Listen to the interview below, or on the On Point website.

Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, Edward O. Wilson has distilled sixty years of teaching into his new book for students, young and old. Reflecting on his coming-of-age in the South as a Boy Scout and a lover of ants and butterflies, Wilson threads these twenty-one letters, each richly illustrated, with autobiographical anecdotes that illuminate his career—both his successes and his failures—and his motivations for becoming a biologist.

At a time in human history when our survival is more than ever linked to our understanding of science, Wilson insists that success in the sciences does not depend on mathematical skill, but rather a passion for finding a problem and solving it. From the collapse of stars to the exploration of rain forests and the oceans’ depths, Wilson instills a love of the innate creativity of science and a respect for the human being’s modest place in the planet’s ecosystem in his readers. Letters to a Young Scientist, like all of his books, bears Wilson’s distinctive voice and his ability to traverse disciplines and communities (while quoting from Vladimir Nabokov, Jimmy Cagney, and Floyd Patterson along the way) to convey big ideas.

Two-Day Festival Will Celebrate Biodiversity and Inspire Participants to Protect Planet

NEW ORLEANS (April 23, 2013)—Are you ready to BioBlitz? The National Park Service and National Geographic Society are teaming up to host a 24-hour BioBlitz species count and two-day Biodiversity Festival, Friday-Saturday, May 17-18, 2013. BioBlitz 2013 will take place at the Barataria Preserve of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. The preserve, located at in Marrero, La., protects more than 23,000 acres of wild Louisiana wetlands.

Part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom, the BioBlitz will bring together 100 leading scientists and naturalists from around the country, thousands of local citizens of all ages and nearly 2,000 students from the greater New Orleans area. Together they will comb the park, observing and recording as many plant and animal species as possible in 24 hours. Inventory activities include counting alligators, catching insects, spotting birds, exploring and examining aquatic invertebrates and using technology to better understand the diverse ecosystems of this unique National Park Service area.

A major component of BioBlitz is the opportunity for the public to work side-by-side with leading experts to count, map and learn about the park’s diverse organisms, ranging from microscopic bacteria to towering bald cypress trees. To be part of an inventory team, you must register online at www.nationalgeographic.com/bioblitz. Registration is now open. Inventory team spots are limited and will be filled on a first-come basis.

Children aged 8 and older accompanied by adults may participate in inventories, and younger kids can enjoy hands-on fun at the Biodiversity Festival at the Barataria Preserve. All BioBlitz and festival parking will be at Bayou Segnette State Park (7777 Westbank Expressway, Westwego, La.). Everyone going to BioBlitz will receive free park admission, free parking and free round-trip shuttle service to the preserve. Handicapped-accessible shuttles will be available.

The free Biodiversity Festival will feature music, science demonstrations, hands-on activities provided by prominent science and environmental organizations, food and art. The festival will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, May 17-18. “Explorers” of all ages can enjoy the festival, watch scientists at work and “graduate” from Biodiversity University by participating in activities. No registration is required for the festival. For a schedule of events and details about BioBlitz and the festival, go to www.nationalgeographic.com/bioblitz.

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve Acting Superintendent Lance Hatten said, “Those of us in Louisiana know exactly how precious our wetlands are and how important it is to protect them. We hope everybody takes advantage of this opportunity to explore areas of the Barataria Preserve that most visitors never see, to help us learn things that will help us protect our wetlands for decades to come and to have a great time at the festival.”

“We’re excited to be exploring this amazing ecosystem,” said John Francis, National Geographic’s vice president of Research, Conservation and Exploration. “We will have leading scientists from around the country and the region to help citizens explore the park like never before. At previous BioBlitzes, we have helped national parks identify new species to add to their rosters, and at Biscayne National Park we identified a species new to science. It is exciting to see the public, and especially students, make new discoveries and learn how to keep nature whole.”

The Jean Lafitte BioBlitz has been made possible through the generous support of corporations, foundations and state and local agencies. Corporate support comes from Southwest Airlines. Foundation support is from the Harold M. and Adeline S. Morrison Family Foundation, the National Park Foundation and the National Park Trust. The Louisiana Office of State Parks and Jefferson Parish have also helped to make this event happen.

National Geographic has had a close relationship with the National Park Service since it helped draft legislation to establish the Service in 1916. National Geographic has given grants to establish or sustain national parks and has extensively covered the parks in its media for nearly a century. The Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve BioBlitz is part of the organizations’ latest collaboration. It is the seventh of 10 annual BioBlitzes that will be held at national park units around the country leading up to the National Park Service’s centennial in 2016. The first took place in 2007 at Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. The others have been at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in California in 2008; Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in 2009; Biscayne National Park in Florida in 2010; Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Ariz., in 2011; and Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, Colo., in 2012. Smaller-scale events throughout the year take place at various national parks across the country; information about these can be found at http://nature.nps.gov/biology/biodiversity/docs/BiodiversityDiscovery.pdf.

Contacts:

Kristy Wallisch
National Park Service
(504) 382-0296
Kristy_wallisch@nps.org

Carol Seitz
National Geographic Society
(202) 247-0953
carolcseitz@gmail.com

Blue Ridge Parkway. Courtesy of National Park Service Digital Image Archives.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release

April 19, 2013

NATIONAL PARK WEEK, 2013

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

For generations, ordinary Americans have taken it upon themselves to preserve our national landscape. They have been public servants and private citizens, patrons and Presidents — visionaries who saw our natural inheritance not as something to be used up, but as a treasure to be passed on. During National Park Week, we celebrate the wonders entrusted to us by our forebears and recommit to preserving them for our children and grandchildren.

We also take time to remember that in places like the Grand Canyon and the Teton Range, we see more than raw beauty. We see expansive freedom and rugged independence. We see the big ideas and bold ingenuity that inspired the first conservationists. We see our belief in collective responsibility — the notion that all of us have an equal share in this land and an equal obligation to keep it safe. These spaces embody the best of the American spirit, and they summon us to experience it firsthand.

This week, the National Park Service will make that opportunity available to everyone by offering free admission to every park in the Union from April 22 through April 26. And to keep building on our country’s long legacy of conservation, I have been proud to establish eight new National Monuments in the past year. These sites honor rich histories, spectacular landscapes, and pioneering heroes of the American story, from Colonel Charles Young to Harriet Tubman to Cesar Chavez. They also reflect my commitment to advancing a 21st-century conservation strategy that responds to the priorities of the American people, strengthens local economies, and protects our most special places for generations to come.

As we mark this week, I encourage all Americans to experience our natural heritage by stepping into the outdoors. To find a National Park in your area, visit www.NPS.gov.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 20 through April 28, 2013, as National Park Week. I encourage all Americans to visit their National Parks and be reminded of these unique blessings we share as a Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

BARACK OBAMA

Inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, Edward O. Wilson has distilled sixty years of teaching into a book for students, young and old. Reflecting on his coming-of-age in the South as a Boy Scout and a lover of ants and butterflies, Wilson threads these twenty-one letters, each richly illustrated, with autobiographical anecdotes that illuminate his career—both his successes and his failures—and his motivations for becoming a biologist.

At a time in human history when our survival is more than ever linked to our understanding of science, Wilson insists that success in the sciences does not depend on mathematical skill, but rather a passion for finding a problem and solving it. From the collapse of stars to the exploration of rain forests and the oceans’ depths, Wilson instills a love of the innate creativity of science and a respect for the human being’s modest place in the planet’s ecosystem in his readers. Letters to a Young Scientist, like all of his books, bears Wilson’s distinctive voice and his ability to traverse disciplines and communities (while quoting from Vladimir Nabokov, Jimmy Cagney, and Floyd Patterson along the way) to convey big ideas.

The Guide, a remarkable new documentary film about the human side of environmental sustainability, will have its world premiere on April 6 at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, held in Durham, North Carolina.

Jessica Yu’s 40 minute film is a coming-of-age story about Tonga Torcida, who was born and raised near Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, a spectacular 4,000-square-kilometer preserve located at the southern end of the Great East African Rift Valley. Its unique biogeographical features supported some of the densest wildlife populations in all of Africa, including charismatic carnivores, herbivores and over 500 bird species. But large mammal numbers were reduced as much as 95% and the ecosystem was profoundly stressed during many years of civil conflict, which finally ended in 1992.

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival director of programming, Sadie Tillery, describes the film, which focuses on efforts to revive the park:

Today, Greg Carr is committed to the park’s restoration and conservation and plans to engage the local community in the effort by providing jobs to over four hundred individuals and ensuring that the resources yielded by the park are then spread to the surrounding villages. He and his colleagues are taken by Tonga, whose passion for the landscape embodies its future. When renowned biologist E.O. Wilson visits, Tonga is offered the remarkable opportunity to translate for him. The realization of his dream may just inspire Tonga to envision a more significant role for himself in sustaining this remarkable place. Exquisite imagery of lush scenery and majestic animals embellish this powerful portrayal of mutualism between both man and nature and man and fellow man.”

Yu, a director of both documentaries and scripted work, is being honored at this year’s festival for her body of work with the Full Frame Tribute award. A number of her earlier films, along with The Guide, will be shown during the festival.

The Guide will have its world premiere screening at 7:40 p.m. on Saturday, April 6, in Cinema 1 at the Carolina Theatre, 309 West Morgan Street, in Durham, North Carolina. A Q&A with Jessica Yu is scheduled following the screening.

For ticket information, visit the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival’s website.

Click here to VOTE February 18th through noon (PST) on March 1st to support Biodiversity Youth Ambassadors travel to BioBlitz 2013 in New Orleans!

This microproject will support the participation of a corps of 12-16 year old National Park Service Biodiversity Youth Ambassadors in BioBlitz 2013 at the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in New Orleans. Each year, 2010-2016, a student ambassador is selected to represent students attending their local annual BioBlitz, and three students have been selected to-date from Connecticut, Arizona, and Colorado. The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation is developing a mentorship program that assists these students in spreading biodiversity awareness to their peers. Biodiversity Youth Ambassadors blog about their experiences, interview young participants on site, and continue to engage other students about biodiversity when they return to their home communities. Their attendance at the 2013 BioBlitz will maintain momentum around and between BioBlitz events and sustain the growth of the Biodiversity Youth Ambassador network into the future.

Funding will allow Biodiversity Youth Ambassadors from the 2010-2012 BioBlitz’s, their university student mentor, their teachers, and parent/chaperones to travel to the 2013 BioBlitz and most effectively “carry the torch” of this environmental youth network to the new 2013 Biodiversity New Orleans Youth Ambassador. Provision of travel expenses will allow Youth Ambassadors to participate in this event and to implement ongoing program development initiatives, as supported by the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and the mentorship of the Foundation’s university student intern. Participation in BioBlitzs can be life-changing for students. A BioBlitz is not only an important learning experience that generates significant scientific information about the biodiversity of a special protected place, but it also allows interaction with thousands of local students who will be inspired and enriched by the involvement of student ambassadors at the event.

The mission of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation is to promote worldwide understanding of the importance of biodiversity and of the preservation of our biological heritage. Our objective is to foster a new generation of enthusiastic explorers, environmental policy makers, and informed citizens through innovative and inspiring research and education initiatives. We aim to cultivate a deep understanding and appreciation for biodiversity in young people so that it becomes part of their cultural DNA and how they live their lives. This microproject will foster and enrich the involvement of students in an important national park BioBlitz event in an effort to improve their understanding of the nature and diversity of all of life on Earth and why it must be conserved. Youth Ambassador participation will have far-reaching positive consequences as the Ambassadors spread biodiversity awareness and enthusiasm to students, schools and communities across the country.

General public who wish to see the Town Hall, can do so in one of two locations inside the Museum streaming the event—the Auditorium inside the Museum’s main building, or inside the Environmental Conference Center on the 4th floor of the NRC. It can also be accessed live and after the event at http://livestre.am/4jntq

Following Wilson’s presentation at 2:15 p.m., media and on-site visitors are invited to a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony at the entrance to the NRC’s Citizen Science Center on the 1st floor, celebrating the opening of the first permanent museum exhibit highlighting E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth, a digital biology textbook for high-school students being developed by the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.

Watch December 13 event again here:

With generous support provided by:

• Gregory C. Carr – As a humanitarian and prolific philanthropist, Greg has dedicated the last 15 years of his career to the betterment of the human condition and the world we live in. In 1999, he co-founded the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. Joining family and friends, he co-founded the Museum of Idaho in 2000, a cultural and natural history museum in Idaho Falls that is the largest institution of its kind in the state. In 2008, Carr signed a 20-year agreement with the Government of Mozambique to restore and co-manage the country’s flagship national park, Gorongosa. National Geographic Television chronicled the Park’s restoration in their film Africa’s Lost Eden.

• Charles J. Smith – Charles is a serial entrepreneur who has launched four companies and one foundation. He is perhaps best known for developing the royalty-free licensing model for digital images which today accounts for over 95% of worldwide image sales. Charles also co-founded Knowledge Factor, a company that pioneered the Amplifire protocol, which demonstrably accelerates learning and enhances long-term retention. He has served on the Director’s Cabinet at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the world’s oldest and largest organization devoted to understanding the dynamic between land, ocean, and atmosphere. Charles currently serves on the board of Nature and Culture International, a position from which he is applying time and expertise toward saving the remaining biodiversity hotspots on the planet before they disappear forever. To date, Nature and Culture has conserved nine million acres in the most diverse ecosystems of Latin America.

• David J. Prend – David is a Managing General Partner and co-founder of RockPort Capital Partners, a Boston and Menlo Park-based venture capital firm focusing on investments in technologies in the energy, mobility and sustainability sectors. David currently serves on the Boards of RockPort portfolio companies Achates Power, Aspen Aerogels, Glasspoint Solar, Inc., InVisage Technologies, SatCon Technology Corporation, and SustainX, Inc. He is a member of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) National Advisory Council, and is the chairman of the Solar Technology Review Panel for NREL.

Joining the Foundation’s Board of Advisors is Stuart Leonard Pimm. Stuart is the Doris Duke Chair of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He is a world leader in the study of present day extinctions and what can be done to prevent them. Pimm wrote the highly acclaimed assessment of the human impact to the planet: The World According to Pimm: a Scientist Audits the Earth in 2001. His commitment to the interface between science and policy has led to his testimony to both House and Senate Committees on the re-authorization of the Endangered Species Act, which has covered elephants, reintroductions of other large mammals and most recently lions for National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative.

Stuart will join a growing list of Foundation advisors, which includes E.O. Wilson, Eric Chivian, Gretchen Daily, Harrison Ford, Carol Greider, Eric Kandel, Amory Lovins, Gregory Lucier, Sir Paul Nurse, Steven Pinker, Peter Raven, Larry Rosenstock, Jeffrey Sachs, Daniel Schrag, Holden Thorp, and James Watson.

“We are thrilled to have such an esteemed group of individuals join the Foundation through these Board appointments,” said Dr. Paula J. Ehrlich, CEO and President of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, “We believe their involvement in the Foundation is a testament to the importance of our mission and are confident that their diverse experiences and unparalleled accomplishments will serve us well in achieving our objectives.”

Please join us for a Launch Party on Tuesday, September 11, 6-8 pm, at the Frank Gallery, 109 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill. RSVP and more information HERE.

The 2012 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Winner and Runner-up are:

WINNER: James Gleick, The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (Pantheon Books)

RUNNER-UP: Donovan Hohn, Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them (Viking Books)

The PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award was founded by scientist and author Dr. Edward O. Wilson, activist and actor Harrison Ford, and the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. The inaugural award was conferred in 2011. The Judges are Elizabeth Kolbert, Charles Mann, and Dava Sobel.