason why we do what we do is simply because we find these natural treasures that we have to have even in central europe on to valuable via to ignore the at for hours does. is it important piece with versus this mocker is i don't just want to entertain people. of course i want to make a difference. i want to show people the beauty of nature. i make them see how important it is that we understand it specially does for, and that it's important how we behave and that we respect nature and may be that we become a bit humbler again as we have phil ashby, that was theme. of course, that's a big ambition and it's what i want to convey with my book. i do not read off my boot once put in schism. i'm sorry to say that overall, i don't think books can change anything. a book might change something in the individual in one individual reader, but even that is asking a lot, feed on. mm ah, with who in good shape. it's time to place for it. but when exactly early risers and night hours are put to the test. timing is key and so if method in good shape in 30 minutes on d w o. to the dark side where intelligence agencies are pulling the strings, there was a before 911 and after 911 he says after 911, the clubs came off. where organized crime rules were conglomerates make their own laws? what's true, what's vague? it doesn't matter. the only criteria is what we'll hook people up. we shed light on the opaque world. who's behind the benefits. and why are they a threat to us all opaque worlds? this week on d, w. we're all set with a to go beyond the obvious with all in as we take on the world. we're all about the stories that matter to whatever a table eastman following. d w. we on fire made for mines. are you ready to get a little more extreme? ah, these places in europe are smashing all the records. stepped into a bold adventure. just don't lose your grip. it's the treasure map for modern globetrotters, discover some of europe's record breaking sites on youtube. and now also in book form with this is dw, is live from berlin cars, exxon's president, issue to shoot to kill orders against protesters.