Native Plant Conservation Campaign News: Emily Brin Roberson Interviews Peter Raven, Paul Ehrlich, and Kim Stanley Robinson on Plant Conservation, Social and Economic Equity, and Creating a Sustainable Future.

 

March 30, 2016

 

In the latest issue of the California Native Plant Society journal Fremontia, NPCC Director Emily Roberson interviewed three leading writers, ecologists and social critics on population, climate, the wealth gap, the extinction crisis and other threats to the survival of plants, humans and other species on this planet. 

 

The article SAVE THE PLANTS, SAVE THE PLANET, SAVE OURSELVES: CAN WE CREATE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE? is attached.

 

The three were keynote speakers at the 2015 California Native Plant Society Conservation Conference. They discussed the problems facing our flora and the biosphere in general. All three concluded that a sustainable future cannot be achieved without addressing overpopulation, poverty, gender equality, access to food and water, as well as biological diversity loss, climate change and other environmental concerns. They called upon native plant advocates to work with broader coalitions and to encourage progress not only in conservation of plants and ecosystems, but also towards more equitable societies and economies.

 

Some excerpts from the article:

 

“Imagine the world 1,000 years from now. Will humans be gone?….What will they use to do landscape restoration and steward a healthy biosphere? Many things, but those native plant communities that haven’t gone extinct will be a big part of their efforts.”

Author Kim Stanley Robinson

 

“Half the people in the world… live on less than $2 per day….What is needed is a moral revolution.”

Botanist Peter Raven

 

“We need to agitate for an evidence-based world.”

Ecologist Paul Ehrlich