Paula J. Ehrlich, President and CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and lead of the Half-Earth Project, spoke with KKFI volunteer Dave Mitchell on the “Radio Active Magazine” program on June 30.
“The way people are paying attention now to these [downward environmental] trends and their meaning to our lives is somewhat new,” Ehrlich said. “We’re in an extraordinary moment – maybe even a tipping point – where people are hearing this news and listening in a new way, leaning forward into a new awareness that human fate is dependent, in the long- and short-term, on the care and maintenance of our planet.”
Ehrlich and Mitchell discussed the current critical decline of biodiversity globally, how biodiversity loss affects our lives, and how people can participate in the Half-Earth Project and support a more hopeful future for our planet.
“My sense is that we are witnessing a heightened cultural awareness of the need for a hopeful solution for our planet. And when E.O. Wilson wrote Half-Earth, he wrote about hope. Sharing a quality with some of our greatest leaders, he wrote a book aimed at bringing out the best in people by inspiring collaboration, common purpose, and future possibilities.” – Paula J. Ehrlich
“One of the things that the coronavirus has taught us is the importance of deep science, a reverence for the important work of research scientists, and the importance of collaboration and sharing of that research in order to support our lives. This has nudged a shift in paradigm that could have important consequences for how we think about our relationship to our planet and each other, pushing us to renew our scientific inquiry and to collaborate to support of a Half-Earth future.” – Paula J. EhrlichAudio Player
