Answers to exploration questions: biodiversity champions

If you are wondering where the suggested answers came from, you can review the videos and article in this tutorial.

1.     In your own words, describe a few ways in which an individual person can help protect biodiversity.

Answer: A complete explanation would mention that individuals can and should play a role in the protection of biodiversity. First, individuals have the power to influence local businesses and even large corporations by demanding and purchasing products and services that take into consideration their potential to adversely impact biodiversity. Whether it is food, clothing, or the kind of energy that powers an individual’s apartment or home, people can voice their values through their consumer habits. The way in which a person spends their money can be an investment in protecting biodiversity.

Next, individuals can make a habit of reusing, recycling and composting materials. Many everyday items such as batteries, electronics, paper, and metals are recyclable. Individuals should make a point to find out what recycling programs are offered in their community. Individuals can also repair and reuse items. Often, the ideas or instructions needed to repair, reuse, or repurpose an item can be found through research on the internet. Consistently recycling and reusing products are important habits because it helps move society away from a throw-away mindset and the wasteful consumption of products and resources. This, in turn, will help protect biodiversity because the less we have to draw resources from the environment to make new products for human use, the less stress we will cause our planet’s biodiversity.

Finally, individuals can involve others by sharing their passion for protecting biodiversity. Individuals can form groups or societies to plant and tend biodiversity gardens that are full of native plants, or participate in local beach or watershed clean ups. Individuals can also share their enthusiasm for citizen science projects and recruit friends and family to participate. The American anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Certainly, an individual person has the power to make a difference in protecting biodiversity, which can lead to broad-scale change.

2.     In a few sentences, explain how remote sensing and satellite imagery can help protect biodiversity. To support your explanation, use an example from the tutorial of how satellite imagery has been used to protect biodiversity.

Answer: A complete explanation would mention that new technologies such as remote sensing and satellite imagery are allowing people to obtain new perspectives on what's happening to certain parts of our planet. These images are extremely compelling because they show how large swaths of land or ocean have changed over time in a way that isn’t possible with smaller-scale, more local perspectives. The ability to visualize the clear-cutting of native forests, the spread of pollution in the oceans, or the expansion of deserts around the world helps scientists and policy-makers better understand the threat these impacts pose to biodiversity. The images and data can help initiate and inform policies and formal treaties that protect those areas of the Earth from even more human impact.

One example of how remote imagery has helped protect biodiversity comes from research conducted by Dr. Meg Lowman. "Canopy Meg" is a scientist very interested in preserving the native forests and biodiversity of northern Ethiopia. Most of northern Ethiopia’s forests have been cleared for agriculture, timber and firewood, but remnants remain around local churches, where priests have protected the forests as part of their moral obligation and religious values. When Canopy Meg showed the priests satellite photos of the area, they could see that the forests around their churches were the only natural greenery left in the area -- the only relatively unaffected reservoirs of biodiversity in the landscape. This powerful imagery had a deep effect on the priests, and has inspired them to do more. The images helped communicate an urgency in protecting biodiversity, before it was all gone.