Aquarium President and CEO Dr. Peter Kareiva will ask, “what is nature?” and critique narrow definitions of nature that have excluded too many people and are nostalgic rather than forward-looking. He then will review the evidence for nature-human interactions being key to our mental and emotional well-being. With a more inclusive definition of nature, and a commitment to giving everyone access to nature, the label environmentalist might go extinct, and humans will all think of themselves of stewards of nature. This would be a good thing for everything from the preservation of wilderness to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It should be clear to everyone that it is “all hands on deck” in the next few years, or else “the deck” will be at the bottom of the ocean.

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