3 Key Biodiversity Insights from Vandana Shiva’s Biopiracy

January 11, 2018

Vandana Shiva, a prominent scientist, activist, and feminist, has profoundly shifted my thinking about the preservation of biodiversity recently. Thanks to her book, Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, published in 1997, I now see how patent protections negatively impact biologically diverse regions of the world when they support the competitive and monopolizing ownership of seeds, medicinal plants, agricultural crops, and other biological agents by multinational corporations. These patents promote private ownership over natural resources in a way that systemically prevents biodiversity preservation through the traditional use of the land by women, indigenous people, and farmers in the Third World.  … More 3 Key Biodiversity Insights from Vandana Shiva’s Biopiracy

Record and understand local biodiversity with iNaturalist app

October 27, 2017

I feel a stranger here, not just to the culture, but also to the living creatures around me. I want to learn their names. I wish to live a life like the naturalists Thoreau or Nabokov who spent time chasing streams or butterflies when they weren’t writing. I want to spend time walking, collecting, and observing. On top of that, I want to have an archive of my journeys, too. It may sound like a lot to ask for, but I’ve recently come across an app called iNaturalist that will help me with all of this. … More Record and understand local biodiversity with iNaturalist app

Tropical botanical gardens: both a fantasy and a necessity

October 24, 2017

My dream of lounging in a hammock surrounded by the flora of the Brazilian rain forest in a luscious botanical garden is now supported by biodiversity experts. A seminal study on ex situ conservation was recently published in Nature. It found that 30% of all plant species biodiversity is present in botanic gardens including 41% of threatened plant species, a total of 105,634 species. While the numbers are certainly promising, much of the remaining work to be done lies in the tropics. … More Tropical botanical gardens: both a fantasy and a necessity