How to limit your impact on biodiversity

Brut America

Spending time in nature, avoiding plastic, planting seeds to provide food for insects... Here's how we can limit our impact on biodiversity.    Episode 7 of our series of stories on eco-citizen initiatives with French author Julien Vidal.

Transcript

00:00Today, in the world, every 20 minutes there is an animal or plant species that disappears

00:05and facing this 6th mass extinction, we all have a role to play.

00:19The first lever that we citizens have to protect biodiversity is our food.

00:23Unfortunately, not everyone has access to a local organic grocery store.

00:27So we're going to show you a few simple gestures to change your habits, even in a supermarket.

00:40Who says struggle to preserve biodiversity says eradicate completely the pesticides of our diet.

00:45So an organic diet, but also a diet without plastic.

00:49And for that, we can privilege our own plastic bags and necessarily go to a local and seasonal diet.

00:58Here, it's the season of artichokes. Why deprive yourself?

01:08There is another place in our plate where we can have a significant action.

01:11It's at the level of meat and fish.

01:13You should know that two-thirds of the food we grow goes to cattle.

01:18My choice to reduce this pressure on biodiversity is to be vegetarian.

01:22If for you it is still impossible, what I advise you is the least but best.

01:26And for the labels, do not hesitate to go see your butcher and your fishmonger who really know their stuff.

01:33Who says biodiversity necessarily says palm oil, which is one of the first causes of deforestation in the world.

01:38And we're lucky in France, we have excellent alternatives that favor bees.

01:42This is the case of French and organic honey.

01:45And if you can't get enough, there are more and more alternatives that are organic and without palm oil.

01:54This shows the growing interest of the French for this type of product.

02:07So yes, we have to reduce our impact and that goes through the modification of our diet.

02:12But there is also the question of recreating the link.

02:14And because we always better protect what we know, let's observe this nature.

02:20Julie, hello.

02:21Hello.

02:22You are the coordinator in charge of the Observatory of Biodiversity at the NOE association.

02:27And I have a lot of questions for you.

02:28OK, let's go.

02:29Are you taking me?

02:30Yes.

02:31Come on.

02:35Your mission is to recreate this link between the living being and nature, I have the impression.

02:39Yes, absolutely.

02:40We really have this desire to reconnect man to nature through participatory research.

02:45Yes.

02:46So that people reappropriate nature, species, whether in the forest, in their garden, we can observe biodiversity.

02:53And so participatory research is used for that.

02:56In fact, we will observe species and we will send the information to the National Museum of Natural History.

03:01So the research that will be able to follow the evolution of the populations of these species.

03:07We are still here to observe.

03:09I downloaded the tools that you put available on the Internet.

03:13Great.

03:14So you see, look, I came ready.

03:16There is a whole reference of the butterflies that we can see.

03:20And so there is a counting sheet, right?

03:23Exactly.

03:24Exactly.

03:25So these are the tools that are available on the site to help you.

03:28So already to recognize the butterflies, because there are still 26 species in the observatory.

03:32Yes.

03:33And then we take our sheet and then we go to our garden or to a public garden and we will start making observations.

03:38This is typically a great activity, I imagine, to do with children on the weekend.

03:42We're going for a walk in a park or even as a family.

03:45We are in the garden, we take out the sheet.

03:47We don't have to dedicate a whole day to it.

03:49Exactly.

03:50It can be, we spend the time we want, in fact.

03:52We will observe when we want, when we want.

03:54With children, it is true that it is a very good activity.

03:56It works very well.

04:00Maybe.

04:01Come on, go ahead.

04:05It's frustrating.

04:06There are lots of plants, we see a lot of things and we can't find any butterflies.

04:10Well, it's time.

04:11After what I was saying, in the rainy season, we can try to find more snails.

04:15Well, snails, look.

04:16There is one there.

04:17And there.

04:18Great.

04:19You have the snail poster, right?

04:20Yes, the poster.

04:21So here we can recognize them thanks to their shells, for example.

04:24This one, look.

04:25I had a little apprehension, participatory science.

04:27We imagine that it is complicated, that you have to have a bit of an expert's eye.

04:31And everyone can do it.

04:32You just have to walk around in a natural environment and have the patience, the curiosity

04:38to simply observe one species, two species, three species.

04:42And it's super well explained with a whole bunch of tools, maps, etc.

04:47And so, we are still a little confronted with the miracle of life, which is completely unpredictable.

04:52We don't see all the time everything we have come to observe, in fact.

04:55Is it serious?

04:56No, no, it's not serious.

04:57It's even important, since it's called zero data.

04:59The fact that we don't see a butterfly is also information for research.

05:02Often, we will want to note that when we see one, but when we don't see one, it's also a data.

05:07What we did here was useless.

05:09No, no, no, never.

05:10But there is also an interest in being connected with nature.

05:13We were able to enjoy, observe the plants around us.

05:15It's always important.

05:16Well, I thank you for your time.

05:18And then we will continue to observe this nature.

05:20Thank you very much.

05:21See you next time.

05:22Bye.

05:23Bye.

05:27So, we saw how to limit the footprint we had on biodiversity through our feeding.

05:37We saw how to recreate the link to the living by going for a walk in nature.

05:41Final advice, we will see how to regenerate the ecosystems.

05:44Whether you're in the countryside or in town, you can plant mellifera seeds everywhere you can to feed the insects.

05:51Today, thanks to the Association Agir pour l'Environnement, I have access to a small

05:59bag of mellifer seeds.

06:01It's a campaign called Zone de Bz and there have been thousands of bags of seeds

06:06all over France that citizens will be able to use, like me today with my gardener.

06:10Finally, those who best summarize the situation in which we find ourselves are the students

06:21who are on strike for the climate and they say, we are the nature that defends itself

06:25because changing its world is changing the world and participating in the construction

06:29of a better world, it starts with me.

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