Date: Thursday, July 30
Time: 12-1pm
Link to recording: https://youtu.be/1GzXWjwthm4?t=7
The Center for American Progress recently estimated that between 2001 and 2017, the United States lost slightly more than an acre of natural area to development every thirty seconds. Fortunately, there is a movement at the federal level to address that trend. And a group of Vermont residents are working on a similar effort in the Green Mountain State, based on the work of renowned biologist and writer E.O. Wilson, who calls for conserving half of the world’s land and water to ensure the survival of a multitude of species (humans included).
In this webinar, Brian Shupe of the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC), Curt Lindberg of the Vermont Alliance for Half-Earth, and Walter Poleman, Alliance member and Director of UVM’s Ecological Planning Program discuss the implications of forest and habitat loss in Vermont.
They share some ways we can slow this trend, from individual actions in our gardens to advocating for significant policy changes in the Legislature. They also discuss a national effort to address biodiversity loss called 30×30, which aims to conserve 30% of the nation’s land and water by 2030.
Here is a list of resources we discussed in the webinar:
E.O. Wilson Half-Earth website
https://www.half-earthproject.org/
E.O. Wilson on PBS Newshour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq3w7cldgMU
A Shared Life: People and Biodiversity in Vermont (stories from Vermont Alliance for Half-Earth)
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/3838334627b44966bc014d81624f168e
Video on national 30×30 initiative
https://youtu.be/I4VmOchhp8o
How to certify your backyard as a wildlife habitat in Vermont
https://vnrc.org/backyard-habitat/
Doug Tallamy/NWF Native Plant Finder
https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder/about
Vermont Conservation Design
https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/vermont-conservation-design
Community Strategies for Vermont’s Forests and Wildlife
https://vnrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/VNRC-Forestland-Conservation-10-1-links.pdf
Biodiversity University at North Branch Nature Center
https://northbranchnaturecenter.org/biou/