DiscoverE: Rescuing the Planet: An Evening with Tony Hiss

PRESENTERS: TONY HISS, AUTHOR, AND DR. DAVID KRISKA, RESTORATION ECOLOGIST
“As clear a picture of humanity’s impact on earth’s natural environment as any ever written.” —E. O. Wilson (from the Introduction)

Join the Museum’s Restoration Ecologist, Dr. David Kriska, and author Tony Hiss as they discuss Mr. Hiss’s new book, Rescuing the Planet, an urgent, resounding call to protect half the Earth’s land and a candid assessment of the health of our planet and our role in conserving it.

Approximately 60 percent of land in North America is in a natural state, but only 15 percent is permanently protected. Across the globe, perhaps 1 million animal and plant species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades, including one-third of U.S. wildlife. President Biden recently signed an executive order to conserve at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by the year 2030 (30 x ’30). Mr. Hiss outlines an even more audacious goal—50 percent protection over the next 30 years, or 50 by ’50—and suggests how we might get there. Mr. Hiss will discuss with Dr. Kriska how protecting habitat protects biodiversity and helps ensure the health of natural communities, including the human community.

Tony Hiss is the author of 15 books, including the award-winning The Experience of Place. He was a staff writer at The New Yorker for more than 30 years. Dr. David Kriska shepherds the Museum’s Natural Areas Division, which protects nearly 12,000 acres of rare habitats—and the plants and animals that call them home—on 67 nature preserves throughout Northeast Ohio.

Signed copies of Rescuing the Planet will be available to audience members through the Museum’s partnership with Loganberry Books.