Is There Hope for Conservation?
James Borrell’s recent TEDx talk on conservation achievements so far. Should we be more optimistic in conservation? Get involved with the debate.
Despite the ever-declining state of our biodiversity, the answer is – I’m convinced – a resounding yes.
In conservation, I think we sometimes focus too much on the negatives. Yes, we have to get our message across. Yes, we need a lot of very uninterested people to wake up and recognise our dependence on the natural world, but can yet more alarming statistics really help?
We have lost most than half of our wildlife in the past 40 years (and 40 years ago things were already pretty bad). That simple fact should be all we need to know to be convinced to take action.
Instead, I want to help people realise quite how much success conservationists have achieved already. If the environmental movement had never happened, if history’s great conservationists had stood by and done nothing then the world, I am certain, would be in a far worse state than it is today.
So please, stay hopeful because conservation depends on people just like you.
More about James:
James is a conservation biologist, with a focus on the genetics of rare species. He has been involved with a variety of research expeditions around the world, from the Peruvian Amazon to the Empty Quarter desert and the Scandinavian High Arctic. In the UK he is passionate about citizen science and encouraging young people to become interested in conservation and the natural world. His latest projects include the social enterprise Discover Conservation and an upcoming expedition to Northern Madagascar.
You can find out more about James and his current projects at his website – http://www.jamesborrell.com/
Do you think there is hope for conservation? Tell us what you think by leaving a comment below
One Comment
He talks a lot of sense