HALF-EARTH – Our Planet’s Fight for Life, a review of E.O.Wilson's Book and Project for Sustainability

How do we come to appreciate Biodiversity?

We, mankind, tend to think that as the only cognitive creature on Earth, we are the focus of the planet’s bounty, and everything done on earth should be done for our benefit. But what about the other ‘Millions’ of living species on earth? Don’t they have a right to live… to flourish and enjoy our planet?

Many of our discussions have been about just that, the right of all living things to continue…unabated by human interference, and allowed to survive naturally. Man does not seem to understand, and appears unconcerned with the future of the other species within our ecosystem. Indeed, through our actions we are making the Earth less and less sustainable, and even now we are paying the price. Global Warming isn’t hype, it isn’t smoke and mirrors established to create new funding for the scientific community. Neither is the damage we are doing to our land, seas, rivers, aquifers, and sky. 

We are truly leaving the world in a mess…causing damage almost everywhere man chooses to go. 

Edward O. Wilson, considered among the world’s most renowned Naturalists and Biologists, has captured his thoughts on the destruction we have brought to the world in the few short (in geologic terms, to be sure) centuries of our human dominance. In an attempt to gain our attention, he has written HALF-EARTH – Our Planet’s Fight for Life (2016/New York) in which he charts our course along our destructive path to a point where we have begun to conserve…but way too slowly to achieve success in our attempt to save the Biosphere and the diversity of species that it holds.

As always, E.O. Wilson has provided us with a powerful treatise for our consideration, this one on the life around us, and on the impact that humankind has had, and continues to have on that life. He proposes that we are capable of saving most of that biodiversity…but that we need to choose the course of action that might bring that about, and that we have only limited time to act.

In his closing arguments in HALF-EARTH Wilson states:

‘If humanity continues its suicidal ways to change the global climate, eliminate ecosystems, and exhaust Earth’s natural resources, our species will very soon find itself forced into making a choice, this time engaging the conscious part of our brain. It is as follows: Shall we be existential conservatives, keeping our genetically based human nature while tapering off the activities inimical to ourselves and the rest of the biosphere? Or shall we use our new technology to accommodate the changes important solely to our own species, while letting the rest of life slip away? We have only a short time to decide.’

His last chapter, only 3 pages long…but with such importance, offers a suggestion that is clear and concise. We need to take immediate action to create a series of reserves/preserves the world over that will help us to save the diverse population of species that are the citizens of our planet. By committing to the creation of these wilderness sites, some native, some rebuilt from their present state, and others completely recreated …from previously destroyed regions, we will set into motion a process that will deliver, not for us…for we shall never see it, a world with an abundance of nature regenerated over centuries to return our Earth to a balanced state for all future generations. 

This would be done through the HALF-EARTH concept. As noted by Wilson, 'In a world gaining so swiftly in biotechnology and rational capabilities, it is entirely reasonable to envision a global network of inviolable reserves that cover half the surface of Earth.'

This is an interesting read, with real consequence, which I highly recommend. And after reading HALF-EARTH I also recommend supporting the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and their HALF-EARTH Project.