‘Now is the time to act to save the planet,’ warns Dr Lee Durrell

‘Now is the time to act to save the planet,’ warns Dr Lee Durrell

On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the founding of Jersey Zoo by her late husband on Tuesday, Dr Lee Durrell said now was the time to act to save the planet.

‘I certainly think we are at a crisis point,’ she said. ‘The awareness of the challenges facing our planet is greater than it ever was, but that [awareness] is among people who already listen to the warning messages.

‘People are thinking about the problems with plastic now, for instance, and many of them are reusing their plastic bags for shopping, but there are probably another six billion people on the planet who wouldn’t have a clue [about the need for conservation care].’

She said that although global leaders needed to be more proactive in their approach to tackling climate change, efforts had been ‘a bit hijacked by the climate change sceptics and people like our friend in America’s White House, who doesn’t even believe in it. That’s done a great disservice to the protection of the planet.

‘What it’s going to take is for people to recognise that our own species is one among millions of species that we share this planet with, and that we are all connected to our environment and natural resources like soils and air.’

There were, she said, ‘so many ramifications’ of climate change, and added: ‘That doesn’t only mean people being too cold, too hot or getting flooded – the whole movement of animals and plants is going to change.

‘Things are going to disappear and species are going to invade more places they have never been in before, so the whole ecological balance of the planet is going to be upset.

‘And because we are also connected, we are going to be impacted unless more people wake up to the dangers.’

Dr Durrell added that the increasing threat to the Island’s ecosystem from Asian hornets was a worrying symptom of globalisation. ‘Globalisation is a major issue,’ she said. ‘The movement of people around the globe, whether it’s just themselves or their delivery of goods and services, has brought in a lot of species into places they’ve never been before and they have become invasive. Asian hornets are a prime example.

‘There are so many invasive species that are endangering native species in different parts of the world.’

  • DR DURRELL IS THE SUBJECT OF THE SATURDAY INTERVIEW IN TODAY’S JEP
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