The Big Conservation Debate

- at the Royal Geographical Society, and organised by Friends of Conservation.
Entitled Why Wilderness Matters

The event was sold out, even though Sir Ran Fiennes was unable to attend (being busy running 7 marathons in 7 days, around the world). Col John Blashford Snell, OBE, gave an account of an expedition which tracked down some of the largest recorded Asian elephants, mountaineer Rebecca Stephens MBE discussed conservation issues arising from such focal points of interest as Everest, and I talked about the knowledge held by indigenous people.

One notable contribution came from a member of the audience, who said (in essence) that conservation begins at home - we shouldn't just appease our consciences by giving money to charities for their works abroad, but commit ourselves to less environmentally destructive acts at home, and recycle waste, tackle Junk Mailers and so on.

To this thought, I'd add that anyone who really cares about the sort of things I write about around the world should join a lobbying organisation, such as Survival International, and add their voice to thousands of others.