Let’s analyze Suzanne Simard and Munir Virani’s Ted Talks.

In “How Trees Talk to Each Other”, a Ted Talk by Suzanne Simard, I learnt that in the last decade, Canada has had the highest forest disturbance rate of any country worldwide. I believe that I now have increased interest in trees, specifically in Canada. Much like the dog that fell in the pit and inspired her to study trees, this made me more interested in studying and understanding the importance of forest ecosystems in Canada. I was amazed at how the different species could communicate with each other. But not with all trees, the cedar would not participate in this discourse. She had uncovered how certain trees could “talk” to each other and share resources. These findings of Suzanne Simard cause me to reflect that trees are living just like humans and can communicate with each other. I find it easy to forget that trees are living beings too! This made me realize how silly that is.

After watching “Why I Love Vultures”, by Munir Virani, I was reminded that it is the role that an organism plays in an ecosystem that defines it’s importance. Our perception of the animal should have no part in this evaluation of importance. This talk only strengthened my ecocentric views. I consider myself lucky enough to have seen Kenyan vultures myself when my family and I went to visit Kenya. I was disgusted to learn that, just because some people do not find vultures attractive, they try to poison the vultures. The speaker also demonstrated the effects that vulture extinction would have on an entire country and its ecosystems.

I believe that the most important aspects of nature and biodiversity are forest ecosystems. Forest ecosystems provide shelter and food for other organisms, store carbon, store water and also produce oxygen. To help protect forest ecosystems in Canada, it is important to educate people regarding the benefits of forests. Individuals may also write letters to governments and to logging companies, advocating to end clear cutting in forests. People also must respect and be aware of the impacts of their individual actions. For example, individuals must respect forest by not indiscriminately cutting trees or using harmful chemicals in or around sensitive forest ecosystems