Why Celebrate Endangered Species?

In this 10 Minute Tuesday, Rick discusses the reason we celebrating Endangered Species Day, and why awareness around conservation efforts really does help. He highlights the importance of community support, reaching out to law makers, and personal curiosity in protecting endangered species. Any one can help animals, nature and in turn, help all of us.

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Links mentioned in the episode:
USF&WS Endangered Species Act
Endangered Species Day website
Endangers Species Coalition members
The International Union for Conservation of Nature

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Podcast Music: Positive Carefree Folk Pop
Artist: Burgberg
Used with Full Music Standard Lic.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And so that's when I said to him it's not that we're celebrating that these animals are endangered, it is that we are celebrating Endangered Species Day to help raise awareness on how people can participate in protecting these species, whether it's in their own backyard or across the United States or across the world. I'm Rick Schwartz, educator, public speaker, and all-around curious guy. Over the years, my curiosity and experiences, along with the many people I have worked with, revealed to me we all have a desire to feel connected to the natural world. You're listening to Animals, Nature, and You, a podcast that explores a connection between animals, nature, and humans. A podcast that celebrates learning more, following our curiosity, and reconnecting with the natural world. Welcome to another 10-minute Tuesday here in Animals, Nature, and You. And of course, I'm your host, Frick Schwartz, but you probably knew that because you listened to andor saw the intro. Either way, I'm glad you're here. So today, Tuesday, when this comes out, we are nestled right between May 9th, which is World Bintrong Day that already happened, and then coming up very soon on May 15th, Endangered Species Day. And I want to take a moment to reflect back to last week's episode with Regina, where we talked about wolves, and she mentioned in there something that got a few people going, hey, wait, what? The red wolf here in the United States, it is native to the U.S. It is our wolf. Honestly, here in the U.S., it is devastating to think that they were almost erased completely. They are critically endangered and therefore considered the most endangered land mammal here in the United States and one of the most endangered land mammals on the planet, right up there with the Javan Rhino and an attics species uh that is all these numbers, all these animals, their numbers are 50 or less in their entire population. Now, the the red wolf is an exception because we do have some in zoos. There's breeding populations in zoos, so the numbers in zoos do bolster that. But when you look at what's alive in the wild today, it is ridiculously low. And a lot of people don't even know about that. And it's something that is important and of value to talk about. And that rolls us into talking about Endangered Species Day, which is a day to celebrate not the fact that these animals are endangered, but to celebrate the fact that we as humans recognize the need to protect these species. The Endangered Species Act formally came about in the 70s. Many countries already had their own version of it and or adopted their own version shortly thereafter. There's also these groups that come together, countries that come together to create laws for international trade purposes, international protections. There are laws on moving animals around from different locations, on how we can use our land because we want to be thoughtful in these other species. And it's not just, of course, as as I mean, I know I'm preaching to the choir here. It's not just let's save the species because this mouse needs to have a home too. It is part of an ecosystem. It is part of the balance of life that we all rely on for all the resources we have. So with that, I do want to offer up Endangered Species Day has its own website. It's a it's a coalition. And I'll put the links in the show notes below. But it's of value to check these things out because there are different things that are happening throughout the nation to celebrate Endangered Species Day. And the value in, even if you can't participate directly in something, the value in sharing this information, whether you share this episode or whether you share something on social media or come up with your own thing. In fact, there was even art competition for a long time. I think it might still be going on for Endangered Species Day. Even if you can't join the art competition, what if you and the kids or the neighbors or just yourself even did some art for Endangered Species Day and posted it? What species is on the Endangered Species list that you want to participate in taking care of? And then here also on my on my website here, on my computer, excuse me, I have right here the Endangered Species Coalition has an area where you can click down and see member organizations. And this is so cool because when you click on that, you can then find something in your state, in your area that sure it could be an accredited zoo, but there are also other organizations doing great and amazing work. State agencies, county agencies, city agencies, small nonprofits that are participating in harboring safe space for endangered species. Whether it's a plant or an animal or somewhere in between a nature space. These things are all important. And one other thing that came up when talking with Regina was the importance of speaking up. Not just speaking up like, hey, we need to protect these, but then also cheering on and positively reinforcing those that are doing that work. Let them know this is an opportunity to go to that website, find some group or something that you are passionate about that you can partner with, support, cheer on from the sidelines, reinforce the behavior that this is important. And the other side of it too, again, we look at what's going on in the world today and we see we're losing a lot of our protected spaces. These spaces are important not only for us to go out and enjoy, but also to protect what's left of our natural habitats. And often I will hear, well, just stay out of politics. You know, you take care of wildlife, you take care of animals, you can teach people about wildlife, you teach people about conservation, stay out of politics. No, I'm sorry, but politics have come into play because here's the deal when we talk about things like the Endangered Species Act, we talk about laws that are in place to protect habitat, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, plants, these laws aren't just there to protect them, they're there to protect us. And without those laws in place, when someone does nefarious behavior, whatever it might be, that damages, pollutes, or otherwise puts in danger critically endangered species, if those laws aren't there, we have no recourse to prevent this from happening further or more or again. The laws are in place, it allows us to make sure that these people can be held accountable for their actions and we can maintain the safe spaces for this type of wildlife that's critically endangered or just endangered or even vulnerable. So I want to encourage you for Endangered Species Day, find an organization that you can support. That support can be just cheering them on from the sidelines. That support can be sharing their content and what they do with your friends and neighbors on social media or however you want to. Pick a species off the endangered species list that you think is cool, create some artwork and share that with your friends and neighbors. Hold that out your window, any of it. Just help drive awareness, raise your own awareness, educate yourself, get curious. Someone called me out on one of my videos, uh, I think it was last week. They said, Oh, curiosity is your superpower or something like that. And they thought it was funny, but but it's true. That's my skill. That's what I have, and this was given me the opportunity to learn so much. And I want to encourage you to get curious about what species are right in your own backyard that might be endangered. Is it a butterfly? Is it a bird? Is it a reptile or a mammal or a type of plant? And if not in your own backyard, one that just strikes your passion and gets you excited, that motivates you to want to do more for that species, because that's what we need to do. We need to have that passion for us to take action usually. It really helps. Curiosity helps drive that passion too. And when you can share that excitement you have, well, other people get attached to that too. They say they recognize that energy. Like, hey, I feel that way too, or I feel that way about this worm, but you feel that way about that frog. But we can get together and talk about worms and frogs and maybe they share habitat. I don't know. But the point being is I really want you to get engaged and do more. Whether you share these episodes that we put out here on Animals, Nature, and You, or whether you take advantage of the fact that Endangered Species Day is coming up in a few days and you can participate. I don't care either way, but I do want you to know that as you do get curious and do learn more, many species or things, whatever it might be, do you come across? There's some pretty hard stories. There are things like the Red Wolf, where numbers have gone up in the wild and gone back down due to people hunting or mistaking them for coyotes or whatever it might be. There are people out there poaching rhinos. There are people out there shooting birds because it's fun target practice. There are people tearing up land to develop it or to mine it or to drill for oil or whatever it might be. There's a lot of hard stories out there. But also with those hard stories are successes. There are plenty of animals you can look at. The alligator was almost lost. The American alligator was almost completely lost due to overhunting. The bald eagle was almost lost due to chemical pollutions and DDT. Things like the Endangered Species Act, laws similar to those that helped start the Endangered Species Act, prevented the loss of those species and allowed us to make subtle changes. Now they're off the Endangered Species list. Those are just two short examples, but I want you to know as you look at what's going on right now, think about what it was like in the past for other species, and paint that picture in your mind that if we take action, if we stay strong in making sure we protect these animals, educate others, share our passion, we can have a positive impact. We can make a sweet, sweet difference, not only for these animals, but for ourselves, to the point where the next generation may not even realize we almost lost them. I know kids today they see bald eagles, no big deal, but I remember a time where we thought maybe we're gonna lose them all together. So with all of that in mind, hang on just for another moment for me, if you will. I do want to ask you a really big favor. If you have been listening for a while or just started listening and you're finding these episodes interesting or enjoyable, would you mind doing me a big solid favor? Would you mind leaving a review where you're listening or watching? If you're on YouTube, you can leave a comment or hit subscribe, whatever it might be. If you're on Apple or Spotify, I think you can leave a review. Now, these things don't bump the algorithm, they don't promote this at all, but it does help people when they're searching for content they might be interested in. When doing a keyword search, if this podcast comes up in front of them and they see other people have left reviews or stars, they're more apt to check it out. Whereas if there aren't any there or there are too few, they might move on to something else thinking, well, not too many people are engaging with it. It's just it's just a fun little thing you could do as a solid favor if you've been enjoying these episodes to help other people realize that you're enjoying these episodes and they might enjoy it too. So, with that, if you do want to get a hold of me, there's the fan mail link, which is the very first link wherever you're listening to the podcast, or of course, in the show notes, you along with all the links I mentioned today with the Danger Species Act and everything else, you can also find my website, zoologyrick.com or any of my social media handles, Zoology Rick, on just about every platform that I'm on. And with that, I'm gonna wrap it up by reminding you if you haven't already, hit subscribe or follow wherever you're listening or watching, because that way you won't miss any upcoming episodes. Every Tuesday, 10 minute Tuesdays like today, every Thursday, interviews with awesome people doing awesome work because you wouldn't want to miss that. All right, let's wrap this up. Have a good one, everybody.