0:00:24.571,0:00:28.568
So I want to you take into a place[br]where humans really aren't supposed to be:

0:00:28.854,0:00:30.740
the inside of an occupied bear den.

0:00:30.740,0:00:31.740
(Laughter)

0:00:31.740,0:00:35.220
Now, bears elicit a certain[br]fear response in most people,

0:00:35.220,0:00:37.829
and that's something[br]that we're supposed to have.

0:00:38.299,0:00:41.452
Hundreds of thousands of years[br]of concurrent evolution with bears

0:00:41.452,0:00:43.884
have taught us that they[br]and other predators

0:00:43.884,0:00:45.518
are animals to be avoided.

0:00:45.518,0:00:49.900
So, my friend Corey Arnold[br]took this photo with National Geographic,

0:00:49.900,0:00:51.583
and you can't see my face,

0:00:51.583,0:00:54.379
but I promise you[br]there's a look of terror on it.

0:00:54.379,0:00:56.518
I wasn't happy to be[br]in there with this bear,

0:00:56.518,0:00:59.227
and he wasn't happy[br]to have me in there with him there.

0:00:59.741,0:01:03.304
This particular bear needed[br]a new battery in his GPS collar.

0:01:03.714,0:01:05.602
So, for me to do that,

0:01:05.602,0:01:06.970
(Laughter)

0:01:06.970,0:01:10.304
I had to get within a couple[br]of meters of the bear,

0:01:10.304,0:01:12.706
where I have a pole[br]that has a syringe on it,

0:01:12.706,0:01:14.459
and inject him with that.

0:01:14.959,0:01:17.954
So in the US we have a saying:[br]"Don't poke a sleeping bear,"

0:01:17.954,0:01:20.148
and that's literally[br]what I was in there to do.

0:01:20.148,0:01:21.154
(Laughter)

0:01:21.154,0:01:23.808
Luckily for me, everything[br]went fairly smoothly.

0:01:23.808,0:01:25.640
I was able to change out the battery,

0:01:25.640,0:01:29.389
and more fortunately,[br]I was able to leave the den in one piece.

0:01:29.389,0:01:33.374
So, a lot of wildlife biologists[br]do have stories like these,

0:01:33.374,0:01:36.124
whether they're working[br]with dangerous animals

0:01:36.124,0:01:39.249
or they're working in conditions[br]that can be really hazardous -

0:01:39.249,0:01:42.289
bone-breaking arctic cold[br]or searing desert heat.

0:01:42.289,0:01:44.739
It can be a really challenging profession.

0:01:44.739,0:01:47.494
And on top of those challenges,

0:01:47.494,0:01:50.159
you also have to deal[br]with this kind of tedious stuff

0:01:50.159,0:01:54.652
of writing papers and reports[br]and research, and crunching data.

0:01:54.652,0:01:56.370
To get through those kind of things,

0:01:56.370,0:01:59.037
there's something critical[br]that wildlife biologists need,

0:01:59.037,0:02:00.168
and that's passion.

0:02:00.168,0:02:02.769
Passion is what helps us[br]through those experiences,

0:02:02.769,0:02:04.772
and it's also what helps us fight a battle

0:02:04.772,0:02:07.416
that's really becoming[br]incredibly lopsided.

0:02:08.046,0:02:10.316
So, I grew up in Montana,

0:02:10.316,0:02:13.680
which was a wonderful place[br]for an animal lover to grow up,

0:02:14.130,0:02:15.963
surrounded by different wildlife.

0:02:15.963,0:02:19.129
And in particular, there is[br]a pond system near my home,

0:02:19.129,0:02:20.712
where my brothers and I would go,

0:02:20.712,0:02:22.895
and we'd catch frogs[br]and turtles and snakes,

0:02:22.895,0:02:25.478
and look for all sorts[br]of different animals.

0:02:25.735,0:02:26.741
In particular,

0:02:26.741,0:02:29.509
there's one species of frog,[br]the northern leopard frog,

0:02:29.509,0:02:31.451
that was really plentiful,

0:02:31.751,0:02:34.752
and in a given summer,[br]we'd see thousands of these frogs.

0:02:35.093,0:02:37.098
And then over a matter[br]of just a few years,

0:02:37.098,0:02:40.752
I went from seeing thousands[br]of leopard frogs to absolutely none.

0:02:40.752,0:02:42.421
And as a little boy,

0:02:43.081,0:02:47.086
that kind of being witness[br]to a local extinction like that

0:02:47.086,0:02:48.839
was really hard for me.

0:02:48.839,0:02:51.357
This was an animal[br]that had brought me a lot of joy

0:02:51.357,0:02:53.408
and taught me a lot[br]about the natural world,

0:02:53.408,0:02:54.816
and suddenly it was gone.

0:02:54.816,0:02:56.435
And I think in my mind,

0:02:56.435,0:02:59.979
extinction was something[br]that was really relegated to dinosaurs,

0:02:59.979,0:03:02.145
and seeing it happen[br]to an animal that I loved

0:03:02.145,0:03:04.489
really created a paradigm shift for me.

0:03:04.489,0:03:06.441
And I realized that nature isn't infinite

0:03:06.441,0:03:08.706
and it's something[br]that we do need to protect.

0:03:08.706,0:03:10.648
So, fast-forward.

0:03:10.648,0:03:12.254
I'm in my 30s.

0:03:12.254,0:03:13.393
That's that same bear,

0:03:13.393,0:03:16.095
after we managed to get him out[br]and change his collar.

0:03:17.552,0:03:19.664
I've worked with bears[br]for about eight years,

0:03:19.664,0:03:23.237
and then I've also been able[br]to host a little show with Great Big Story

0:03:23.237,0:03:24.624
called "Mission Wild."

0:03:24.624,0:03:25.624
And during that time,

0:03:25.624,0:03:28.437
I've been able to see[br]a lot of different wildlife biologists

0:03:28.437,0:03:29.910
and the species they work with,

0:03:29.910,0:03:32.786
and really see the ins and outs[br]of wildlife conservation.

0:03:32.786,0:03:34.073
And I want to take you guys

0:03:34.073,0:03:36.211
through a few of the things[br]that I've learned.

0:03:36.211,0:03:38.983
So, we're going to start[br]with the pangolin,

0:03:38.983,0:03:42.169
so not penguin - "pan-go-lin."

0:03:42.559,0:03:44.754
It looks like a Pokemon,[br]but it's an animal,

0:03:44.754,0:03:45.903
I promise you.

0:03:45.909,0:03:46.909
(Laughter)

0:03:46.909,0:03:48.520
They're really cute.

0:03:49.506,0:03:53.073
They live throughout[br]Southeast Asia and in Africa,

0:03:53.073,0:03:55.157
and their main distinguishing feature

0:03:55.157,0:03:59.339
is this armor of scales[br]that are made of keratin,

0:03:59.339,0:04:02.258
and when the pangolin feels threatened,[br]it rolls into a ball,

0:04:02.258,0:04:06.315
and even the largest predators[br]aren't able to break that defense,

0:04:06.315,0:04:07.831
so it's really effective,

0:04:07.831,0:04:10.311
and it's made them[br]so they have no natural predators.

0:04:10.311,0:04:12.221
But unfortunately,[br]those very same scales

0:04:12.221,0:04:16.254
are worth more than the price of gold[br]on the black market

0:04:16.254,0:04:20.105
for their use in traditional medicines[br]in both China and Southeast Asia.

0:04:20.105,0:04:23.914
And you know, setting aside[br]the importance of culture and tradition,

0:04:23.914,0:04:28.035
there simply aren't enough pangolins[br]to fulfill that demand,

0:04:28.035,0:04:30.950
and they're being killed[br]by the hundreds of thousands.

0:04:30.950,0:04:35.433
Hundreds of tons of pangolins[br]are killed every year to fill this need.

0:04:35.433,0:04:38.009
And there's a really[br]haunting image by Paul Hilton,

0:04:38.009,0:04:41.009
who is a wildlife conservationist[br]and photographer,

0:04:41.009,0:04:43.231
and it shows thousands of dead pangolins

0:04:43.231,0:04:46.892
that have been discarded[br]after having their scales removed.

0:04:46.892,0:04:49.148
So, this is a huge problem.

0:04:49.148,0:04:52.295
They joined tigers[br]and elephants and rhinos

0:04:52.595,0:04:55.352
as species that are being pushed[br]to the brink of extinction

0:04:55.352,0:04:57.284
through the illegal wildlife trade.

0:04:57.284,0:05:00.079
And we don't know[br]how many pangolins are out there,

0:05:00.079,0:05:03.394
so we could see the loss of this species[br]in the next 10 years even.

0:05:03.754,0:05:07.591
So there's a lot of things[br]that are being done for pangolins.

0:05:09.321,0:05:12.248
One of the groups that I was able[br]to work with a little bit

0:05:12.248,0:05:15.030
is the African Pangolin Working Group,

0:05:15.030,0:05:19.719
and they have a really unique way[br]of assessing the supply of pangolins

0:05:19.719,0:05:23.902
while we're kind of waiting for hopefully[br]a cultural shift in the demand.

0:05:23.902,0:05:25.948
So what they do is they set up stings,

0:05:25.948,0:05:29.566
where they pose as buyers[br]for pangolin scales -

0:05:29.566,0:05:31.831
well actually, for live pangolins -

0:05:31.831,0:05:34.748
and they arrange a meet with poachers.

0:05:34.748,0:05:37.597
When those poachers show up,[br]they're promptly arrested,

0:05:38.057,0:05:40.539
and they face some[br]pretty serious jail sentences,

0:05:40.539,0:05:42.235
sometimes over 10 years.

0:05:42.745,0:05:46.593
The pangolin is then confiscated,[br]and it's taken to a hospital.

0:05:46.593,0:05:50.360
Now, often these pangolins[br]go through some pretty intense torture

0:05:50.670,0:05:52.720
while they're in the care[br]of those poachers,

0:05:52.720,0:05:56.094
and so they have to recover from both[br]physical and psychological trauma,

0:05:56.094,0:05:57.735
and that can take some time.

0:05:58.015,0:06:01.213
They also have to learn[br]how to be a wild pangolin again.

0:06:01.213,0:06:04.024
And so I was able to go[br]on a little walk with this pangolin,

0:06:04.024,0:06:05.838
who was in that process,

0:06:05.838,0:06:08.472
and he was learning[br]how to find termites and ants again.

0:06:08.472,0:06:10.898
And once he completes that process -

0:06:10.898,0:06:13.130
I believe he's still going through it -

0:06:13.580,0:06:15.542
he'll be released back in the wild,

0:06:15.542,0:06:18.205
and the biologist with the African[br]Pangolin Working Group

0:06:18.205,0:06:20.186
will continue to monitor his situation.

0:06:20.186,0:06:23.454
They're actually learning a lot[br]about pangolin natural behavior

0:06:23.454,0:06:24.955
through this process.

0:06:24.955,0:06:28.049
And most importantly, they're setting[br]a precedent for the poachers

0:06:28.049,0:06:30.377
and for the criminal[br]organizations behind them:

0:06:30.377,0:06:32.377
that people really do care

0:06:32.377,0:06:35.472
and that pangolins aren't something[br]that they can continue to take

0:06:35.472,0:06:36.877
without consequence.

0:06:36.877,0:06:38.685
They're also educating a lot of people

0:06:38.685,0:06:41.666
about an animal that not[br]too many people know about.

0:06:42.116,0:06:45.356
Okay, moving on to an animal[br]that I've been able to work with a lot -

0:06:45.356,0:06:46.815
polar bears.

0:06:46.815,0:06:49.771
Polar bears are an incredibly[br]charismatic animal.

0:06:49.771,0:06:51.470
We've all heard about them.

0:06:51.470,0:06:53.285
But they unfortunately find themselves

0:06:53.285,0:06:56.291
in the crosshairs[br]of the global climate crisis.

0:06:56.963,0:06:59.872
Polar bears are sea ice obligates.

0:06:59.872,0:07:02.783
This means that they rely[br]on the sea ice for everything;

0:07:02.783,0:07:06.195
most importantly, they use it[br]as a platform for hunting seals.

0:07:06.455,0:07:09.333
Without the sea ice,[br]they simply can't catch seals,

0:07:09.333,0:07:11.868
and they're forced[br]to wait on land and fast

0:07:11.868,0:07:14.433
and wait for the sea ice to refreeze.

0:07:14.433,0:07:17.034
So those fasting periods[br]are getting longer and longer,

0:07:17.034,0:07:20.188
and with it, the polar bears[br]are getting more malnourished,

0:07:20.188,0:07:21.248
and malnourished bears

0:07:21.248,0:07:26.247
means that they're having[br]reduced cub litter sizes, fewer cubs,

0:07:26.247,0:07:29.050
and we're even starting to see[br]die-offs in adults.

0:07:29.050,0:07:31.332
Some of the world's leading[br]polar bear biologists

0:07:31.332,0:07:32.948
think that there's the possibility

0:07:32.948,0:07:35.042
we lose the species[br]in the next hundred years

0:07:35.042,0:07:36.458
if things don't change.

0:07:36.458,0:07:38.690
So that's saying, like, my grandkids

0:07:38.690,0:07:40.912
might grow up in a world[br]without polar bears,

0:07:40.912,0:07:42.832
which is really devastating.

0:07:43.962,0:07:47.238
Luckily, there are some things[br]that are being done for polar bears.

0:07:47.563,0:07:51.647
While we're kind of tackling[br]this huge climate crisis,

0:07:51.647,0:07:52.890
there are certain problems

0:07:52.890,0:07:54.983
that are affecting[br]populations of polar bears

0:07:54.983,0:07:56.436
that we can work on.

0:07:56.436,0:07:58.622
And I was able to work[br]on one of those projects

0:07:58.622,0:08:01.669
both with Brigham Young University[br]and Polar Bears International,

0:08:01.669,0:08:04.943
where we were looking at ways[br]that we could protect polar bears

0:08:04.943,0:08:07.019
that decide to den and raise their cubs

0:08:07.019,0:08:08.904
near oil industry.

0:08:09.299,0:08:12.367
So, that project took place[br]in northern Alaska,

0:08:12.367,0:08:14.746
which if you've never[br]been to northern Alaska,

0:08:14.746,0:08:17.295
it's a really hard place to work.

0:08:17.295,0:08:20.824
I've seen temperatures[br]of -55 degrees Celsius.

0:08:20.824,0:08:23.923
With the windchill,[br]it gets a lot colder than that.

0:08:24.283,0:08:26.711
I've gotten frostbite[br]on most of my fingers,

0:08:26.711,0:08:30.276
and once I even froze my eyeball[br]completely solid.

0:08:30.626,0:08:32.129
Lost my eyesight.

0:08:32.129,0:08:34.622
Had to, like, frantically[br]put my palm on my eye

0:08:34.622,0:08:36.243
and wait for it to thaw out,

0:08:36.243,0:08:40.224
and luckily it did, and twitch[br]for like two months after that,

0:08:40.224,0:08:41.750
which was super annoying,

0:08:41.750,0:08:43.710
but I got my eyesight back.

0:08:44.040,0:08:46.379
Thankfully, you know,[br]I was able to work, though,

0:08:46.379,0:08:48.622
in a really incredible environment:

0:08:48.622,0:08:51.728
I got to see the northern[br]lights multiple times,

0:08:51.728,0:08:57.327
I got to see incredible wildlife[br]like these musk oxen or this arctic fox,

0:08:57.327,0:08:59.793
and of course, I got[br]to work with polar bears.

0:09:00.283,0:09:02.399
Our project specifically[br]was looking at ways

0:09:02.399,0:09:05.682
that we could both create[br]and enforce rules

0:09:05.682,0:09:08.772
for polar bears that decide[br]to den near oil industry.

0:09:09.422,0:09:11.131
And those rules were put in place

0:09:11.131,0:09:14.524
to help the oil industry give these bears[br]the space that they needed

0:09:14.524,0:09:18.815
so that they had the best possible chance[br]of raising their cubs to adulthood.

0:09:18.815,0:09:22.862
So this is a bear that decided to den[br]right next to some industry stuff;

0:09:22.862,0:09:26.486
and we shut everything down,[br]gave her the space she needed,

0:09:26.486,0:09:29.769
and she raised this cub and was able[br]to take it out on the sea ice.

0:09:30.279,0:09:33.272
So now we're going to talk a little bit[br]about African Wild Dogs,

0:09:33.272,0:09:35.318
another animal[br]that I was able to work with.

0:09:35.318,0:09:36.866
They're a wild species of dog,

0:09:36.866,0:09:39.027
they live throughout Sub-Saharan Africa,

0:09:39.027,0:09:40.914
and they're pack hunters.

0:09:40.914,0:09:42.377
They're incredibly good at it.

0:09:42.377,0:09:43.804
They're not just pack hunters,

0:09:43.804,0:09:45.189
but every animal in that pack

0:09:45.189,0:09:48.921
has a dynamic role[br]and they all fill it super well.

0:09:49.902,0:09:51.020
These wild dogs -

0:09:51.020,0:09:52.810
they're also called "painted dogs" -

0:09:52.810,0:09:55.943
they have success[br]in about 80% of their hunts.

0:09:55.943,0:09:57.235
So, for comparison,

0:09:57.235,0:10:00.436
lion prides will have success[br]in about 30% of their hunts.

0:10:00.436,0:10:03.101
So they're incredibly[br]successful predators,

0:10:03.101,0:10:05.148
which unfortunately puts them

0:10:05.148,0:10:07.389
at direct odds with another[br]successful predator,

0:10:07.389,0:10:08.852
which is us.

0:10:09.292,0:10:14.147
Competition for game,[br]livestock depredations, habitat loss

0:10:14.147,0:10:17.922
and disease transference[br]from domestic dogs

0:10:17.922,0:10:21.255
has led to huge declines[br]in wild dog populations.

0:10:21.255,0:10:23.807
The range used to extend[br]throughout Africa,

0:10:23.807,0:10:25.984
and now they're confined[br]to a few strongholds,

0:10:25.984,0:10:28.869
and we have less than[br]6,000 wild dogs left in the world.

0:10:28.869,0:10:30.714
They're critically endangered.

0:10:31.114,0:10:33.410
Now, again, I was able[br]to work with a group

0:10:33.410,0:10:37.576
that's doing some really interesting[br]and fascinating wild dog research.

0:10:37.576,0:10:38.631
And what they're doing

0:10:38.631,0:10:40.926
is they're taking dogs[br]from these strongholds,

0:10:40.926,0:10:42.449
where they're doing really well.

0:10:42.449,0:10:45.389
They'll take females from one[br]and males from another,

0:10:45.389,0:10:46.631
and then they combine them

0:10:46.631,0:10:49.201
and put them in a place[br]where they historically existed

0:10:49.201,0:10:50.229
to form a new pack.

0:10:50.229,0:10:53.301
And it's a wild dog[br]range-expansion project.

0:10:53.301,0:10:55.011
Now, it's not as simple

0:10:55.011,0:10:58.012
as simply taking them[br]from one place and another place

0:10:58.012,0:11:00.868
and putting them together[br]and hoping that they're friends.

0:11:00.868,0:11:03.443
If you did that, they literally[br]would kill each other

0:11:03.443,0:11:05.477
as soon as they came out of the sedation.

0:11:05.477,0:11:08.761
So, they have a really fascinating method

0:11:08.761,0:11:11.529
for making sure[br]that pack gets established.

0:11:11.529,0:11:12.526
And what they do -

0:11:12.526,0:11:15.570
you'll have to watch that Mission Wild[br]show I told you guys about

0:11:15.570,0:11:16.825
to see the whole process -

0:11:16.825,0:11:17.842
but what they do

0:11:17.842,0:11:20.666
is they take each female[br]and they take each male

0:11:20.666,0:11:23.017
and they physically rub them together,

0:11:23.017,0:11:24.187
and I've got to do this.

0:11:24.187,0:11:25.286
When they're sedated,

0:11:25.286,0:11:26.665
you're rubbing them together,

0:11:26.665,0:11:28.715
and you're putting[br]their spit on each other,

0:11:28.715,0:11:30.004
and you're just making sure

0:11:30.004,0:11:32.881
they smell as much as they possibly can[br]like the other dogs.

0:11:32.881,0:11:34.218
That way, when they wake up,

0:11:34.218,0:11:38.303
they recognize, or they see these dogs[br]that they don't necessarily recognize,

0:11:38.303,0:11:40.336
but they can smell them on themselves

0:11:40.336,0:11:42.555
and they think, "Okay,[br]maybe this is a friend.

0:11:42.555,0:11:43.968
I guess I won't kill it."

0:11:43.968,0:11:47.796
(Laughter) (Applause)

0:11:54.093,0:11:55.962
You laugh, but it really does work,

0:11:55.962,0:11:58.529
and this Endangered Wildlife Trust group

0:11:58.529,0:11:59.591
and my friend Cole,

0:11:59.591,0:12:01.164
who's working on this project,

0:12:01.164,0:12:04.712
have seen some great success[br]with their range expansion project.

0:12:06.042,0:12:08.544
So, this begs the question why.

0:12:08.544,0:12:10.595
You know, why should we[br]care about wildlife?

0:12:10.595,0:12:12.158
It's 2019.

0:12:12.158,0:12:13.890
We're all emotionally exhausted.

0:12:13.890,0:12:16.691
We all only have[br]so much emotional bandwidth.

0:12:16.691,0:12:18.307
So why wildlife, you know?

0:12:18.307,0:12:21.856
Why support biologists[br]that are crawling into bear dens

0:12:21.856,0:12:24.772
and freezing body parts[br]they didn't know they could freeze?

0:12:24.772,0:12:26.638
Why care about an animal

0:12:26.638,0:12:29.435
you just learned existed[br]five minutes ago?

0:12:29.435,0:12:32.486
So I think there's[br]multiple answers to that.

0:12:32.486,0:12:35.070
But I think, you know,[br]you have the ecology

0:12:35.070,0:12:39.169
where each and every animal[br]occupies a role in its ecosystem,

0:12:39.609,0:12:41.862
and when you take that animal[br]out of that role,

0:12:42.152,0:12:45.438
it can really create huge effects[br]that we don't necessarily understand

0:12:45.438,0:12:47.285
until that animal's gone.

0:12:47.735,0:12:51.205
But I think even more importantly[br]is how animals affect us as people

0:12:51.205,0:12:53.639
and how they're important[br]to the human condition.

0:12:55.672,0:13:00.344
You know, there's wild spaces[br]that are endlessly important to us

0:13:00.581,0:13:04.023
because they teach us a lot[br]about the complexities of life and joy,

0:13:04.023,0:13:06.522
and those wild spaces[br]just aren't wild anymore

0:13:06.522,0:13:09.224
when you remove their inhabitants.

0:13:09.704,0:13:12.485
I was lucky enough[br]to grow up in bear country,

0:13:12.485,0:13:14.797
and some of the wildest places I've been

0:13:14.797,0:13:17.824
were homes to really[br]big populations of bears.

0:13:18.080,0:13:19.936
When you're hiking around bear country,

0:13:19.936,0:13:22.755
you have to really pay attention[br]to your surroundings;

0:13:22.755,0:13:26.328
and because of that,[br]all your senses are heightened

0:13:26.328,0:13:28.943
and, you know, your smell's heightened,

0:13:28.943,0:13:31.860
the colors are brighter,[br]the air is crisper,

0:13:31.860,0:13:34.205
and it really puts you[br]in touch with nature

0:13:34.205,0:13:36.395
in a way that you can't normally get.

0:13:36.395,0:13:38.111
I really can only get those feelings

0:13:38.111,0:13:40.978
in places that are home[br]to these wild populations of animals.

0:13:40.978,0:13:43.837
It's something that really[br]connects you to the natural world,

0:13:43.837,0:13:45.344
and it's endlessly important.

0:13:45.344,0:13:48.608
And I think we've failed[br]as the most intelligent beings on Earth

0:13:48.608,0:13:51.862
if we let these species disappear,

0:13:52.122,0:13:56.387
and I think, you know,[br]we're forfeiting up something

0:13:56.387,0:13:59.253
that evolution has taken[br]millions of years to create,

0:13:59.253,0:14:03.142
and to me that's like losing[br]the most precious works of our literature.

0:14:03.492,0:14:07.475
But luckily, there really is still[br]so much more to preserve and protect,

0:14:07.475,0:14:10.044
and you don't have to be[br]a wildlife biologist to do it.

0:14:10.044,0:14:11.817
So I have a few tips for people

0:14:11.817,0:14:15.236
that can help you[br]in this fight to save wildlife.

0:14:15.236,0:14:18.622
So one of them is just to think[br]about the way that you spend your money.

0:14:19.115,0:14:20.649
Try to do your research,

0:14:20.649,0:14:22.684
and don't contribute to these companies

0:14:22.684,0:14:25.022
that are contributing[br]to these kind of problems:

0:14:25.022,0:14:28.085
wildlife trafficking,[br]habitat loss, climate change.

0:14:28.085,0:14:31.478
Do your best to avoid[br]giving those companies your money,

0:14:31.478,0:14:33.761
and then they'll see[br]where your priorities lie,

0:14:33.761,0:14:36.477
and they'll try and meet those desires.

0:14:36.477,0:14:39.076
Next, and I think[br]probably most importantly,

0:14:39.076,0:14:43.309
is we need to elect politicians[br]that care about the health of our planet.

0:14:44.019,0:14:46.578
And, you know, we have[br]politicians in place

0:14:46.578,0:14:49.284
that might not understand[br]the crisis that we've created

0:14:49.284,0:14:50.961
or care to understand it,

0:14:50.961,0:14:52.253
and we need to replace them

0:14:52.253,0:14:55.163
with politicians that know[br]and understand the science.

0:14:55.163,0:14:56.380
(Applause)

0:14:56.380,0:14:57.545
Thank you.

0:14:57.545,0:15:00.667
(Applause continues)

0:15:06.877,0:15:11.989
Finally, I think getting out into nature[br]and kind of reforging those contacts,

0:15:11.989,0:15:14.235
reforging that emotional[br]connection to nature,

0:15:14.235,0:15:16.030
is really important.

0:15:16.030,0:15:17.844
If you live in the city, go to a park.

0:15:17.844,0:15:19.671
If you can get to a national park, go.

0:15:19.701,0:15:21.654
If you can get to the wilderness, go.

0:15:21.654,0:15:23.618
And when you reforge that connection,

0:15:23.618,0:15:25.632
you'll start to care about it naturally,

0:15:25.632,0:15:28.483
and you'll naturally[br]make the decisions to protect it.

0:15:28.483,0:15:31.062
And my job would be[br]impossibly depressing without hope,

0:15:31.062,0:15:33.062
but by seeing people like yourselves here,

0:15:33.062,0:15:34.162
educating yourselves,

0:15:34.162,0:15:36.163
it gives me hope[br]for the future of wildlife

0:15:36.163,0:15:37.728
and for the future of humanity.

0:15:37.728,0:15:38.984
Thank you.

0:15:38.984,0:15:42.376
(Applause)