“We’re at an extraordinary moment now. We have the technology to comprehensively map the species of our planet at a high enough resolution to drive decision-making about where we have the best opportunity to protect the most species, and give them the space they need to grow. This is the work of the Half-Earth Project.”

– Paula Ehrlich, President and CEO of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and the Half-Earth Project

“I think that what we have right now is not just a crisis of climate change, although that certainly is a crisis and it certainly is there. The next one right on the horizon is the shortage of freshwater. The third is eliminating species down to a population level that the ecosystems around the world are beginning to collapse.”

-Edward O. Wilson, biologist, naturalist, and author of Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life

“We don’t have the luxury of passivity. You have to do something. You keep asking ‘what should I do’ when you know as well as we do. You’ve got to do something.”

– Legendary Recording Artist Paul Simon

“I think we are the Noah generation. We’re actually the first generation of our species, the human species, that has to think like the Biblical Noah. It will be for us to save many more of the last two.

Not only do we have to build the arc, but we also created the flood.”

-Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize Winner and Columnist for The New York Times

“Leadership is really about building trust. For us, we make sure that for every community conservancy, even the political leadership are involved. Ex officials on the conservancy board. The member of parliament, the senator, the county government. We make sure everything is open and transparent. It’s about bringing the leadership closer.” 

-Tom Lalampaa, Northern Rangelands Trust, Kenya

“When speaking about nature, it’s important to remember that one person’s nature is another person’s livelihood, culture, food and identity. The line that some of us use to speak of people on one hand and nature on the other can be a blurry one.”

-Ana Porzecanski, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History

“Half-Earth is a new map of the world that enlivens, that softens geopolitical boundaries and enlivens the boundaries of the diversity of life on Earth.”

-Christopher Filardi, Nia Tero

“Many times, students feel helpless about how they can make a difference. They are constantly bombarded with messages that it is too difficult to save a particular species or that it is too costly to preserve the land. The Half-Earth Project dispels these myths and empowers the students to do what is necessary to preserve the biodiversity around them.”

-Workshop attendee

“Since the species extinction rate is exponentially increasing, the alarm must be sounded to those who will inherit the Earth – our students. But alarm must be accompanied by trusted and easily understandable information sources, by guides (we teacher ambassadors) who can help them develop a vested interest in the organisms that surround and support humanity. Once you have captured your audience, we now we have a chance at making a permanent impression for the need to preserve what’s left on Earth.”

-Workshop attendee

“As a field naturalist, there is nothing more exciting than exploring the earth’s biodiversity. As an educator, there is nothing more fulfilling than facilitating my students’ appreciation for it. And as a citizen of this world, there is nothing more important than working to conserve it.”

-Workshop attendee