As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout progresses, many of us are feeling cautiously optimistic about the future, tempered by an awareness of the social and economic devastation wrought by the pandemic. What could the new normal look like? Past mistakes, current initiatives and bold imaginative visions of the future are considered by the environmentalist, and diverse approaches explored, to learn how a reset could work for everyone – and other species – in the wider environment. Dr Siobhan Maderson is an ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University.