Main content
Biology library
Course: Biology library > Unit 30
Lesson 4: Protecting biodiversityProtecting biodiversity: the power of the individual
Want to join the conversation?
- Where and how do you set up biodiversity gardens? Because I'm interested to do this in my neighborhood with my friends.(10 votes)
- At, the transcript says "Australia," but it sounds like they're saying "Austria." Which one is it? 8:26(2 votes)
- I looked it up, and the Roadkill Project has indeed spread through Australia, the narrator might have said it wrong. When you come across situations like these, I find that the captions are usually more often correct than the video. Thanks for reporting it!(5 votes)
- I get the individual can do a lot to limit climate change, but most people only buy what they can afford which is usually the product wrapped in plastic. Anyone else noticed how expensive biodegradable products are? It's not because they are more expensive to produce, their just only marketed to people with money. Driving an electric car is a stasis symbol, cause the ones with the best batteries are Jaguars etc.(2 votes)
Video transcript
(inspirational music) - [Narrator] Individuals
can make a difference in the protection of biodiversity. So here, I want to talk about the power and obligation of the individual
to make that difference. We can start with this idea of
learning about biodiversity. We often talk about the symbiosis
of science and education, and the importance of good
science feeding good education. These days, you can get that
education through mass media, through reading and experiencing
things on the Internet, but also through classes, formal and informal lectures, and just opening up dialogues with people who make biodiversity studies their life and their concern. But most of all, you need to get out there and experience biodiversity first-hand. You have to experience
biodiversity, I think, to understand how it fits in the hearts of the people who make
it their area of study, who make it their life's passion. It can your entire life in a new light. I find it shocking sometimes to realize how few people
make the connection between biodiversity and say,
where they get their food. Arguably the most direct way
that we can be a part of what needs to become a mass movement
to protect biodiversity is to start thinking about
what effect our actions have on ecosystem function
and ecosystem services. With an increase in human population, there's increased pressure on all of us to do more with less, increasing our responsibility to exercise that power of the individual. Whenever you're being
a consumer of anything, that's food, clothing, particularly energy, ask
yourself, where does it come from? How does production affect biodiversity and sustainability of the resources from which a given product is derived? Think about the answer to that. Learn about the sources of what you use. And make the most
responsible choices possible. Remember too that companies
want to sell stuff that people want to buy, so if you're a consumer
that tells them that you want to buy sustainable
products, they'll listen. Now there's power. There are lots of examples of that, so whenever you're walking
around thinking about how to spend your money in ways that draw resources from the environment, think about making that an
investment in sustainability. The other thing that's
helpful is to reuse things. We're not talking about recycling yet. This is one step before the recycling bin. We're talking about things that can be repaired
instead of thrown away, or repurposed to become
useful in a new way, like using an old worn
T-shirt as a reusable rag to wash windows instead of
using disposable paper towels. In developed countries, we live
in such a throwaway society. We can change that. Instead of replacing something right away, think about how to repair or reuse it. I personally feel that fixing stuff is an essential part of being a human. Exercising your curiosity and intelligence to learn
about how things work is never bad, especially to
improve your surroundings and help conserve Earth's resources. Sew a button back on. Darn a sock, sharpen a knife, figure out how to put a
new washer in your tap so that it stops dripping
and wasting water. These are skills that, to
me, were once so natural, but that now we've kinda lost touch with. And with the Internet, it's easier than ever
to get a quick lesson on how to do these things. Make yourself evermore
indispensable to your family, your friends and your neighbors. Then recycle everything you can, and surprisingly, almost
everything is recyclable. Batteries, electronics, paper, plastics and metals, almost everything has components in it that someone else's gonna wanna have at some level in some form. There's a whole economy set up for that. There are businesses
established on the basis of recovering these sometimes
really valuable components. You don't even have to take all these things somewhere special. There are programs for picking
up all these things right from your home in almost every large city. Even your organic
compostables can be picked up and used by specialized businesses to make them usable for agriculture. These companies do so
with an economic model that is efficient at large scales, so you get economies in
recycling and composting as well. Okay, so by themselves, recycling and composting might not save the world, but it's going to get us all a heck of a lot closer to that goal. It's all about one of
my favorite metaphors, the stone in the pond making ripples that can reach all shores. You can involve others, share your enthusiasm for biodiversity, get them talking about all
of these issues as well. Find out what their solutions have been. Tell them what your
best practices might be and what works for you. It's amazing what people can come up with when they're
challenged with a problem of not just what to do with garbage, but how to protect diversity. Anyone can be a part of the ripples, growing ideas outward
and widening circles. And speaking of growing, you can start clubs that plant and tend biodiversity
gardens of native plants. These gardens are specifically aimed at feeding a local populations of birds, butterflies, and other animals
that come to the gardens, which actually set up little ecosystems that can enhance the
biodiversity of neighborhoods. It starts locally and ripples outward. And speaking of ponds, you can help clean up lakes or wetlands. Or you can organize or take
part in beach cleanups. Check the Internet for
volunteer programs near you. And then there's citizen science, a great way to get involved
through the avenues of research. Engaging in real data-gathering
provides more observers of the natural world. We said before that there aren't enough scientists to do it all. There's still so much to
know about what's out there, and how to monitor it. How to figure out how it's being affected by worldwide human activities, and how to minimize negative impacts. Every science project
needs to result in data that can be formed into a conclusion. If you're going to have
scientists collecting data, you need to be able to train
them to collect the kinds of data that are crucial, the kinds of data that are
gonna be germane to science. You need to provide some
direction and guidance. During that process of training
people to engage in science, you greatly enhance their
awareness of biodiversity and why it's important. You plant these seeds in people's minds and they tell other folks, I'm involved in this really
great citizen science project, and I think that kind of education at even the most basic level truly
can change the world. Citizen science is not something that sprung up in the last five years. It actually goes all
the way back to things like Christmas Bird Counts, I remember doing those when I was a kid going out in the dead of winter along the Toronto waterfront and freezing my butt off counting birds. I mean, this was something we
did for fun, question mark. But the exploding number of citizen science projects in the last 10 years is staggering. These projects are doing
a tremendous amount of good through sophisticated
monitoring of ecosystems, figuring out what's there, feeding that information
in a solid scientific way that leads, I think, to good science that we desperately need. Think about the Audubon
Christmas Bird Counts. For decades, they've established
an incredible baseline of data and they've expanded across the Western Hemisphere too. These important data led directly to our ability to document
in real time the decline or shifts in ranges of certain
bird species as awareness of climate change grew. Because the climate has changed since we started doing these counts, the involvement of birders on bird counts has become even more important. Another example is the roadkill project, set up by the State
University of New York, using roadkills to monitor
wildlife movements. You can actually upload photos of roadkills with data
on the date and place, species and local speed
limit for that road. These data can lead to direct
recommendations for fences and signage to save both
wildlife and humans. This is such a good
citizen science project, it's now being adopted in Australia. The California Academy of Sciences' iNaturalist programs aims globally. It produces a worldwide
network of informed scientists and citizens, combining
forces in identifying and documenting nature locally to tackle issues in global biodiversity awareness and protection. The academy and other
institutions hold BioBlitzes, mass surveys of targeted areas, aided by handheld devices and softwares that
allow shared experiences at long-term monitoring of environments. Most of these sorts of projects represent monitoring efforts, gaining data through a sort of what I like to call a
distributed telescope, aimed at nature, hundreds and even thousands of sets of eyes that can watch many
things at the same time. These projects use new
technologies available to many, smartphones and social networks, for example, resulting in data that can lead directly to
management and policy change. A little knowledge goes a long way and lots of knowledge is nearly limitless. Anyone at any age, wherever you live, whatever you do, can make a difference. You can travel the many avenues for formal and informal education. Immerse yourself, be an activist, and find ways to increase
your individual power to minimize negative
impacts on the environment and the biodiversity that depends on it.