#SaveWhatYouLove

In his TEDxSantaCruz Talk, Jonathan Franzen claims that the focus on combating climate change has been distracting people and governments from focusing on other important issues affecting nature, including conservation and reducing pollution. He argues that climate change is effectively a lost cause thanks to the current state of global politics and the systems we've set up that inhibit rapid change. What humanity really needs is to focus on "resilience" and protecting biodiversity in the few decades we have left.

I have some thoughts on this TEDx Talk. First of all, when I researched Jonathan Franzen for the other assignment this week, I found that he told the National Audubon Society that he first fell in love with birds because his girlfriend's sister came to visit them in New York and introduced them to birding (source: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/march-april-2013/jonathan-franzen-talks-birds). That directly contradicts what he says in this video, about coming to Santa Cruz and immediately being struck by the birds there. WHICH WAS IT??? We need answers, Jonathan. (The title also would have worked SO much better as a hashtag, like I did above.)

Anyway, I also felt that his speech didn't do a good job of acknowledging the interconnectedness of climate change and conservation. It's not an either/or question, and I'm fairly certain that taking steps to address climate change will also naturally be good for conservation as well. For example, limiting the deforestation he speaks about would not only help control global carbon emissions (because trees suck them up) but would also help preserve biodiversity in the process.

I'm not sure that I will get much use out of the ideas presented here, because they're not specific enough, but I might mention in one of my articles that the funneling of resources into climate solutions has taken some of the attention away from conservation issues, like those affecting my species (wolves).