THIS EARTH DAY:
At 6 pm EST, April 22nd, Earth Day, experience a live online Library of America event in tribute to E.O. Wilson with acclaimed authors, filmmakers and scientists. This event is free.
In a time of climate crisis and shrinking biodiversity, E.O. Wilson's lyrical, thought-provoking work inspires wonder and reverence for our fragile natural world.
Join renowned nature and science writer David Quammen, editor of the new LOA collection Edward O. Wilson: Biophilia, The Diversity of Life, Naturalist, award-winning environmental journalist Bill Finch, and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Wilson biographer Richard Rhodes for an exploration of Wilson’s legacy as naturalist, writer, and thinker. Special guest: documentary filmmaker Graham Townsley (E. O. Wilson: Of Ants and Men).
The event will be introduced by Paula Ehrlich, CEO & President, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, and President and Publisher of Library of America, Max Rudin.
Register NowJoin renowned nature and science writer David Quammen, editor of the new LOA collection Edward O. Wilson: Biophilia, The Diversity of Life, Naturalist, award-winning environmental journalist Bill Finch, and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Wilson biographer Richard Rhodes for an exploration of Wilson’s legacy as naturalist, writer, and thinker. Special guest: documentary filmmaker Graham Townsley (E. O. Wilson: Of Ants and Men).
The event will be introduced by Paula Ehrlich, CEO & President, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, and President and Publisher of Library of America, Max Rudin.
THE HALF-EARTH PROJECT®
“Unless we move quickly to protect global biodiversity, we will soon lose most of the species composing life on Earth.” —E.O. Wilson.
Threats to the natural world are multiplying.
Species are going extinct at an alarming rate.
There’s a solution. It’s called the Half-Earth Project®, the signature program of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. If we conserve half the land and sea, we can still safeguard the bulk of our planet’s biodiversity.
But what would Half-Earth look like? How would we get there?
EXPLORE THE HALF-EARTH PROJECTSpecies are going extinct at an alarming rate.
There’s a solution. It’s called the Half-Earth Project®, the signature program of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. If we conserve half the land and sea, we can still safeguard the bulk of our planet’s biodiversity.
But what would Half-Earth look like? How would we get there?
WHO IS E.O. WILSON?
Edward O. Wilson is one of the leading scientists and among the foremost naturalists in the world.
Dr. Wilson is recognized in both science and literature, as a synthesizer in works stretching from pure biology across to the social sciences and humanities. Wilson is acknowledged as the creator of two scientific disciplines (island biogeography and sociobiology), three unifying concepts for science and the humanities jointly (biophilia, biodiversity studies, and consilience), and two major advances in global biodiversity conservation (the Encyclopedia of Life and Half-Earth.
He has received the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Crafoord Prize (equivalent of the Nobel, for ecology) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the International Prize of Biology of Japan; and in letters, two Pulitzer Prizes in non-fiction, the Nonino and Serono Prizes of Italy and COSMOS Prize of Japan. For his work in conservation, he has received the Gold Medal of the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Audubon Medal of the Audubon Society.
LEARN MOREHe has received the U.S. National Medal of Science, the Crafoord Prize (equivalent of the Nobel, for ecology) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the International Prize of Biology of Japan; and in letters, two Pulitzer Prizes in non-fiction, the Nonino and Serono Prizes of Italy and COSMOS Prize of Japan. For his work in conservation, he has received the Gold Medal of the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the Audubon Medal of the Audubon Society.
IN BIODIVERSITY NEWS
FROM THE BLOG
Our Purpose – Leave No Species Behind
Mar 29, 2021, 0 Comment
FROM TWITTER
- RT @EcoWatch: Ultimately, the fate of the species relies on what occurs at a handful of key dams. https://t.co/7dsxSJl8Lc8hours ago
- @WNYLC will protect 201-acre oak forest with rare American chestnut trees, native orchids, black bears and bobcats… https://t.co/5xjX8jLxmY2days ago
- @WNYLC @TheBuffaloNews @msommerbn @SharonCantillon Projects like this preserve biodiversity, add up for wildlife in… https://t.co/R99RRou0X62days ago
- RT @GISandScience: Imagine being able to communicate just by your scent. No touch, no sound. EO Wilson, a legendary biologist, discovered t…3days ago
- Read our statement on the passing of HRH Prince Philip, a life-long conservationist and friend of the E.O. Wilson B… https://t.co/B2dHC5AYXs4days ago
- ‘Why I spent my life saving the Blakiston’s fish owl’ https://t.co/otaIaqjqFA4days ago
Help us safeguard biodiversity
Biodiversity is the intricate web of life that sustains nature and sustains us as a part of nature.
With science at its core and our transcendent moral obligation to the rest of life at its heart, Half-Earth Project® is providing the foundation for a new way of understanding the most effective path forward to protect endangered species and ecosystems.
DONATE NOWWith science at its core and our transcendent moral obligation to the rest of life at its heart, Half-Earth Project® is providing the foundation for a new way of understanding the most effective path forward to protect endangered species and ecosystems.
WE CELEBRATE
"Earthrise" by Amanda Gorman
"What can we do?
Open your eyes.
Know that the future of
this wise planet
Lies right in sight:
Right in all of us. Trust
this earth uprising.
All of us bring light to exciting solutions never tried before
For it is our hope that implores us, at our uncompromising core,
To keep rising up for an earth more than worth fighting for."
—Amanda Gorman, inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate
Recorded for the Climate Reality Project
Open your eyes.
Know that the future of
this wise planet
Lies right in sight:
Right in all of us. Trust
this earth uprising.
All of us bring light to exciting solutions never tried before
For it is our hope that implores us, at our uncompromising core,
To keep rising up for an earth more than worth fighting for."
—Amanda Gorman, inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate
Recorded for the Climate Reality Project
MEET CHAMPIONS OF BIODIVERSITY
Amanda Briody
Amanda Briody is the Master Ambassador of the Half-Earth Project Educator Ambassador Program. She loves to share her work by designing and facilitating professional learning courses and workshops for Baltimore City Public Schools Science Teachers.
Ricardo Guta
Ricardo Guta is the inaugural Half-Earth scholar and currently working in the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Laboratory at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique as a Research Technician focused on the biodiversity of insects. His role is to assist in scientific research and monitoring, with particular emphasis on sampling species, assembly of biological samples using appropriate methods, entering scientific data in the database and providing assistance to visiting researchers and staff of the Park.
Amy Tidovsky
Amy Tidovsky leads fundraising in support of the foundation’s mission, strategies and projects as Vice President of Development. She has deep experience in major and principal gifts fundraising, capital campaigns, board development, philanthropy training and consultation and non-profit leadership and management.
HONORING INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
Our Indigenous Land Acknowledgement
“The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and it's program, The Half-Earth Project, honors the wisdom of the traditional owners of the lands and waters we aim to protect and their ancient ways of seeing and experiencing nature. In the spirit of the oral tradition of the Blackfoot, we aim to honor ‘the flash of the firefly in the night, the breath of the buffalo in the wintertime, and the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.’ We aim to restore and protect life. We thank our Indigenous communities for their historic stewardship of life, their critical role in reaffirming and repairing our relationship with it and their present and future partnership.”
– Paula Ehrlich, President & CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and Lead of the Half-Earth Project
DISCOVER INDIGENOUS HISTORY WHERE YOU LIVE– Paula Ehrlich, President & CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and Lead of the Half-Earth Project
JUSTICE, EQUALITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION
The Half-Earth Project is calling on people everywhere to participate in a “moonshot” to care for our planet. Such efforts require broad collaboration across sectors and geographies and the contributions of diverse voices, perspectives, expertise and experience.
At the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, we acknowledge that centuries of racism, violence, discrimination and marginalization have obstructed participation of Black, Latinx, Indigenous and Asian people and communities of color in conservation globally. We acknowledge that barriers persist, despite the importance of these individuals and communities as both stakeholders and stewards, ones from whom the world has much to learn. Further, we recognize that the same people who have been systemically excluded from the process are disproportionately hurt by degraded air, lands and waters, perpetuating a cycle of harm and exclusion.
We commit to be part of breaking this cycle. We commit to prioritizing listening and taking clear steps externally and internally to combat racism and oppression of all types. We commit to working toward justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in our leadership, our programs, our strategic planning, our operations, our communications and our fundraising. We commit to creating a culture at the foundation that educates staff and stakeholders on the issues of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion and holds opportunity for traditionally excluded groups to join in processes, activities and decision-making. We welcome and encourage feedback along the way.
We commit to understanding that this body of work IS our work if we are to achieve the goal of Half-Earth and benefit all people and species.
At the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, we acknowledge that centuries of racism, violence, discrimination and marginalization have obstructed participation of Black, Latinx, Indigenous and Asian people and communities of color in conservation globally. We acknowledge that barriers persist, despite the importance of these individuals and communities as both stakeholders and stewards, ones from whom the world has much to learn. Further, we recognize that the same people who have been systemically excluded from the process are disproportionately hurt by degraded air, lands and waters, perpetuating a cycle of harm and exclusion.
We commit to be part of breaking this cycle. We commit to prioritizing listening and taking clear steps externally and internally to combat racism and oppression of all types. We commit to working toward justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in our leadership, our programs, our strategic planning, our operations, our communications and our fundraising. We commit to creating a culture at the foundation that educates staff and stakeholders on the issues of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion and holds opportunity for traditionally excluded groups to join in processes, activities and decision-making. We welcome and encourage feedback along the way.
We commit to understanding that this body of work IS our work if we are to achieve the goal of Half-Earth and benefit all people and species.