Tomorrow I’ll be 30. Admittedly, it does feel a bit strange to know that my 20s are behind me. That decade of youth where you're supposed to live wild and free before getting serious and settling - that's gone. Lived. Loved. Perhaps the strangeness is that I've always felt free, and still refuse to be restricted by anything/anyone/any thought/any expectation, but have always also taken the things in my life pretty seriously. Whatever the case, I'm in a very happy place in my life right now, just as I was when I turned 20.
Read MoreI’m often faced with the question, “Yes, but what can we do?”. It’s usually followed by some kind of sigh. Hrmph.
People who know me know that I mull a lot about the things that need something to be done about them. Threatened species. Wildlife trafficking. Climate change. Pollution. Junky and wasteful food habits. And so on and so forth.
The problem is that most of these things seem very far removed from us and our lives and, especially, our daily choices.
Read MoreAnyone working in conservation science today will tell you that climate change is a central theme in a lot of our work, and for good reason. In almost all cases, modelling predicts that species will be negatively affected, sometimes catastrophically so. The Great Barrier Reef is hurtling towards being listed as World Heritage in Danger, thanks two massive coral bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 brought on by warming sea temperatures. Polar bears and ringed seals are losing their Arctic home, and the Bramble Cay Melomys has already gone the way of the dodo.
But what if I told you that exploitation – not climate change – was actually the largest threat to most species worldwide?
Read MoreThere is something deeply human about listening. Not just hearing, but actively listening. Internalising sounds, and finding meaning within them – it’s in our makeup.
Read MoreA fundamental question of humankind is: what do we owe to non-human animals? What are our moral obligations to them? In attempt to answer this, scientists and philosophers have for centuries debated the dominant theme of self-awareness.
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