Nature is not just nice to have, it sustains our very existence.
Transcript of the talk I gave at Extinction Rebellion Berlin’s ‘alternative’ press conference on the launch of the IPBES report.
Today the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services or IPBES launches a global assessment of the state of nature. The findings are stark; we are already in the sixth mass extinction and are eroding the life support systems of this planet. Drastic and devastating consequences will be seen in my lifetime unless we change course. This is an existential crisis every bit as dangerous as climate breakdown, and intimately connected to it in multiple ways. The IPBES report is set to be every bit as shocking as October’s IPCC report on climate breakdown. Solving the climate crisis alone is not enough; if we keep destroying nature, we will go down with it.
On a personal level, I am deeply saddened by what we are doing to the beautiful world we live in. Habitat loss, pollution, overhunting, and climate change are turning once vibrant places humming with life into dead zones. Earth is the only planet we know of that supports life, and we are fortunate to share our home with such a dazzling array of other species. All the living things on this planet, plants, animals, and humans, share a common ancestry — evolutionary biology shows that we are all branches on the same tree of…
