[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
you
[Music]
[Applause]
how many of you care about the planet
and environment please raise your hands
well that’s almost everybody so I think
we don’t need to close the doors in 1987
something amazing happened
46 Nations came together and at the same
roof and made a decision that would
change the fate of the planet and save
the environment and millions of lives
they all signed what’s called the
Montreal Protocol and under this
agreement they all decided to reduce
their impact on the environment and stop
polluting the atmosphere with chemicals
that destroy the ozone layer now this
was a very important decision because
the ozone layer protects us against the
harmful radiation of the Sun and when
the ozone layer becomes thinner and
thinner this leads to devastating
effects because more solar radiation
into Earth’s surface and then we have
higher rates of skin cancer it also
reduces the efficiency of plant growth
and it even effects sensitive creatures
that are present underwater marine life
and this was a very important decision
that was made around three decades ago
this year we learned that the ozone
layer is healing it is recovering it’s
getting back to normal and it will
continue to protect us against solar
radiation this was by far the best news
we have learned this year so far but the
real question is how do you bring all
these nations together so far there are
around 200 nations that have signed this
treaty so more and more nations continue
to join and now we have around 200
nation
so what does it take to really bring all
these nations together well the answer
is science in 1970s scientists
discovered that the ozone layer was
depleting but they were not sure about
that so they needed a proof they
conducted extensive research and they
confirmed by 1980s that the ozone layer
was actually depleting and that we
needed to take a stand and that was the
reason the Montreal Protocol was born
now if science wasn’t involved probably
nobody would care the ozone layer would
continue to be destroyed by these
chemicals and we would all suffer the
consequences science is not only a way
for us to get to know about the universe
about ourselves our bodies biology
chemistry and physics it’s not just a
way to create gadgets and technologies
that are important and make our lives
easier it’s also a way to bring people
together and this is the best example
when science or scientists and decision
makers come together and we base our
decisions on science we can accomplish
great things now imagine if we replicate
this exact model we could solve many
other problems climate change plastic
trash and the mass extinction of other
animal species in December 2015
around 200 nations signed what’s called
the Paris climate agreement you probably
have heard a lot about it in the news
and under this agreement they decided
that they would also take a stand
against climate change they would reduce
the emission of carbon dioxide which is
harming the environment and many of them
are already taking some decisions these
countries have decided to ban cars that
run on fossil fuels and this is a very
good initiative it’s very encouraging
although the Paris climate agreement is
just
two years old almost in just a few
decades we might see positive results
just like we saw with the ozone layer in
fact nations are not only burning fossil
based cars but they’re also switching
completely to renewable energy this was
one of the commitments that they have
made thanks to the Paris climate
agreement and what led to the birth of
Paris climate agreement science if we
didn’t continue to study the atmosphere
or impact in the environment we wouldn’t
have learned and nothing would have been
done but it’s all thanks to the power of
science the second problem that we could
solve if we follow the same protocol is
plastic trash by 2050 it’s expected that
the world’s oceans will have more
plastic than fish that’s devastating
since the 1950s
we have produced 9 billion tons of
plastic and 91 percent of that is not
recycled so where does it go it goes to
landfills and it also goes to the oceans
where it impact marine life coral reef
and also enters into our food chain now
remember we don’t want to destroy coral
reef because marine plants are
responsible for 81 percent of our oxygen
so if we destroy them by plastic and
plastic has been shown to destroy marine
life then we’re going to lose a very
important source of oxygen and if that
wasn’t devastating enough recent studies
have shown that salt which we eat
contains microplastic which enters into
your central nervous system and causes
devastating damage so we’re not only
contaminating the environment and
putting trash into the food chain of
other creatures we’re also eating our
garbage and that’s why we have to find a
way through a Montreal Protocol like
scenario
where we can solve this problem in 2017
once again all the nations took a
decision and they decided to ban plastic
at some point one thing that I need to
mention is that 1 million seabirds and
100,000 marine animals are affected by
plastic trash now these animals don’t
speak for themselves so science is there
scientists are there to continue to
study do the statistics we learn and
these statistics are very important to
influence decision-making and when we
make science-based decisions we can
definitely win so many countries under
the United Nations decided in 2017 that
they would also do something about
plastic trash so we are heading towards
the right direction
it’s still too early to say but maybe
just like fixing the ozone layer in just
a few short years we will be completely
eliminating the problem of plastic trash
from the ocean but we might not need to
be optimistic because for a single
plastic bag it would take 1,000 years
you know for it to decompose so it’s
gonna take a long time size is also
providing solutions biodegradable
plastic is already available but it’s
expensive scientists are working on new
ways to make it cheaper scientists are
also creating new enzymes that can eat
plastic a lot faster so as you can see
when we embrace science we don’t only
get to know about the source of the
problem it also offers us solutions
effective solutions the third problem
that we can fix by embracing
science-based decision-making is the
mass extinction of other animal species
we are now according to scientists
entering the sixth mass extinction so
far 5 happened on the planet and now we
are responsible for causing the sixth
one we are changing the environment
faster than these animals can adopt
urbanization deforestation we are
expending our presence at the expense of
these poor creatures and it’s our
responsibility to save them so imagine
if we had a scenario like the Montreal
Protocol and in just a few years maybe
we could restore and recover the
biodiversity that we have destroyed in
the past years well we could do to save
animals is been trophy hunting did you
know that some governments give you a
permit so you can go out and hunt
animals and these are animals that are
actually endangered and that’s the
problem
imagine if we have a Montreal Protocol
but only for animals we could force
these nations to stop doing something
like that we could also protect the
environment of these animals and I
believe we are already doing something
about that the agreement that was done
for climate change and plastic trash
these are encouraging steps to protect
the natural habitats of these animals
scientists are now also creating DNA
Bank you take the sequence of the animal
the DNA sequence and you store it in a
bank it’s a digital sequence so that in
the future you can clone that animal
it’s great but this should be our last
resort and it’s also important to
educate people about the importance of
keeping a balanced ecosystem and the
importance of maintaining a healthy
planet not just for us but also for
other creatures because this planet does
not only belong to us
it belongs to all creatures so as you
can see there are many benefits for
making decisions on the basis of science
first science helps us identify the core
source of the problem and then it
when we implement these solutions we get
effective results and this is why we
should all embrace science-based
decisions in all our aspects of life so
here we have the perfect example for
solving many of our problems the
Montreal Protocol the ozone layer is
healing it’s getting thicker and thicker
protecting us against harmful radiation
very encouraging but we need to adopt
the same for other problems that we have
and it’s not just about global
science-based decision-making you as an
individual you should also not make
decisions until you have learned
everything learn the science behind
everything vaccines
genetically modified food climate change
many people make a stand without even
learning it’s a decision and your
decision as an individual is part of a
decision of a community and it affects
the globe so we all have to embrace
science based decision making if we
really want to make a difference in our
world and our environment and our personal lives thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
you
[Music]
[Applause]
how many of you care about the planet
and environment please raise your hands
well that’s almost everybody so I think
we don’t need to close the doors in 1987
something amazing happened
46 Nations came together and at the same
roof and made a decision that would
change the fate of the planet and save
the environment and millions of lives
they all signed what’s called the
Montreal Protocol and under this
agreement they all decided to reduce
their impact on the environment and stop
polluting the atmosphere with chemicals
that destroy the ozone layer now this
was a very important decision because
the ozone layer protects us against the
harmful radiation of the Sun and when
the ozone layer becomes thinner and
thinner this leads to devastating
effects because more solar radiation
into Earth’s surface and then we have
higher rates of skin cancer it also
reduces the efficiency of plant growth
and it even effects sensitive creatures
that are present underwater marine life
and this was a very important decision
that was made around three decades ago
this year we learned that the ozone
layer is healing it is recovering it’s
getting back to normal and it will
continue to protect us against solar
radiation this was by far the best news
we have learned this year so far but the
real question is how do you bring all
these nations together so far there are
around 200 nations that have signed this
treaty so more and more nations continue
to join and now we have around 200
nation
so what does it take to really bring all
these nations together well the answer
is science in 1970s scientists
discovered that the ozone layer was
depleting but they were not sure about
that so they needed a proof they
conducted extensive research and they
confirmed by 1980s that the ozone layer
was actually depleting and that we
needed to take a stand and that was the
reason the Montreal Protocol was born
now if science wasn’t involved probably
nobody would care the ozone layer would
continue to be destroyed by these
chemicals and we would all suffer the
consequences science is not only a way
for us to get to know about the universe
about ourselves our bodies biology
chemistry and physics it’s not just a
way to create gadgets and technologies
that are important and make our lives
easier it’s also a way to bring people
together and this is the best example
when science or scientists and decision
makers come together and we base our
decisions on science we can accomplish
great things now imagine if we replicate
this exact model we could solve many
other problems climate change plastic
trash and the mass extinction of other
animal species in December 2015
around 200 nations signed what’s called
the Paris climate agreement you probably
have heard a lot about it in the news
and under this agreement they decided
that they would also take a stand
against climate change they would reduce
the emission of carbon dioxide which is
harming the environment and many of them
are already taking some decisions these
countries have decided to ban cars that
run on fossil fuels and this is a very
good initiative it’s very encouraging
although the Paris climate agreement is
just
two years old almost in just a few
decades we might see positive results
just like we saw with the ozone layer in
fact nations are not only burning fossil
based cars but they’re also switching
completely to renewable energy this was
one of the commitments that they have
made thanks to the Paris climate
agreement and what led to the birth of
Paris climate agreement science if we
didn’t continue to study the atmosphere
or impact in the environment we wouldn’t
have learned and nothing would have been
done but it’s all thanks to the power of
science the second problem that we could
solve if we follow the same protocol is
plastic trash by 2050 it’s expected that
the world’s oceans will have more
plastic than fish that’s devastating
since the 1950s
we have produced 9 billion tons of
plastic and 91 percent of that is not
recycled so where does it go it goes to
landfills and it also goes to the oceans
where it impact marine life coral reef
and also enters into our food chain now
remember we don’t want to destroy coral
reef because marine plants are
responsible for 81 percent of our oxygen
so if we destroy them by plastic and
plastic has been shown to destroy marine
life then we’re going to lose a very
important source of oxygen and if that
wasn’t devastating enough recent studies
have shown that salt which we eat
contains microplastic which enters into
your central nervous system and causes
devastating damage so we’re not only
contaminating the environment and
putting trash into the food chain of
other creatures we’re also eating our
garbage and that’s why we have to find a
way through a Montreal Protocol like
scenario
where we can solve this problem in 2017
once again all the nations took a
decision and they decided to ban plastic
at some point one thing that I need to
mention is that 1 million seabirds and
100,000 marine animals are affected by
plastic trash now these animals don’t
speak for themselves so science is there
scientists are there to continue to
study do the statistics we learn and
these statistics are very important to
influence decision-making and when we
make science-based decisions we can
definitely win so many countries under
the United Nations decided in 2017 that
they would also do something about
plastic trash so we are heading towards
the right direction
it’s still too early to say but maybe
just like fixing the ozone layer in just
a few short years we will be completely
eliminating the problem of plastic trash
from the ocean but we might not need to
be optimistic because for a single
plastic bag it would take 1,000 years
you know for it to decompose so it’s
gonna take a long time size is also
providing solutions biodegradable
plastic is already available but it’s
expensive scientists are working on new
ways to make it cheaper scientists are
also creating new enzymes that can eat
plastic a lot faster so as you can see
when we embrace science we don’t only
get to know about the source of the
problem it also offers us solutions
effective solutions the third problem
that we can fix by embracing
science-based decision-making is the
mass extinction of other animal species
we are now according to scientists
entering the sixth mass extinction so
far 5 happened on the planet and now we
are responsible for causing the sixth
one we are changing the environment
faster than these animals can adopt
urbanization deforestation we are
expending our presence at the expense of
these poor creatures and it’s our
responsibility to save them so imagine
if we had a scenario like the Montreal
Protocol and in just a few years maybe
we could restore and recover the
biodiversity that we have destroyed in
the past years well we could do to save
animals is been trophy hunting did you
know that some governments give you a
permit so you can go out and hunt
animals and these are animals that are
actually endangered and that’s the
problem
imagine if we have a Montreal Protocol
but only for animals we could force
these nations to stop doing something
like that we could also protect the
environment of these animals and I
believe we are already doing something
about that the agreement that was done
for climate change and plastic trash
these are encouraging steps to protect
the natural habitats of these animals
scientists are now also creating DNA
Bank you take the sequence of the animal
the DNA sequence and you store it in a
bank it’s a digital sequence so that in
the future you can clone that animal
it’s great but this should be our last
resort and it’s also important to
educate people about the importance of
keeping a balanced ecosystem and the
importance of maintaining a healthy
planet not just for us but also for
other creatures because this planet does
not only belong to us
it belongs to all creatures so as you
can see there are many benefits for
making decisions on the basis of science
first science helps us identify the core
source of the problem and then it
when we implement these solutions we get
effective results and this is why we
should all embrace science-based
decisions in all our aspects of life so
here we have the perfect example for
solving many of our problems the
Montreal Protocol the ozone layer is
healing it’s getting thicker and thicker
protecting us against harmful radiation
very encouraging but we need to adopt
the same for other problems that we have
and it’s not just about global
science-based decision-making you as an
individual you should also not make
decisions until you have learned
everything learn the science behind
everything vaccines
genetically modified food climate change
many people make a stand without even
learning it’s a decision and your
decision as an individual is part of a
decision of a community and it affects
the globe so we all have to embrace
science based decision making if we
really want to make a difference in our
world and our environment and our personal lives thank you
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