Fauna Talks

When did we stop looking? We live in a time in which the natural connection between humans and wild animals has almost completely disappeared. Ancient stories, cultural ideas, and a cold economic logic have placed us above nature, rather than within it. Primal knowledge has been lost, and the ability to look with wonder has faded. We have lost touch with everything that is wild and alive.

This sense of alienation is not an abstract problem. It is partly at the root of the current biodiversity crisis. A society that leaves no room for the wild ultimately suffocates itself. It harms our health, our prosperity, and our well-being.

At Fauna Talks — an initiative of Vogelbescherming Vlaanderen — we explore how this rupture came about, how it affects all of us, and above all: how we can begin to repair it. Drawing on psychology, philosophy, science, and art, we look for new perspectives on how to live alongside wild animals, and how a shift in narrative can transform the way we think and act.

We may have unlearned the language of the wild, but the drive for connection is still embedded in our DNA. It is high time to rediscover this together.

With, among others, Hans Van Dyck, Gaea Schoeters, Lien De Ruyck, Dirk Vandenbussche, and others.