We want our students to engage in tikkun olam yet they may wonder what difference they can really make. The controversy over the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park can help you kick off an amazing discussion about our ability to make a difference in the world. Our upcoming book, Our Place in the Universe: Judaism and the Environment Journal helps students consider competing values and work through ways they can have real impact.
After 70 years wolves were nowhere to be found at Yellowstone National Park. Many believe their reintroduction had an amazing effect on the environment.
Because wolves were missing from Yellowstone National Park, the number of deer was at an all-time high--so high that even humans couldn't control the population and the plants and vegetation became scarce. Reintroducing wolves created an effect called a "trophic cascade," an ecological process where the top of the food chain is now at the bottom.
Wolves are predators, but in this case brought life to many other species within Yellowstone National Park.
The wolves began not only to hunt the deer, but to change deer behavior and where they lived. Areas that were now uninhabited by deer were able to grow and flourish again. This started a chain of growth within the park. The wolves even created changes in the physical geography of the region.
How Wolves Change Rivers from Sustainable Man on Vimeo.
Although the Sustainable Man video suggests dramatic success of this effort, an article in The New York times suggests otherwise.
According to the Times, despite the wolves' ability to decrease the population and change the patterns of the deer and elk in the park, parts of the park's ecosystem were already changed too much to fix.
For example, after the wolves were exterminated from the park the deer and elk eliminated willow shrubs. After 70 years of deer damage, even the change in rivers after wolves were reintroduced wasn't enough to bring life back to the willows. And the wolves have caused difficulties for local ranchers and others.
You can find the full article here.
Should the wolves have been reintroduced? Did the wolves make any real difference? Did the people who undertook this project? Yet if a wolf can help change a river, what might we be able to do for the sake of tikkun olam?
You can introduce your students to the kind of exploration and critical thinking needed to consider their own roles in the world. This spring Behrman House introduces Our Place in the Universe: Judaism and the Environment, an investigation and journalling experience for 6th-8th grade. Contact us to get a review copy at a 30% discount when it becomes available. Or join Golem Express today for one low, once-per-year fee and we'll send it automatically at no additional charge and no shipping fees.
