One year ago, the world stood still due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the virus spread inexorably, and most of the world was in lockdown. As a society, those were traumatic and confusing days. The uncertainties regarding what was happening and what was going to happen were immense. In this context, we tried to find positive […]
The necessity of behavior change to reach goals in nature conservation
In his 93 years, the famous British naturalist David Attenborough has visited almost every place on earth, exploring the wild pristine nature, telling fascinating stories. “A life on our planet”, is his latest documentary, where he reflects on his life looking back at defining moments and the changes he has seen in nature and the […]
Conservation tool or environmental threat? Blockchain technology is a double-edg...
Bitcoin has been hailed as ‘the future of money.’ As I write this, a single bitcoin is worth over $34,000 USD. In 2009, when Bitcoin was released, a single bitcoin was worth $0.0008. That is less than one tenth of a cent. In between, billionaires have been made. Bitcoin’s incredible rise in value and popularity […]
Killing in the name of greater good? The complexities of trophy hunting
Trophy hunting is a topic that sparks discussion, often debated in the comment section of a trophy picture shared on one of many social media platforms. A middle-aged man with a wide grin on his face, posing proudly with the corpse of a dead animal. Many find such images disturbing. I mean, who wouldn’t, right? […]
Will there always be more fish in the sea?
In May of this ‘exciting’ year of 2020, it was widely reported that the Smooth Handfish (Sympterichthys unipennis) was declared the first species of bony fish to go extinct in modern times. Without a doubt, it is sad that a creature described as having a ‘punk rock hair-do’ has been relegated to a single, discolored […]
Conservation beyond charisma
Despite biodiversity conservation slowly creeping into national and international political agendas, monitoring and protecting all species remains impossible. We simply do not have the people, time or resources. So, at a time in which species are declining at unprecedented levels, which species should we focus on? Which species should concentrate all of our attention and […]
Cognitive dissonance and conservation: Will our minds subconsciously guide us to...
On a cold February day in Washington D.C. in 2015, United States Senator Jim Inhofe pulled an infamous political stunt on the senate floor. He unraveled a snowball that he had gathered earlier that day, using it as a prop to “disprove” the reality of climate change. He ended his statement by playfully hurling the […]
Killing for conservation
The moral debate surrounding the lethal control of invasive alien species Historically, humans have been translocating animal and plant species from one region to the planet to another, from seeds and exotic birds from the new world to rice and spices from Asian regions. Some of these translocations are well documented, like the introduction of […]
Understanding the scale and cost of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fisherie...
Since 1961, the average annual increase in global fish consumption has outpaced population growth and exceeded consumption of meat from all terrestrial animals combined 1. Accordingly, fish stocks have been increasingly exploited, with 33% of fish stocks overfished and 60% fully exploited in 2015 1. Demand for fish is driven by population growth, human migration […]
Wind Farms in Greece
Despite some beliefs, climate change is real and humans are the ones to blame for. The increase of greenhouse gases – mainly CO2 – in the atmosphere, is the key driver of climate change. Emissions from human activities are responsible for 100% of the warming observed since 19501. One such activity is the production of […]