The threat to the world’s biodiversity is something that has been hammered into everybody’s brains from a young age. Save the whales! Save the Rainforest! Save the Polar Bears! Save the Earth! These cries are heard and agreed upon everywhere in the world. And with so many films, books, and reports acting as a call to action against threats to the environment and various ecosystems, how can people not take notice of Mother Nature’s “disappearing act”? And yet, as mentioned by Wade Davis, few people know about the drastic loss of cultural diversity that is happening across the globe. The biggest way that this can be seen is with the number of endangered languages present in the world today. According to the Smithsonian One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage Festival, “of the more than 7,000 languages spoken in the world today – many of them unrecorded – up to half may disappear in this century. If half of the world’s diverse ecosystems were set to vanish within the century, there would be mass outrage and a mad scramble to stop such a prophecy from coming true. Yet, with this statement as a reality for many cultures, so many people of the world do not even have a clue.
Yet, the disappearance of many languages and cultures can be directly related to the issues of biodiversity. The threat of urbanization, and the subsequent loss of habitats, affects the people and cultures living in those habitats as much as it affects the animal and plant life living there as well. For example, in the TED video, Davis talks about the Penan people, who were forced out of their homes due to the deforestation of the jungles that they lived in. Likewise as urbanization occurs, and a select number of cultures dominate the scene, many languages are suppressed and replaced by the dominant language. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were originally some 250 indigenous languages present in the country. Now that number has decreased to only about 145 languages still spoken today. However, less than 20 languages are still strong languages, “in the sense that they are still spoken by all generations”. Much of the 100 some languages that have disappeared were replaced by English, spoken by the original English colonizers.
“We believe that politicians will never accomplish anything”, said Davis in the TED video, Dreams from Endangered Cultures. Davis says that politicians are not persuasive enough. That it is the storytellers that ultimately hold the power in changing the world. And in some ways, he is not wrong. There is a reason that it is films and books like “Silent Spring” and “Planet Earth” are able to incite the reactions needed to create a mass movement towards a greener world. Magazines, like National Geographic, are able to weave a story about far-off people and cultures that entertains at the same time that it informs and enlightens.
But, unlike Davis, I do not believe that the politicians are unable to instigate change. The governments have to be as actively involved in protecting indigenous cultures as the people are. And with the people and the state working together, it is possible to reverse the “inevitable” extinction of the languages and cultures. In Australia, there are a number of programs seeking to protect and preserve the indigenous languages. There are now schools that offer indigenous language programs to students, both native and non-native. More and more people are researching, recording, and analyzing the endangered languages. The Australian government seeks to present a united front, at the same time protecting the cultural diversity of the people. So, yes, politicians are not storytellers, but they are still effective in promoting change, and preserving cultural diversity. This is not something we can rely solely on the storytellers for.
Yet, the disappearance of many languages and cultures can be directly related to the issues of biodiversity. The threat of urbanization, and the subsequent loss of habitats, affects the people and cultures living in those habitats as much as it affects the animal and plant life living there as well. For example, in the TED video, Davis talks about the Penan people, who were forced out of their homes due to the deforestation of the jungles that they lived in. Likewise as urbanization occurs, and a select number of cultures dominate the scene, many languages are suppressed and replaced by the dominant language. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were originally some 250 indigenous languages present in the country. Now that number has decreased to only about 145 languages still spoken today. However, less than 20 languages are still strong languages, “in the sense that they are still spoken by all generations”. Much of the 100 some languages that have disappeared were replaced by English, spoken by the original English colonizers.
“We believe that politicians will never accomplish anything”, said Davis in the TED video, Dreams from Endangered Cultures. Davis says that politicians are not persuasive enough. That it is the storytellers that ultimately hold the power in changing the world. And in some ways, he is not wrong. There is a reason that it is films and books like “Silent Spring” and “Planet Earth” are able to incite the reactions needed to create a mass movement towards a greener world. Magazines, like National Geographic, are able to weave a story about far-off people and cultures that entertains at the same time that it informs and enlightens.
But, unlike Davis, I do not believe that the politicians are unable to instigate change. The governments have to be as actively involved in protecting indigenous cultures as the people are. And with the people and the state working together, it is possible to reverse the “inevitable” extinction of the languages and cultures. In Australia, there are a number of programs seeking to protect and preserve the indigenous languages. There are now schools that offer indigenous language programs to students, both native and non-native. More and more people are researching, recording, and analyzing the endangered languages. The Australian government seeks to present a united front, at the same time protecting the cultural diversity of the people. So, yes, politicians are not storytellers, but they are still effective in promoting change, and preserving cultural diversity. This is not something we can rely solely on the storytellers for.