Is there hope for conservation? | James Borrell | TEDxQMUL

James Borrell is a conservation biologist with a passion for challenging research expeditions. He founded the social enterprise Discover Conservation and is a member of the Inspired50.
James’ research has taken him from the Peruvian Amazon to the High Arctic studying everything from critically endangered big cats, to tiny dragonflies and even dwarf trees. Even having visited remote parts of the tropics, James describes the hardest working environment as a bleak hillside in the Scottish Highlands with ‘typical’ Scottish weather. James’ particular interest is the genetics of endangered species and exploring how we can engage young people with conservation through citizen science and fieldwork.
Despite all the bad news we are bombarded with daily about the state of our natural world, James is stubbornly optimistic and is convinced we are beginning to turn the corner. It is this message of optimism that James will aim to share in his talk.
More about James here: www.jamesborrell.com
James founded the social enterprise Discover Conservation and is a member of the Inspired50. James’ research has taken him from the Peruvian Amazon to the High Arctic studying everything from critically endangered big cats, to tiny dragonflies and even dwarf trees. James is convinced we are beginning to turn the corner. It is this message of optimism that James will aim to share in his talk.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@GriffWild]

Excellent. I love this message. I feel as optimistic as James. There is much work to do. Let's do it!

[@OceanPancake]

Really scary thought that we even have to ask if it is possible to conserve the beautiful species on this planet. It's crucial to be optimistic and to share our love!

[@briankelly9347]

My Vegan Experiment Nice armpits!

[@arnimusthofa2681]

"conservation is harder than rocket science" Yeah... perfectly stated. And the rocket is human's awareness toward our biodiversity and environment I guess

[@huckleberryhuckle9934]

I have planted 368 trees 🌳 on my family’s farm and are still growing and they has been an explosion of wild life like some birds I would have dreamed to see like kingfishers wedge tailed eagle rainbow bee eater

[@kylecb]

Well done - so cool!

[@ravindranathhospital1362]

Awesome. I am planting 100 Neem trees. And I am also making the nearest park a bird sanctuary. Than you very much. I hope others do something Like what you did.

[@ritasrimustikasari]

@@ravindranathhospital1362 What with the neem tree that make it special? I sometime eat the leaves for a healthy purpose but don't know if it relates to any wildlife habitat. Regards from Java, Indonesia.

[@serlyllanes5333]

Sobrang makabuluhan! Tayo din ang nakikinabang, kaya dapat lang nating alagaan ang nasa paligid natin. Kudos! great video indeed.

[@karanswansi3363]

If everyone was like this that would be great

[@antoinelala6750]

that would be true if god existed.

[@L3ased]

use ecosia to help biodiversity by planting trees when you search :)

[@ohoangnghien1389]

It is such an unfortunate fact that by the time i watch this video, nothern white rhino has gone extinct

[@longphan7270]

Đỗ Hoàng Nghiên liệu bạn có đang làm việc cho tổ chức bảo tồn nào đó ko ạ?

[@ohoangnghien1389]

Dạ ko ạ

[@ravindranathhospital1362]

Please do y0ur best to save these species. I mean how hard is it to plant trees and save these species. If you are a child, take care of birds. One million species are facing extinction. Plant trees. Donate to wildlife conservation societies. Please play y0ur part.

[@joeygold24]

what exactly is a “trivial” species???

[@chrisswoboda]

Mosquitos

[@Shaggy-lu6dz]

Joe Acampora humans and mosquitos.

[@MorrisonScotch]

City folks are a trivial species

[@Traviz-dj5bx]

How could the photo be taken in 1968 if we first went to the Moon in 1969?

[@jiraya350]

It was a picture taken by the Apollo 8 crew, which I believe was the first manned ship to orbit the moon. They didn't land on it, that was indeed in 1969.

[@taniananda8849]

Its taken in year 1967

[@1lowfatmilk712]

But with populations that small, wouldn't you end up with severe inbreeding? What about genetic drift?

[@noahstrang4477]

Some species of animal can inbreed for example the rough scaled python is a species of snake that originated from 10 individuals and now they are in the thousands and all of them can be traced back to the original 10.

[@15LiquidSnake]

Better than being extinct lol everything came from a finite point at one stage. Give it a chance to expand its gene pool once it's a stable population

[@funwithflags7506]

The world is overpopulated

[@huckleberryhuckle9934]

The Problem is that the human population is (at the time of righting this) nearly 8 billion so people need more food and shelter this is why diseases like Malaria and HIV A.I.D.S are in place to keep us in check (you may not agree with me so do not hate me) and we will keep on growing and growing until we have nothing left

[@MYFAVSC4UTB40212]

He failed to mention how real conservationist and hunters saved the White-tailed Deer!

[@gooseb77]

You mean to say how real conservationists and hunters saved the wolves that were killed off by deer hunters in the early 1900's. Deer over-ran and over ate thousands of plant species, most of which went extinct, because hunters originally thought of wolves as competition for their prize deer. Hunters killed off wolves to functional extinction. Now, that has changed and since the reintroduction of wolves into the population more and more plants are able to flourish due to a more natural balance of prey and predator. Education is key! Hunters are definitely the biggest advocates we have for conservation. Coming from both a hunter and conservationist, we have to look at both sides of the table to prevent the loss of any piece of the complex puzzle we call an ecosystem. A good read on this topic would be Aldo Leopold's Green Fire.

[@t.ra-larchangelofthugnezz9010]

gooseb77 thx for the suggestion

[@t.ra-larchangelofthugnezz9010]

But what about all these conservationists flying to everywhere for their research expeditions thus helping the co2 levels increase and accelerate global warming affecting the species?