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
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