Rewilding, as a form of ecological restoration and as a much broader environmental ethos, has dramatically risen in popularity and use in mainstream global environmental initiatives. In many circles, the term "rewilding" has even come to replace broad umbrella terms like "conservation" and "environmentalism," serving to sum up the purpose and work of global environmental work as a whole. Not too long ago, however, rewilding was fringe in the science of ecological restoration and environmental thought and writing more generally. This dissertation tells the story of the rising prominence of rewilding as both a body of ecological restoration methods and as a rallying cry for environmental causes more generally. This story of popularization marks a shift toward what many have called a positive environmentalism - a movement that focuses less on defensively protecting a remnant of healthy ecosystems and habitats and more on actively transforming existing ecosystems in ways that encourage more diverse, less managed ecological functions. As such, rewilding is a movement marked by hope, not of saving what remains, but of transforming what has been lost. I show that these hopes of rewilding are importantly hopes, not simply for healthier lands, but for happier lives. This eudaimonistic focus of rewilding is the key to understanding both its rise to prominence and its radical diversity as a movement, as well as a helpful model for better understanding the dynamics of collective environmental decision-making in the Anthropocene.℗
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