Dr. Leakey in the house!

Saturday, I attended a lecture by Dr. Richard Leakey here at the ROM. The son of renowned paleoanthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey, Dr. Leakey has continued his family's research in human evolution. He is also a politician, staunch conservationist and an honest and humourous speaker with a focus on a positive attitude to create action and change.

He spoke on climate change and conservation. He spoke of facing facts and owning up to a collective responsibility for the planet. No more "if” the world’s climate continues to change, then we "could" see up to 50% of our species go extinct. It is happening, we are losing species and we will continue to lose more species as the environment changes too quickly for them to adapt.

Sure, global temperature fluctuations have happened before. Sure, species have been going extinct for billions of years. The difference is: this time around it is without a doubt entirely due to human activity. And it's happening at rates that far exceed and normal background rate.

Dr. Leakey said change happens through "enlightenment, rewards, and a big stick" (not in that order). Should we blame other countries' governments and say "you did this - you fix it"? Do we really need to bother changing our activities? Will what we do actually matter?I think so, what do you think?

-Bep Schippers, Programs, Schad Gallery of Biodiversity

A little goes a long way

Last week I wrote about the challenges of contributing to major ecological problems (like saving the oceans,) as a sometime-insignificant-feeling individual. Since then, ROM curator Mary Burridge - an oceans expert - has assured me that little choices really do make a big difference. She recommended checking out Oceans Wise. The conservation project, run out of the Vancouver Aquarium, has great facts about eco-friendly seafood and the Canadian restaurants that serve it. I'm pleased to report that the Royal Ontario Museum's very own C5 Restaurant is among the list.

Rick Winterbottom, senior curator of Icthyology, also weighed in on the debate. In this months ROM magazine, he writes about the devastating impacts anchors can have on ocean ecosystems, particularly coral reefs. So for all you sea loving pirates reading this, maybe it's time to throw your anchors away.

In other news, today's Globe and Mail reports that a new conservation project will use an army of citizen scientists to monitor global levels of biodiversity through a virtual observatory. The mega project, which will be on the same scale as many of the climate modeling systems currently used to track climate change, aims to advance the field of cyber-taxonomy, where citizen naturalists and scientists contribute to the monitoring and identification of local species. Bird Studies Canada and the Canadian Nature Federation already use volunteers in similar species monitor projects. Yet another way the average-joe can get involved in global conservation efforts.

If you've got any ideas on how little people can solve big problems, I'd love to hear about them. Leave you comments bellow.

-Elaisha Stokes, Producer, Schad Gallery of Biodiversity