In this podcast, Peter H. Raven, author, botanist, and celebrated conservationist discuss the importance of conservation.
Raven is a fierce advocate for and champion of conservation. Raven has spent his life educating the public about the critical threats to Earth’s biodiversity. Time magazine labeled him a “Hero for the Planet” for his contributions to conservation efforts. For forty years, Raven was the head of the Missouri Botanical Garden, a well-known institution and world-class center that seeks to advance conservation, botanical research, and public education. Raven continues his work as President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Raven talks about some of the major scientific projects he is engaged in and his conservation efforts worldwide. Raven provides important information regarding the state and health of the world’s tropical rainforests, which houses more species than anywhere else on the entire planet. He discusses their implications for climate and climate change, and how it is critical that we make greater efforts to preserve the trees and their interactions, and salvage their usefulness in the storage of carbon to prevent global warming. And he underscores that we literally have only two generations to fix the problems.
The Missouri Botanical Garden President Emeritus talks about consumption and the increasing population globally. Raven makes his argument for empowering women worldwide. Raven states, that because women are so often ignored in many populations globally, and even undervalued in developed nations including the US, that their potential contributions to solving global crises are being literally thrown away. The stupidity of ignoring women and their potentially massive contributions to all of the world’s problems is one of the many ways that we are failing to aggressively seek proper solutions.
Raven discusses the empowerment of smaller nations, helping them to find ways to help themselves, strengthening their infrastructure which can assist with advancing their productivity. The global conservationist discusses his thoughts on social justice initiatives, and how it is very important to find ways to assist the world’s poorest countries in their efforts to raise and defeat poverty. Essentially, we all need to acknowledge that these are the right things to do, and that will be the biggest step toward change.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed