Scott Loarie has a challenge for you: go outside and take a picture of a living thing. He introduces the global community of people building a living atlas of the natural world by sharing their nature photos with scientists ā and shows how you can join in on the fun.For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch.Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links:TEDNext: ted.com/futureyouTEDSports: ted.com/sportsTEDAI Vienna: ted.com/ai-viennaTEDAI San Francisco: ted.com/ai-sf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. We are in an extinction crisis. By the end of the century, scientists believe that up to one-third of animal life on this planet could be gone. That's a huge problem for so many reasons.
And according to biologist and entrepreneur Scott Laurie, we can help more than we know. In his talk, he shares the power of citizen science and why we should all be taking out our phones and snapping a photo of that cool insect or bird we see way more for the sake of the earth. And stick around for a brief Q&A between Scott and head of TED, Chris Anderson, after the talk.
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I want to share what's possible when we notice nature. Let's start with this New Zealand moth from about a century ago. It's got this fantastic name. It's called the frosted phoenix. It's also been called the holy grail of New Zealand moths, and it's been missing for about a century. The scientists thought that it was extinct. And then about a year ago, the frosted phoenix rose again.
This picture was noticed by scientists on a citizen science project that I helped lead. But the photographer wasn't a scientist. He was a Swedish birdwatcher. He's a schoolteacher, he likes birds, and he was down in New Zealand to look for kiwi birds. So kiwi are these amazing little nocturnal birds that walk around on beaches. You have to go out at night to see them.
So he goes out at night to see kiwi birds. He's actually walking back to his hotel. So he's walking up the stairs, and he notices this moth on his hotel balcony. So he takes a photo of it, he posts it and goes to bed, not realizing that he just helped solve a century-old science mystery. So this is why this is important. I mean, the frosted phoenix isn't alone.
It's one of over two million species like these that we share the planet with. There's probably many more. It's probably more like 10 million. All right? With so many species, it's no wonder that the frosted phoenix just fell off the radar. I mean, we don't have enough scientists. We don't have enough professionals to keep track of all of these, let alone manage them or protect them.
The problem is these species are really important. They form the foundations of our life support systems, and we're losing them. We're losing them faster and faster. In fact, scientists think that with habitat destruction and climate change, we're going to lose a third. That's one in three by the end of the century. That's a really big problem. That's the extinction crisis.
But this just isn't an extinction crisis, it's also an attention crisis. I mean, we're more disconnected from the natural world than ever before. If we're not noticing these species, if we're not noticing what's happening to them, that means we don't care about them. And if we don't care, then why would we protect them? But here's the good news.
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