Can a Half Earth Save the Planet?
Last week, I wrote about the 6th Mass extinction. We weren’t around when the dinosaurs went extinct, but we are now – and it’s us humans who are causing this massive wipe-out of huge numbers of species on our planet.
This mass extinction is bad for everyone – because humans depend on other species. From insects pollinating our food to trees providing oxygen, we need a healthy ecosystem. Just like all other life on our planet.
It’s a big problem.
It seems insurmountable.
Yes the solution might be quite simple.
It’s called Half Earth.
What Is Half Earth?
Deforestation, pollution and an expanding human population with greater “wants” than ever before, have all led to huge habitat destruction.
And habitat destruction is the biggest threat to wildlife.
Why?
All life needs space – habitat to find food, shelter and mates.
Yet even though we’ve got plenty of physical space on Earth, wildlife around the world is painted into a corner.
And because that’s a really bad situation for all of us, we need a solution.
Enter: Half Earth.
This surprisingly simple solution is to set aside half of Earth’s surface area for wildlife.
Half?
Half the planet?
What about us humans?
It might seem like a big sacrifice – but let’s look a bit closer.
Humans get half the planet, while all other species must share the other half.
And half an Earth is better than no Earth at all – which is what we’ll have if we don’t halt the 6th mass extinction and slow climate change.
Half Earth is not a new idea – surprisingly, it’s been around for years. The WILD Foundation had a campaign “Nature Needs Half“. And the idea is gaining more popularity as we realize just how perilous our current situation is.
Many scientists and conservationists are calling for a Half Earth solution.
And a new book, “Half Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life” by renowned biologist E.O. Wilson has added a very eloquent plea for the concept.
How Would Half Earth Actually Work?
Well, it wouldn’t be that humans move to one hemisphere and all other animals relocate to the other!
No.
The two halves would be integrated, we would overlap.
We’d still be living amongst trees, insects and animals.
But wildlife would also have a safe, stable home of its own, occasionally wandering into our midst rather than being forced there by a lack of options.
Biodiversity (lots of species living in the same environment) acts like a shield – it protects all its species, including us.
Humans are animals, too, and we rely on bio-diverse ecosystems just like everyone else.
Would Half Earth Need to Start From Scratch?
Right now, protected areas cover about
- 15 percent of Earth’s land area and
- 3 percent of its oceans
Raising that to 50 percent would be a big task, but at least we don’t need to start from scratch.
Because we’re already doing a lot of things right.
We still have a few big biodiversity zones left, and others that could still recover.
But we need to
- protect as many wilderness areas as we can,
- fill in gaps wherever possible,
- and do no further harm.
We already have huge reserves around the world (for example in Mongolia, the Congo, the Amazon). We need to piece them together and make them inviolate.
The same for smaller reserves.
At the moment we’ve got a bit of a “patchwork” rather than an overall strategy. But even patchwork is working in many places.
Some conservationists estimate that our conservation efforts so far may have already reduced extinction rates by as much as 20 percent!
Crowd-Sourcing a Half Earth
We have proven that conservation can work, but our scale has been too small.
Currently, old-growth forests are being felled to bring us beef, palm oil and other products.
Yes, we need large reserves that only nations can implement.
But it’s a local struggle too.
As each of us shrinks our ecological footprint, our species’ demand for space dwindles, too.
If we set aside enough half-yards, half-gardens, half suburbs, half cities and half nations, Half Earth should start to take care of itself.
Why Should We?
We should we protect half the planet for other species?
Simply because we will also save ourselves.
And there are also sound economic reasons:
- Forests and coral reefs filter pollution, store carbon, provide oxygen and help to keep the climate stable which saves disaster costs. They also provide eco-tourism revenue.
- Many animals are worth more alive (via eco-tourism)– for example, elephants are worth 76 times more alive than dead.
But there are moral and ethical reasons too.
We humans are at a pivotal stage in our ethical evolution.
We need a major shift in moral reasoning. We need to give greater consideration to the rest of life.
To quote E. O. Wilson:
Delightful Video
To end, take just 4 minutes out of your life and watch this lovely video from the Zoological Society of London. Turn up your volume – listen to the birdsong, and find out what the general public all over the world think about how much of the Earth should be protected.
Enjoy!
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What do you think? Do you think it could work? Let me know in the comments below.
Warm regards,
P.S. Don’t forget to download your FREE green living handbook – it’s here
I’m with you, Clare, I will happily live on a half-earth scenario.