Saving Half the Planet for Nature Isn’t As Crazy As It Seems
Originally published in Book Talk, National Geographic, March 27, 2016
By Simon Worrall

“It’s a practical possibility,” says biologist E.O. Wilson, and it could save 80 to 90 percent of all species on Earth.

It’s hard to be an optimist these days. We are living through what biologists call the sixth mass extinction, a time of dramatic depletion of species, from frogs to rhinos and butterflies. By the end of the century, it is estimated that one in six species will be extinct. The causes—human population growth, habitat loss, climate change—are complex and interlocking, fueling each other in an ever faster destructive spiral. 

But E.O. Wilson, the esteemed biologist and National Geographic Hubbard Award winner, believes we can still save what is left of the planet. And in his new book, Half Earth: Our Planet’s Fight For Life, he outlines a bold new plan to set aside half the planet for conservation.

27 Dec This entry was published on December 27, 2016 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Biodiversity and Ecology ~ The Foundation of Life. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.