#182 - The Guy Who Plans to Buy 2.3% of The Planet (Uri Shanas)

The fires this season in Australia have claimed the lives of 29 people to date. 15 Million acres of woodland have burned in Australia. Not to mention the 4.6 million acres that have burned in America and over 2 million in Brazil. It is estimated that in Australia alone, between 500 million to one billion animals have died, including approximately half of the entire Koala population. In many cases, governments are either helpless or completely uninterested in the problem. And although it is clear that 90% of the fires are caused by people, it’s not clear if there’s something that could be done to change the situation. One thing is for certain: around the world many nations are seriously struggling to preserve nature and wildlife. In 2015, Prof. Uri Shanas of Haifa University came up with a groundbreaking idea - what if private people got together to buy a big chunk of nature, and committed to preserve it. With several partners, Uri created TiME - This is My Earth, an organisation that strives to purchase and preserve 2.3% of Earth’s entire territory. We’re happy to have Prof. Shines on the podcast today to discuss the initiative.