I was excited to finally be able to interview Simon Mustoe after three years our initial effort. I think he presents a very important perspective of importance of animals to land, water and climate – Alpha Lo, The Climate Water Project.
There is traditional, simplistic view often held, that says climate sets the stage for the water cycle, the water cycle sets the stage for vegetation, and vegetation sets the stage for animals. In recent decades there has been a perspectival shift and en largening, in that much more work on how vegetation also affects the water cycle and climate in turn. Simon Mustoe has been putting forward yet a further perspectival shift, and that is that animals are the key regulators of vegetation, the water cycle, and climate itself. I like his ability to frame this and emphasise its importance. He has also been putting these ideas into action, as he goes into different bioregions facilitating the community to self-empower themselves into doing ecological restoration.
Simon Mustoe argues in his book Wildlife in the Balance that animals, not just plants or physical processes, are the essential engineers of a habitable Earth. He makes the case that humanity’s survival now depends on shifting our relationship with wildlife from one of domination to one of cooperation, treating conservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More not as a moral extra but as a practical necessity. Despite the scale of our crisis, the book is quite hopeful, it frames restoration as achievable and even fast-acting rather than a lost cause …
To read the transcript and find out more, visit https://climatewaterproject.substack.com/p/animals-regulate-water-land-and-climate
My thanks go to Alpha Lo of the Climate Water Project for a lovely chat.
