Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life - E.O. Wilson

Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life is a book by an esteemed biologist, E.O. Wilson, which I enjoyed reading a few months ago. I truly found it inspiring and highly recommend everyone to read it. The book mainly explains how diverse, intricate and delicate our ecosystem is. I mean, we all know that nature is very complex, right? I thought I knew too. However, after reading the book, I felt embarrassed. This book served as a wake-up call for me. Let me share my thoughts and takeaways, along with some inspiring quotes.

• “The biosphere does not belong to us; we belong to it” - This is my favorite quote from the book. If more individuals adopt this perspective, the world will be a better place to live.

  Leaders in biodiversity research and conservation have long understood that the surviving wildlands of the world are not art museums.

  What do we receive from them? The stabilization of the global environment they provide and their very existence are the gifts they give to us. We are their stewards, not their owners.

• Nature is far more complex and sophisticated than we can imagine. We can’t fully understand the system, so we should be extra careful when we make any decision that can impact the environment. In most cases, it may be even wiser to err on the side of refraining from taking action altogether.

  Can the planet be run as a true spaceship by one intelligent species? Surely we would be foolish to take such a large and dangerous gamble.

  We have only one planet and we are allowed only one such experiment. Why make a world-threatening and unnecessary gamble if a safe option is open?

Also, there is a cool project page that I recommend checking out.