Reviving Earths Heartbeat Before It Flatlines
Transcriber: Reem Mustapha
Reviewer: Emma Gon
Birds chirping, waves crashing,
rain falling, jungle animals harmonizing.
These sounds are Earth’s lifeline.
Its pulse.
This is the rich diversity
behind each and every heartbeat,
but soon it may flatline.
Natures help is threatened
by forest fires spreading
like the plague, pollution infiltrating
our ecosystems like cancer,
rising sea levels like elevated blood
pressure. Our planet is sick.
Nature has voiced reduced
to a deafening silence.
Now, I bet some of you are feeling
a little bit uncomfortable.
I’m sure some of you even thought
I probably forgot my lines
and I mean, not completely wrong.
But the truth is feeling some discomfort
is actually needed to inspire change.
And let me just say
there’s no greater discomfort
in life than trying to watch me draw.
I mean me with crayons.
Let’s just call it abstract art.
Although I know nothing about art,
a particular social experiment
that uses art illustrates
an important environmental message
that really struck a chord with me.
This was called Doorway to Green,
and it was a campaign
by J. Walter Thompson
for Uttar Pradesh.
There were two groups of people,
adults and children.
The adults were asked to draw a picture
with the whole box of colorful crayons.
They were told that there was
another group coming in after them
and that they should use
their colors wisely.
The adults produced pictures
with vivid colors.
The children then came in
and can only use
the remaining colors
to draw their pictures.
The two groups were then compared.
Adults felt a sense of guilt.
The children’s drawings looked
grim since they only had
the Joel Crayon colors
that were left behind by the adults.
The experiment highlighted our collective
responsibility towards preserving
our resources and the environment
for future generations.
Recently, Yale’s program on
climate change surveyed Americans,
and the results were surprising.
More than 70% of the people know
that global warming is happening.
62% were worried about it.
However, only 43% of people thought
that it would affect them personally
and the percentages keep decreasing.
Now, why do we see such results?
Part of this might be because many people
do not understand the complicated phrases
and language used by scientists
and climate advocates.
For example, we hear terms like
carbon sequestration, urban sprawl,
bio remediation, etc.
Instead, simpler phrases often drive home
the point more effectively
to the general public.
Rather than using fancy terms
like carbon sequestration,
we can use simple language
like carbon sink.
Both convey the same message
of storing carbon
and removing it from the atmosphere.
But providing the visual
of a carbon sink helps us better imagine
the carbon being pulled
and drained into a basin.
We should also actively make
an effort to provide comparisons
and analogies when conveying
scientific findings.
How about stating the alarming fact
that in the near future,
the Maldives may only survive
in history textbooks,
because it will be completely submerged
due to rising sea levels?
Soon, snorkeling might become
our main mode of transport.
So we have established that people don’t
really resonate with the bare statistics.
We need to take a more creative approach.
In the current environmental movement,
we’ve tried time and time again
to use statistics to convey
a sense of urgency that something
has to be done right now.
But it doesn’t seem
to be getting through to everyone.
So how about we put
a creative spin to this?
We’ve all heard that a picture
is worth a thousand words.
The proverb exaggerates to make a point.
A research study by
Alan Blackwell concluded
that a picture is worth 84 words.
However, according to
a Forester’s research,
a video is worth 1.8 million words.
Humans are visual beings.
Videos can connect an appeal to our
different senses and keep viewers engaged.
Videos on environmental topics
such as implementing
sustainable lifestyles
can resonate better with people
more than any piece of text.
In other words,
we can make movies that matter so that
people are inspired to take action
and join activism programs.
With the power of film
we can accelerate the spread
of our environmental messages
and actions at the speed of sight.
Currently, we are in the stands
like eras, quaternary period,
Holocene epoch, I know, it’s a mouthful.
As we leave the Anthropocene time period
named for the significant environmental
impact that humans have had,
we must enter into this symbiosis,
a time where we nurture nature
rather than compete with it.
We must envision an era conducive
to interdependence
and reach that Goldilocks zone
of Holocene feeling.
The key to achieving this
may lie in cartography
and its potential applications
for preserving our environment.
Being an avid geographer myself,
I’ve looked into map
making as a new outlet.
Whether it is facilitating
the preservation of biodiversity
or predicting rising
rates of urbanisation.
Maps allow us to explore and
expose the environmental problems
that demand a solution.
By mapping the existing infrastructure
and secluded places around the world,
we can gain a better understanding
of the rate of global development
and its environmental impacts.
Here’s an example where I have traced
satellite imagery onto maps
and added details
such as buildings and roads.
And in this one, I have mapped
coastlines of biodiversity hotspots
that would be threatened
by rising sea levels.
This effort to bridge the gap
on missing maps can serve
as a vital tool for
disaster response as well.
We live in a world of cause
and effect relationship.
Something happens and we respond.
Actually, there’s some procrastination
in the middle and then we respond.
But nonetheless,
we have a clear history of this.
Cities were choking in smog and pollution.
Clean Air Act was born.
Holes in the ozone layer
were getting larger.
And this gave birth to
the Montreal Protocol.
But what if instead of suffering first
and then fixing our problem,
we get ahead of the game by
proactively enacting legislation
as a preventative measure.
For example, it has been discovered
that sunscreen contains oxybenzone,
which is meant to absorb UV light,
but it also contributes to coral bleaching
and damages the coral DNA.
We have not yet lost all of
our rich coral reefs,
but at this rate we certainly will.
In fact, according to Forbes,
scientists predict that over 70%
of all our coral reefs will disappear
in the next 20 years.
Instead of waiting for
our coral reefs to bleach,
legislation banning oxybenzone
and other harmful toxins
in sunscreen would help
forestall this issue altogether.
But the best way to
proactively prevent these issues
is to educate and nurture
the next generation of climate leaders.
By implementing
more legislation to increase
the standard of environmental
education for youth,
we can ensure that future generations
can meaningfully contribute
to the climate conversation.
However, looking
beyond government regulation,
it’s our responsibility to change
our personal behavior.
We must look at environmental consequences
that might not be directly apparent to us.
The COVID 19 pandemic
has been generally perceived
as good for the environment,
with the restoration of habitats
for wildlife, reduced pollution
and greenhouse gas emissions.
But we need to look deeper.
Internet usage shot up
by more than 40% worldwide.
Imagine the movies
that are streamed online.
Millions of zoomers attending meetings,
schools online and yes,
people even doing online workouts.
And with the absence of indoor dining,
the amount of takeout food orders
has increased drastically,
and this goes hand-in-hand with
the increase in single use plastics.
We should try to inform ourselves and
be critical of our everyday lifestyles.
People have taken it upon themselves
to reassess their activities
and approach them
for more sustainable angles.
Art can be made sustainable, scalable
and sensible without being sacrificial.
Take a look at this picture.
Now, wouldn’t you want this piece
of art in your living room?
I would. Take a closer look.
This art of the human eye
is made from plastic bottle caps.
It serves as a constant reminder
to keep an eye on sustainability.
How about this upcycled art?
This is made by using
recycled credit cards.
And how unique is this accordion style
magazine clock made from recycled paper?
The transformation begins
with the mindset.
Stanford Earth Professor John Payne
has extensively researched
Earth five previous mass extinctions.
And although he acknowledges
the important roles of meteor impacts,
volcanic eruptions and ice ages,
he argues that the underlying factor
behind all of these mass extinctions
was indeed environmental change.
I had earlier talked about
Holocene healing.
The sixth mass extinction is
in fact the Holocene extinction,
driven by our human carelessness and
by National Geographic’s estimates,
this could occur in less than 500 years
If we don’t take action now,.
We should not drop the ball,
not on our watch.
Let me leave you with this scene.
Imagine, no re-imagine Earth
in its place of
ideal perfection, a utopia,
one where there are bountiful natural
resources for future generations,
a rich tapestry of flora and fauna
for all the inhabitants,
not just humankind.
A kaleidoscope of diversity.
(Sound of heartbeats)
Do you hear that?
Now, that is the strong heartbeat
of our reviving Earth.
Thank you.