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>> Welcome Yes I where we are near welcomed it I'm so excited about this conversation that we're going to have with with a person that means a lot to me that I consider a dear friend. Person that inspires me an example of of science that is really making a difference and changing things I really just can't wait to introduce all of you to the Great.

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Rick Salah in the big b. and then you know I George I think. That's mature enough yesterday I mean go out and see I hope one day I can introduce you in in person that this will do for the time being and the excuse that I have to bring you into introduce you to my colleagues at George it's I think is the publication.

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Of your most recent book The Nature of nature which I have really loved reading but ors the most important thing in a book is the is the is the cover was like I'm very very intrigued by it I mean I don't know but I need to get a contact name of your designer here because it's a fabulous fabulous cover.

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You know she shows you she's really usually it's you have to go through several iterations right and you were never happy with a cover as you know but she showed me these things and I'm thinking about something like this and I said don't touch it but thank you it was a perfect a very creative many is brilliant and it is perfect and it is that's a that's a perfect cover for the contents of the book so all right so here's one thing that I know you've tried to explain this to me several times and the book tries to explain this as well one time you convinced me somehow and I still don't understand how you can be.

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Do. Show him with you emitted a whole bunch of very large scary sharks in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and you told me at the time not to worry that the Sharks were going to leave me alone and and back you tell me that it is a very good sign of a healthy ocean when you haue a whole bunch of sharks around you I don't know why I trusted you very and indeed it ended up being an amazing experience but I don't blame me again why seeing a whole bunch of sharks in an ocean is a good well I have to say to everybody here watching that the christening coverage that not only he lost it but he worse the last person to get out of the water.

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And I was in the Galapagos Islands and you know if you go to Africa or not for the rest except Sorry I do you expect to see lions and T.V.'s and lepers in the pleather right and if you go to a place with abundant and large predators the animals that are on top of the food web it means that everything below is healthy because to support a healthy abundant population of the predators that has to be a lot of food underneath for them to eat that's the only that's the only way you cannot have.

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You know lions or was on a very small island the middle of the ocean you know you need the space and you need all the all the food on the base of the food chain. That's why if you're in the water in a place a lot of sharks the sharks are not going to worry about you because they are a bundle effect and you're probably to do so we are we are we are to we are the not.

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You know often during our presence is expeditions around the world who've done thousands of dives and with and hundreds of dive with sharks and we never ever had a problem though the predators are. I mean is that the keystone of the go system is like an architectural arch you have the Keystone on top if you remove it the arch collapses they think these are the species that the paths are the species that that they are the glue that bind a consistent together right and and I and I love how you explain that in the book but it's not intuitive right I mean somehow it's like well the the Keystone keeps the arc together it keeps you can say that the keystone species gives that go system together actually in this case it kind of eats the eclipse that's.

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So why would it be just like it remove the top predator I mean wouldn't that somehow increase the health of the eco system for everybody else that's what people think and that's you know that same argument of the Japanese for example have used to kill whales and in the Southern Ocean in Antarctica they say well you know the whales are eating lots of Creole the little the shrimp the lives in the Arctic and Antarctic Ocean and fish that we could be eating instead so if we kill the whales the creel in the fish we'll increase their populations and there will be more for us to cats right but what happened as soon as the whales were starting to be cold the krill went down to.

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Because in the case of the whales the whales there are some oil that is at the surface like the Ballina well that can eat plankton that are well that is a little deeper and the deepest this. Sperm oil the can go if it helps and feed so that they help to mix the deep water with the shallow water but also in Antarctica when these whales in the krill the shrimp the shrimp have a lot of iron in the fishes and the well I'm sure part of the iron but some of the I don't they they excrete with their fishes and that iron helps to fertilize the waters so that all there is there are these groups of microscope the algae that are the food of the krill which in turn are the food of fish and look for sales and penguins and albatrosses So the whales by eating and recycling the nutrients from the krill are fertilize in the waters with the put in making the water more more productive you remove the wells and then tire system collapses same thing on coral reef with a shark to remove the sharks and that's just the 1st step where things are going to get out of walk and you are going to end up with a reset this where the corals are that overgrown by seaweed and slime.

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Stems can then through the but when you understand the mechanisms of what these animals do then it's it becomes very clear. So. You're talking about in the book a lot about the complexity of eco systems and I love anyway how you are breaking down some complex concepts that we've all at some point or another studied and yet I think that you bring a lot of clarity to it that was very interesting when you talk about biodiversity in fact I think you have a chapter was as Diversity is good that's I love the clarity of that.

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And but you start by talking about an experience where you were at a conference and and a journalist right who was not a a biologist asked that simple question which I know it's a question I have asked you I have asked our common friend Tom Lovejoy who coined that term of biological diversity in Intuitively I guess we get the sense that yeah when I scuba dive the more creatures around me the prettier in looks but the question as why that's it really adds or how many species there are in a specific eco system like all there are then sort of maybe the that the tourist citrus white should or should we care if that's a question that you know is very utilitarian right do we really need all the species of there who we have about 10000000 species of plants and animals in at 3000000 different types of microbes and they are all interact in meat accusor wastes self-assembly in these wonderful ecosystems that we call coral reefs kelp forest tropical forest wetlands grasslands etc But do we really need all this vicious Well when we have understood through ecological research is that the more species that are in an ecosystem the more mature and complex they go system the more good things it does for us we know that the more biodiversity that is in a forest or am agnostic on the more carbon that forest can capture from the embassy or helping to mitigate climate change.

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The more diversity off microbes and fund and warms the reason the soil the more carbon that soil can capture and the more nutrients can be used by by the plants which then provide the habit to form a more spacious and so on is like you know you have you are an investor and every investor successful investor is going to tell you that you have to diversify your portfolio you have you gotten up with all the eggs in one basket the same thing there are so many different species and they'll do different things and I use I like the us examples of cities I use New York City right in the book as an example of the human ecosystem analogy so let's assume that in New York City every job every evening job is like a different species or an ecosystem there's every good system has a role has a job to do in that ecosystem so every every job in New York New York City it would be one of these species that are hundreds of different jobs in Atlanta or or in New York right if you remove in New York the higher the better the doc have investors you know the city will continue working so you could live with that species right but if you remove the got a big speakers the whole city is going to.

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Get You know this horse is going to collapse but there are species the oils be very important than more or some species are more critical than others but just to make sure you know we shouldn't prove it because we don't know what every species do and all of them have a role that is very important for our survival.

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Course fascinated by by your own. Your own career. And in the book you you could not act aspects of your of your career in and I guess you can you can start guessing how you are the person involved in bridging science actually making. Making a difference but. Tell me more about that I mean I guess you you always talk about how as a scientist right you grew up and in your own I went to university Barcelona to had your doctorate in France worked in Scripps and again I guess it doesn't get much better than that in your in your field and at some point in time you somehow lose your mind I guess and leads.

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You to sort of to tell to tell stories to more people. Why why did you do that because I was frustrated you know when I was a script yeah I reached the pinnacle of the marine biology career I was at the Scripps Institution of Fortunately in La Jolla California at.

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Office somebody looking the Pacific Ocean and you know I was I became a full professor very quickly so I you know I didn't have to do much to just have a very comfortable life but my job was to in addition to teaching my job was to the research on the impacts of fishing the impacts of global warming on the ocean in one day I realized that I just was writing the obituary of the ocean now I felt like the doctor who is telling you how you want to die with excruciating detail but not offering a cure.

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I thought wow this is not why I became a diver This is not why I studied so much I love nature I love the ocean and I don't want to be the guy who just keeps writing the obituary of the ocean with more and more persistent with more and more data so that there I decided to quit and we're going to cure and this is why I went to nationals are Efik who to use research but also use media to.

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Work on the cure to get there to help to protect as much ocean as possible. Yet somehow without that background in science you could not be having the fact that you're having now right. Absolutely but you know I have your careers also similar right because it will we humans are very good at rewriting our own narrative after the fact right and you know we could tell that our story like everything was planned and we've made this very strategic moves but it isn't like that there is a lot of serendipity there is a lot of like you have to be at the right place at the right time and it's up to you to war car and make sure that when that strain comes you jump on the train right you let the train go by because that might be the only train.

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So but there is a lot of certainly pity and so it was. The science that allowed me to get the credibility on one feel that then allow me to propose something. Who to work on conservation but everything that these that is needed for conservation be on the science which is negotiation persuasion.

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Communications Media Training. That's politics policy basic economics and finance all of this I had to learn afterwards these were not my specialty and of course I have to work with a specialist but I need to the war and a lot of these after the fact. About the it was the science I'm still a scientist actually publish more scientific papers now that when I was university but by yeah but it doesn't matter what.

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When you study to get to achieve your purpose you probably will have to study much more and I feel like you have talked about that you know where students continuously learning and unite have had the missing opportunities out there where you know we've been able to go to wonderful places to learn from people outside of our fields and and it's enriching but yet it started with science but Dion's alone wasn't on the make it so I had to make that leap.

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Very For the last year and. We went through the process not unlike what you know we've we've gone through it not Geo and other organizations but the try to craft what is the purpose of in our case George attack why do we exist what is that we do and we ended up with with this sentence which I know will resonate with you as we develop leaders with best technology and it.

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And there's sort of we wanted to have it run in center that our purpose is not just to develop technology for technology sake to do science and engineering to do all these things but to actually figure out a way in which what we do it make a difference and in the world so sudden it would prepare people to have that sense of of agency and in fact that you that you have to.

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That's why you know I think your your your your your career is fascinating in that regard and I want to make sure people understand what it is you're doing to change our world right and what is your theory. And so let me let me 1st start asking you right so I'm going to frame this so here's in Greek this thing this this are actually.

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This scenario that I'm about to describe has happened multiple occasions so and Rick shows up in the office of a head of state of some country sometimes by the way he has been smart enough to come a Kompany by some glamorous individual to have him bring more attention to that call in during that conversation is going to try to convince the head of that country to get a whole chunk of the oceans of that country controls and protect them which means that from now on there's going to be either controlled or no fishing at all in that space.

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I imagine the 1st reaction from that head of state is a big has Hatcher Why would I do that when so many people people's livings and livelihoods depend on all on that what's in it for me so. I mean I. You know what are the argument. Well you know for.

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It's more or less like that Yes So look if they give you. An appointment if you had a meeting with the head of state it's because you know that they already they want to hear what you have to say right and I'm very lucky that I work I'm an explorer in residence at the Nationals Rafiq society because nationals are at it has a reputation and you are a trustee of those id and we're very lucky to have you in national or ethnic is a brand that everybody lost people have stories of their Grampa's or their parents with them and collection of the magazine the house sinking under the weight of so many magazines who their library.

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So that is this the credibility. People people love to have a few needs of Iran and they know it's credible they noids apolitical and they believe that when national direct access it is sense to be true right so that's a huge advantage that we have. And then we make sure that you know it's all about the audience right it's not that I'm going to tell that person something is that I'm going to propose something to the person that they're going to make her and her country better.

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I'm not going to ask for something that these crazy or or that is going to harm the majority of the population so when I was in a university I thought that having information was enough you have the data and decision makers going to make a rational decision but clearly that's not the way humans operate so what we do is 1st we reach to the heart of the other we want the leader to fall in love with that place sometimes we've been able to take precedence to or ministers to the field with us so if they cannot come then they bring the place to them V.D.'s once even for a president who used virtual reality he could be and he was swimming among turtles and how has sharks.

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So it 1st we make that emotional connection and when the leader falls in love with this places and realizes that wow you know this wasn't unique and you replaceable and they are threatened they belong to us I have an opportunity to do something about this then we combine the science and the economics to show that protecting these area is going to be more beneficial to her country than just out of school and then you have a winning argument but it is before we get into that the rationale of human we have to get into the emotional argument and this is where I think we when we win the battle to making them fall in love with this place and you've been you know what you know when we were together in the office you know the you fall in love with a place I mean it's impossible not to write.

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It is it is fascinating because as scientists that's the piece that we. Know the least about our focus the least on which is the the emotional piece I mean we rely on all the data on our theories obvious the data we then somehow become frustrated when our data is not utilized anyway so it's like we put it on someone else's hands to make that translations that they've made to take that content and put it in the hands of the person that can do something about it and what's very interesting about your journey is like you figure out how to do that and you did not abandon science you're still.

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You're you're still there so that tell me a little bit more about the sort of the science and the economics because I guess this is the the heart of your theory of change right the science and and the economics of serving the wild as intact. As it is that's right and of course I found that they guarded cows experiments I found fascinating which I'm sure those are well known for.

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Islands of students I was not familiar with those it was a ask that you're go from that sort of need explanation of why sort of providing places to hide is essential and translate into big complex psycho systems so so what is the sort of the theory is of change why do we need to protect why well you know that is not that people worry about the economy and markets and financial markets it about you know there are no financial markets in the morning or Jupiter right because there is no biosphere there's no living layer on those moons and planets everything we need to survive the pen's on the work of other species on the food that we'd hopefully except for much of the stuff that this even here in the us as processed food most of the food that we need is food and plants and animals their water the clean water we drink hopefully has been filtered by a natural wetland or by a healthy forest the oxygen we brief comes mostly from Pedia and microscopic from the ocean and so we cannot survive we cannot replace all these goods and services that are absolutely essential to our survival that nature provides for us for free right so without health in it or.

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There is no human right and then for course it with us humans that is in the economy and that is this you know we have been asked to worship this golden idol of growth economic growth right. As if we are working for the economists who are working for money but it is economy has to be work for us right so if we understand and I think that everybody would agree that without the living layer of our planet there would be not.

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Natural world there would be no us but then still some people say Ok but we can and cannot afford to protect more we need to cut more forests and we need to fish more of the ocean because we will need to feed 10000000000 people that well yeah but you know we already produced food for 10000000000 people only that we waste a 3rd of it from the farm or the boat to a table so who just fix the way we.

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Process and this too is food we will need to destroy more of nature and today half of the 1st highline has has been already converted to a recorder and half of that is used to feed livestock the we could leave it with humans with a plant based diet that provides all the nutrients and proteins that we need if we shifted to this pond is that we would require only half of the land we use today or every culture if you do us well years and we could give that other land back to nature so it can can in you providing all the services to us including observing all this excess carbon pollution from the atmosphere and helping us to load the warming of the planet.

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If that's not enough right then we have economics people are asking well but we cannot afford to protect How much do we need so all of science is telling us that we need to protect at least 30 percent of the planet by 2030 so while we can of the 4 that how much would that be all these $140000000000.00 per year but this is less than what the world spends today on video games and also for every dollar that we put invest in nature but they have areas nature gives us at least $5.00 in return so the benefits outweigh the cost by $5.00 to $1.00 and it is just a fraction off the subsidies that they're used to prop up in the 3 that are actually destroying our life for persist in the history nature the both the scientific and the economic argument for stopping the section of nature improving the way we produce foot and protect the much more the planet sort of bloody can provide for us for free I mean it's such a no brainer it's such a no brainer right economically we'd be better off with much more protection than business as usual so.

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I wonder what's of maybe 4 or 5 years ago was it the. The. The optimism the earth optimism or the commision summit. Which I was fascinated fascinators out of I got to do experience some of the of the sessions and I was fascinated by this kind of self critical to us right of a we.

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College just said scientist are so great at describing the horrors of what we may be doing to our planet that we kind of scare Keep be better to present a positive outlook of what's possible if we do certain things right how's that how's that. Going in your in your.

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Point you know it's difficult because you know the science is very clear they cannot mix every clear the arguments for protecting them machine our life support machine to keep Bassa life is so clear you know the called the pandemic it to me is the loudest wakeup call we we have in recent history you know what is the origin of the pandemic is wildlife trade why it was jumped from a wild animal to a person in China and thanks to our globalized lifestyle bred like wildfire across the world before we had HIV and ebola and SARS these were also pandemics caused by the transmission of a spillover of a virus from a wild animal to humans but if we continue this story nature it will continue trading wildlife commodities we are just increasing the risk of these viruses to jump on to humans to come on our doorstep and what's the cost the human cost and they cannot meet cost of this pandemic it's crazy the you'll be much cheaper and much easier than smarter to invest just the freshen of what this been images costing us to prevent the next $1.00 yet we are not doing it.

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Why are we doing this right and we humans are very without discounting the future and of course no politician wants to invest in something that invest to bring in something that might not happen within their their term right though we know the the biggest problems are now the women have enough science or that if the economics are not clear it's human nature it is they show we are we are very bad at.

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Doing something today and that is going to make us better in the future so you know that the powers that be are like that these people who are trying to make as much money in the casino that they tiny after hitting the effort by the way I want to make sure that people already they know if they want to ask what is the best way people want to ask.

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The question they'll just. They'll put it on the human i option perfect right so feel free to interrupt me if you're my colleagues are fast checking that the questions that are coming through the system and we'll pose them to you in a 2nd. And while we do that to me ask you how how is how are is the the project going project which is called pristine seas you'd just just sat and it was sort of the high level of what is the exact.

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What is the progress where we're making. What's going to be critical to achieve the ambitious goal Yes So the problem is that we are thinking fish out of the water faster than they could reproduce 90 percent of the large fish are gone with killing in the last 100 years along yet only 7 percent of the ocean is protected.

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And the science is telling us that we need at least 30 percent of the ocean but 2030 in putting that 80 s where that is no fishing or other damaging activities that we do quadruple the amount of fortune that these are that the that this is why we created a pristine system or project the National Geographic whose goal is to protect the wildest places in the ocean before it's too late and we as a community should have expeditions research media policy Wark to work with communities and inspire a country leaders to provide these places in Marine Reserves and National Parks in the ocean before it's too late and so far so we're winning lots of battles we're still losing the war.

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Because we don't have enough or we need only that 30 percent but a surprise it was been successful be on our wildest dreams we've been able to work with governments to protect when the 2 of the largest marine reserves on the planet and the combined surface overs over half the size of the United States is at 80 as where or life is not killed or the stirred by oil drilling or mining or development these are areas where marine life is that I having but also is helping to replenish it as Iraq so you know it's good noise but still you know we cannot retire yet that is much much more of the ocean that we need to protect Thank you all right here's one of the quite so our 1st question we have teams of students developing detailed g.i.s. databases for conservation land in the Patagonia I mean we collaborate with National Geographic Society and your teams to support your efforts in achieving that 30 percent conservation target that is from Kevin care of Ali body.

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Yeah Kevin I'm glad that you are working on some reference data for a 4 but they were Nya m.p.l. of those who do know a little more but you know everybody has to a role to play here and you know even let's say that we have presidencies are able to double they back we had so far and we've helped to protect about 2 percent of the ocean if we're able to replicate that in the next decade that's 2 percent more that's still it's far from the 30 percent and when you look at all what the conservation organizations are planning to do if you add all at it doesn't add up you know we're not getting to 30 percent doing much more stall I would encourage you and your colleagues to or get actually with the groups in the area where you're working with the local communities and input there were any of that are indigenous peoples also.

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Because we need you know we need many many more efforts and conservation is something that has to be decentralized we cannot. Expect that the beacon to stations are going to lead to conservation efforts anymore because it's not sustainable who we need to democratize conservation and we need to make sure that local communities not only are aware of the problem of the benefits of the solution but they're also empowered to act.

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And. As a follow up because I know you have used g.i.s. data quite extensively so give us a sense of of what sort of sets of questions you think that g.i.s. technology may help us address in the field of conservation many energy examples that you've used or yeah and often well it's optional when we go to country leaders and we ask them would tell them that.

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The scientists telling us we need to protect 30 percent of the ocean and they say why and we tell them because that will prevent the next massive extinction of species those areas are going to help replenish the fishing grounds around them but there will be more fish to catch in the future this area who will provide new economic opportunities through diving tourism for example because the divers want to go where the fish are and this is high spending in some places creating more jobs and bringing in more revenue than fishing but there are all these benefits right that's the why it's Ok.

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If a you convince me but not where should we place these areas because they thought the fishing here if I put a reserve here the fishermen are going to complain write these words yes comes in we have a study that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Last week that where we used j.s. tools and we used moles that show that if we protect the right 5 percent of the ocean that will help to increase the fish catch outside these areas by 20 percent to protecting 5 percent of the ocean it would increase the global fish guts by 20 percent and this is something that we could enough of non without special explicit models and where we can use and g.i.s. tools to identify what are the areas that are the top priority for protection so that's one example of it thank is what's another one yes.

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Can. Sorry I'm not I'm not I didn't hear the question sorry they're asking for a job. Or an internship with you. Well after that maybe maybe maybe in a broader way. What I mean what So Ok just rewind What yourself you're back of the only receive a phenomena now with what you know what kinds of experiences internships.

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What would you do different to maybe get to do the kind of work you do today what kinds of experiences you maybe you you wish you could have done back then or you would recommend younger and Rick Yeah well I would do that work if I don't work too bad for you I do it and know it works very well but you know I knowing what we know you know back then I didn't know that the problem was so urgent and the money to the problem was your future right so this is why I've been.

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I didn't go to all the pluses and I spent a lot of time playing soccer and doing things that you know young people are right and it was fun and that's what either the pain but now if I had to come by knowing what I know now I would do a double major instead of just one I did fundamental biology right I would do botany and Solti and I would do and I will spend much more time on the water I would have been much more time in nature and I would have.

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Read much more about things that were not part of my my curriculum. Yet but. You know everybody has a passion. And and hopefully. Most people have a purpose if you can marry those maybe your passion whether your passion is engineering is in music is it mathematics is it diving for the feet I had if you can marry your passion to your purpose and in my case the purpose is to to help conserve life on the planet then that's it that this is where you're going to be the happiest in my case I was so boring because I know that they wanted to be an ocean explorer since I was a little kid watching the commanders of Jacques Cousteau on t.v. right so you also White them I can spend Sunday night the whole family was there watching but I would have doubled down on learning as much as possible about my a show and every any other issue that was relevant to it I would have become an employer and I would have studied so much harder and spend much more time on that whether that's that's a good message I did not that.

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I was the only spontaneous thank you we have but absolutely So our next question is from shady Wells she asks this is a little bit of the same but a little bit more fun what are some ways engineers can use their skills to help conservation efforts I'm curious about the best ways to help in our free time or potentially doing part time or full time work I really want to put my skills to use as a computer engineer but I'm not sure how yeah well that's what I said before it's perfect segue to that question shade and you know one of the cool things we do on our expeditions is study the deep sea for the sea is very difficult to study because you cannot value yourself there.

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It's tape it's dark it's called or the pressure will kill you and if you want to study it with submersibles you need a big boat with some are supposed to cost tens of thousands of dollars every every day but we have some engineers and National Geographic we invented this thing that we call the drop camp is what is oversized basketball made of Borosilicate of glass this thick we have.

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These little camera and a computer inside and so many the lights and the engineer programs the computer. We get the camera the robot of the side of the boat one person can do it goes on to the bottom of the computer that Herman's when the lights go on and for how long the coming out will be recording and then one to shut down the system and run an electric current that will burn a cable and will release that the camera and drop at the end that way it will stay on the bottom coming over to the surface then the signal to the boat and it will go rescue the camera and we have obtained for the 1st time ever an image is underwater images of the marine life in that area of the world that nobody had studied before and with needs this humongous ships and submarines It was one engineer came up with the idea right so.

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What I would suggest is. Find a problem and and then find a solution you engineers are very good at this right at solution a solution of finding finding solutions to problems so if you a partner with somebody who is working on ocean conservation becomes you or you can identify a problem then you know we do need brilliant computer engineers to help us figure out these things that it is ready to tackle but one of the things of where we're working on is how I would argue that.

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Engine ears and computers where we're better at solving problems traditionally than at defining right and and that's an area that we're really working on and even relying on partnerships with organizations around us. With even all service learning like engaging our students with organizations that are working with. Very important then local problems right.

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You don't have to go to that of Galapagos or you don't have to go to the Amazon to understand. The complexity of an eco system or where the importance of protecting the nickel system that you may have just right here right so I went we're trying to figure out how to do that better how to and then our students and local organisations and have them again not just solve problems that are given to you but to actually help define problems that can.

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Make a difference that's a great that's a great example you have more questions yes we do. This next one is from bodyguard he says we're facing a mass extinction with many species dying off and many more expected to go extinct in the near future how do we determine what species to save versus which to allow to die off yeah that's a that's a great question there are so many.

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Many academic ecologists who are thinking of to write well we cannot have enough resources to save all species so which one I was going to do is safe and I think that's the wrong question instead of thinking of a world of scarcity let's think of a world of abundance the world spends the waterman's of the world spend $500000000000.00 every year.

[00:44:18]
To prop up in the series that destroyed by the 1st day create extensions that is a report that came out. Last week that. Shows that the big banks have spent $2.00 trillion dollars to. Invest in activities that actually produce a species extinctions right so the money is there which is using it for destroying our life support system is that of saving it which would be as marketing to the right is not either or is not the economy development or conservation it is not going to be development with health a healthy environment so so what I would say is to think that let's think differently and let's think of what resources do we need to save all of the species that are threatened with extinction because of us and that I think that's the attitude that change in my prime that that we need and the resources are there.

[00:45:20]
If you you know you mentioned some data in the book that. I was quite quite overwhelming right I mean that an estimate that we have about 99000000 different species. Of birds that says that the that's a nest and well grounded estimate. Speeches of multicellular organisms were you know.

[00:45:46]
If I understood correctly there's a prediction that humans will drive 1000000 out of line and wind more than 10 percent to extinction in just a few decades is that I mean it's just hard it's overwhelming to even comprehend what that I mean that's like every day species that is gone and are going to come back are those are those projections.

[00:46:16]
How how realistic those decisions or they might be they might be underestimate actually because that are so many species that we don't know and most species go extinct every day some because of natural extinction but most because of our activities and experts in and extinction estimated that the rate of extinction because of human activities is a 1000 times greater than the background natural extension and you know it only takes you have seen these images of the Muslim forest and flames or the forest in Borneo being raced for a palm open Titian's in one single and not in Brazil not 3 in the Amazon in forests that are more species of all the plants and animals living on that tree than an entire hectare of European soil so you know we're losing tropical forests at a rate of 4 football fields per minute so it is it is not it is not it is crazy it is crazy what they were doing but you know if I can use another analogy we every species has a role in the ecosystem and we don't know what most suspicious of the top predator kills the weak and the old and ensures that that is a big turnover below them so the criticism is productive.

[00:47:52]
Imagine that we go. Once we can fly again with the effort we get on the you know at the terminal and the flight attendant is telling us Ok And before you board the plane I want to tell you that we are missing 3 different screws on the plane we don't know what's course r.v.s. with know their function ease when we don't know from what part of the plane but we know that we are missing this group.

[00:48:18]
They went to board the plane. Same thing with species you know what you will know that what they do you know the species that produces the most oxygen that we brief is about Pedia in the ocean that we discovered only 30 years ago it's all event broken don't try to fix it you know nature works wonderfully let's keep it that way that one last one of us Ok one last question.

[00:48:45]
This is from Renee kept asking if it needs to be a community by community effort which groups should individuals work with to make an impact are there private sector partnerships or support that can help the effort reach scale you know all of the above look you know we need the countries of the world next year at the un convention on biodiversity to agree to 30 percent target 30 percent of the planet land and sea protected by 23 so we need that top down.

[00:49:15]
Target top down mandate and we're working with the we're going to pay for nature on that and we already have $42.00 companies in the European Commission have joined that group of leading nations which is growing to have that goal mandate then who creates national parks or marine reserves it's countries every country has jurisdiction over their territories and they are the ones who are going to this I want to protect so to protect to create a national park you need to work with the government but also with the communities living in or near the place right with the stakeholders in an area.

[00:49:49]
But then there are opportunities for businesses businesses can fund the restoration of a mongrel forest and a place in the tropics with this monographs have been destroyed but for us kind of an offset for example so there are so many so many opportunities so many possibly this and we need all of you both there is no single organization or a mechanism that is going to do what we need to do which is 30 percent off the planet protect that so let's protect what still wild and also let's restore in real wild much more and you know a New York City you could read Green your city which would have an impact on lowering temperatures up shorting carbon making also people happier there well being in the health of people in cities with green increases so the Pentagon where you leave or what's the area that you love the most that you are so upset seeing the astroid you know.

[00:50:46]
We need everybody we need all hands on deck we have a decade is our final chance to save by the versity which is what provides us to be lucky to our planet if we lose this chance we're going to enter into irreversible look at the climate change that is going to be is going to be irreversible but the good news and I like to end with a good positive note is that if we gave face to nature nature comes back spectacularly I have seen it I have seen degraded places in the ocean come back the fish life the corals after just a few years nature has these resilience these externally if so the Neti ability to bounce back if we just the for from space so that's where the needs of the.

[00:51:38]
In the band when we can get you to Atlanta and to visit our campus we will show you. A very exciting project on our campus called the Eco comets and it is a project to write to really try to return it very central part of our campus to its.

[00:51:58]
Original. Position in obviously for it's been fragmented and it's not going to be better I mean we are we're working on a couple of very neat projects on our campus attack can't wait to show you the other thing by the way that and Rick has been very active in work with the Brookings Institution and now the Rockefeller Foundation around how to promote and how to achieve the sustainable development goals and you should be happy to know that we aren't bracing the framework of the sustainable development goals as as a way to Guy decisions are would make it around the rhythm but also around our multi-disciplinary research has been wonderful.

[00:52:43]
But I I I I want to maybe just close this by reading the small paragraph from your book I mean I would ask you to read it but I don't know that you have it on The View but I'll read it for you how about that in its place of go ahead I just I thought the book really was was not just inspiring and very informative but very well written I was rain gauges anyway and I'll leave you I leave you with this sad this paragraph and I wait starts in 3 stars describing this this great experiment which I had I was aware of actually because of all the prior chapter in my my life the Biosphere 2 was the at his grand experiment try to recreate a it and it's tough sustaining Neko system you know artificial.

[00:53:36]
Setting in Arizona outside of. In a way the that experiment didn't go well but we did learn it couple of very important lessons and following that description of the bus route to intrigue writes in essence with this experiment did show is that our planet is a miracle it does not matter whether you believe Earth was created by an ominous and God or grown by physical forces from cosmic dust circling around a nascent star or generating as generated as a computer simulation Yes there is a group of theoretical physicists who believe so we're travelling in a spaceship 100000 kilometers an hour around a star that is in turn travelling extended 9000 kilometers an hour in this suburban part of our galaxy there are 400000000000 planets in our galaxy alone orbiting around at least a 100000000000 stars.

[00:54:43]
Or makes earth truly unique is life life on Earth and it's mind blowing intertwining complexity is the greatest American all humanity has known Thank you for writing this wonderful book and thank you for being with us today thank you so much I feel like in a way to see you and your attack in person hopefully soon or down awful as the Atlanta we got right up in which I guess.