FRIAS Reflections - Rita Sousa Silva

What is the extinction of a condor to a child that has never seen a wren?

If children can’t recognize the common wildlife in their neighbourhoods, why would they care about endangered species that live miles away? People care about what they know and children know more about Pokémon characters than they do about real plants and animals that live in their own backyards. Although most species edging towards extinction don’t live in cities, their future may depend in part on how well we design cities to provide for easy access to natural areas as evidence links loss of knowledge about the natural world to growing isolation from it. Where does nature play happen in today's increasingly urban world? Where can it happen? And are we working to save the species children want to protect? How do we determine which species are worth saving, and how far to go?