On April 19th 2016 at 9:30am we gathered with our members, The Toronto Zoo, Bullfrog Power, and TREC Education to celebrate the groundbreaking of the ZooShare biogas plant. Speakers included the Minister of Energy, Bob Chiarelli, the Chair of the Toronto Zoo board, Councilor Raymond Cho, and the CEO of Bullfrog Power, Ron Seftel. Media at the event included Global News, CityNews, The National Post, The Scarborough Mirror and more!
The event was held at the ZooShare site, on the east side of Meadowvale Road, across from the Toronto Zoo.
It was a great turn out!
Paul Ungerman, ZooShare’s Board Chair, was the MC for the event. “We’ve all come here today, during the start of Earth Week, to mark the start of construction of our 500 KW community owned biogas plant, right here at the Toronto Zoo…Thank you. Thank you for your support, commitment and help in reaching this major milestone…It’s not often an easy choice to invest with your heart, but we’re really glad you made it.”
Ontario’s Minister of Energy, Bob Chiarelli, congratulated ZooShare on their project, saying the plant was part of a province-wide shift to renewable energies. “You’re showing leadership, you’re showing excitement for the community, you’re giving new life to the zoo,” he said. [Source: http://goo.gl/k8rbSJ]
Councillor Raymond Cho, Chair of the Toronto Zoo board, said the biogas plant off Meadowvale Road perfectly fits the zoo’s strategy of turning itself into a conservation centre of excellence. [source: http://goo.gl/k8rbSJ]
Ron Seftel, CEO of Bullfrog Power (our Education Sponsor) said “We really believe it’s the way of the future.”
From left to right: John Tracogna (CEO of The Toronto Zoo), Councillor Raymond Cho (Toronto Zoo Board Chair), Ron Seftel (CEO of Bullfrog Power), Minister of Energy Bob Chiarelli, Paul Ungerman (ZooShare Board Chair), Daniel Bida (ZooShare ED) and Toronto Zoo Board members Paul Doyle and Councillor Paul Ainslie.
ZooShare members lined up for their big media-moment.
ZooShare members, family and friends, gather around a pile of what will soon be one of the ZooShare biogas plant’s by-products: a high nutrient fertilizer created from zoo poo.
A pile of compost lit up by the morning sun. (It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky.)
ZooShare’s Executive Director Daniel Bida and ZooShare’s Sales and Marketing Manager Frances Darwin, dig in.
A manure truck leaves the ZooShare site, soon to be back with fresh ingredients for the compost…By the end of the year, the manure will be fuel for the ZooShare biogas plant.
Executed Connection Cost Agreement with Toronto Hydro
Continued progress in our pursuit of additional feedstock, with positive movement on 2 different fronts, and can see a path to executing the appropriate agreements.
Continued progress in our negotiations to sign a binding turnkey design/build/finance contract
Bond Sales
As of May 9th, we had sold $433,600 of the 5% bonds, which are currently sitting in an escrow account awaiting the completion of construction.
If you would like to invest in the latest bond offering, please fill out the form here (if you you a ZooShare member, make sure to check the “Yes, I’ve paid my ZooShare membership fee” box).
We attended a number of events this past month, in addition to leveraging the amazing media attention received at the Groundbreaking Ceremony. ZooShare was featured on City TV, CP24, Global News, CBC, and Yahoo! Canada, among others – which caused a spike in website traffic, Facebook engagement and bond sales, exactly what we were hoping would happen. Building off this momentum and continuing to grow our database of potential investors, we hosted a booth at Seedy Saturday in Scarborough, the Green Living Show and the Zoo Earth Day Festival. We plan on attending a fair number of farmers markets and street festivals around the GTA this summer with the help of students and volunteers to keep the momentum going.
Feedstock
Nothing significant to report on this front other than progress – conversations with waste producers and haulers continued and have been positive in tone, and have also included a couple that control transfer station capacity equipped with de-packaging equipment. As discussed in the past, this transfer station capacity is key, as we cannot deploy this equipment on site, and almost all available waste is in a package or a bag. With a contractual relationship with a transfer station owner, we can serve our current partners and/or take on others that can provide our needs. We are heartened that all of these conversations include the counter-party highlighting our terrific location, which continues to get more valuable as fuel costs increase and we get closer to a potential ban on organics going to landfills. Without being able to disclose the details, we see a path towards signing the feedstock supply contracts we need for a sufficient term to secure long term project financing.
Design and Construction
As previously communicated, the 30% project design and drawings have been completed and building permit applications have been submitted to the respective authorities. We have also met with and received comments from the City, the Zoo and TRCA about the designs, and the appropriate responses have been prepared. The turnkey contract continues to be our primary focus, but disappointingly, it is not yet ready for signing. We continue to work on it, and are confident that this issue will be resolved in the coming weeks, without causing significant delays to our construction schedule.
Right now, we are facing a decision that will affect Toronto for the next 50 years. How will we deal with the city’s waste?
A future vision of Toronto. Credit: Flickr/Daniel Calero Jimenez 2014
Over the next 6 months, members of the public and city councillors alike will discuss and debate the fate of Toronto’s waste via the proposed Long Term Waste Management Strategy. At ZooShare, we firmly believe that there is no such thing as “waste”, only wasted resources. But how does a city like Toronto implement this philosophy into a 50-year plan?
A Zero Waste future is “a future where there is no waste, where everything is designed to be reused or to become the materials and resources to create something new”.1 As you know, at ZooShare we’ll be doing just that. There are other local examples too: Take our former contest partners Furniture Bank and/or Toronto Tool Library (read more about each of us in the report). We are all examples of local businesses participating in the circular economy, “where unwanted materials are not disposed in a landfill or incinerator, but…keep valuable resources circulating in the local economy, supporting good green jobs, benefitting the community and reducing harmful environmental impacts”.2
Credit: Toronto Environmental Alliance “Zero Waste Toronto A Vision for Our City” 2016 Page 7
But Toronto still has a ways to go. According to TEA’s report, a lot less could be going to landfills, especially organic waste (food, plant and yard waste). Despite the Green Bin and Yard Composing programmes, 182,000 tonnes of organics are still put in the garbage and sent to the landfill each year!4 This is why waste Education and Effective Communications is one of the priorities outlined in TEA’s report.
Credit: Toronto Environmental Alliance “Zero Waste Toronto A Vision for Our City” 2016 Page 15
Toronto is ready to take the next step towards a zero-waste future. As outlined in TEA’s report: “We have the programs and infrastructure to reduce, reuse and recycle almost all of our waste. We have an excited and robust group of businesses and communities ready to scale up with creative solutions that support a circular economy. Now is the time to continue our zero waste journey.”5
Hopefully, in 2066, Torontonians will be living in a zero-waste city. Make it happen. Do your part now.
Credits:
1 Toronto Environmental Alliance “Zero Waste Strategy A Vision for Our City” 2016 Page 03
2 Toronto Environmental Alliance “Zero Waste Strategy A Vision for Our City” 2016 Page 06
3 Toronto Environmental Alliance “Zero Waste Strategy A Vision for Our City” 2016 Page 16
4 Toronto Environmental Alliance “Zero Waste Strategy A Vision for Our City” 2016 Page 18
5 Toronto Environmental Alliance “Zero Waste Strategy A Vision for Our City” 2016 Page 24
Submission of building permit applications to the City of Toronto and TRCA
project design, preparation and submission of building permit applications;
We also made good progress in our pursuit of additional feedstock suppliers, and have a plan in place to ensure we have all of the organics contracted within the coming months. This is an extremely exciting and critical time for our project, with much work to get done to be operational by year end.
In addition, while the construction is taking place, we will continue to explore every possible avenue to maximize project revenues (primarily on the fertilizer side) and minimize future operating costs.
Bond Sales
As of March 1st, we had sold $363,600 of the 5% bonds, which are currently sitting in an escrow account awaiting the completion of construction.
If you would like to invest in the latest bond offering, please fill out the form here (if you you a ZooShare member, make sure to check the “Yes, I’ve paid my ZooShare membership fee” box).
We have begun booking events for the Spring and Summer, in addition to what is coming up (Seedy Saturday, Green Living Show), and have submitted an application to the Canada Summer Jobs program in order to get a couple of students to assist with the effort. We are also planning for our groundbreaking ceremony, which will take place around Earth Week – an event we believe will attract strong media attention and help to further drive project momentum and bond sales.
Feedstock
Nothing significant to report on this front – conversations with our current and potential alternate retailers and waste management companies continued and have been positive in tone. The various parties involved are interested in working with us, and see the positives of participating in our project, however it takes time to sort through the complexities together and create a strong agreement (as we’ve experienced over the years). Our experience to date helps to expedite the conversation somewhat, and we continue to diligently follow up and answer questions, but ultimately it is a slow moving conversation. At the point that we are ready to move on from the retailers and sign with a waste management company, the contract can get done much faster as those are more standardized agreements. As a reminder, our focus continues to be first on retail-facing food companies who see the PR value of a long term relationship (20 years), followed by waste management companies that more easily serve our needs but on a more short term basis (1-5 years).
Design and Construction
Bioferm and their engineers completed the 30% project design and drawings this month – which have been submitted to the Zoo for approval and used to support building permit applications submitted to the City and TRCA. We anticipate receiving the building permits by late March, early April, but may be impacted by the current labour dispute between the Inside Workers and the City. The turnkey contract is not yet ready for signing, but we continue to work on it together, and we are confident we can complete negotiations and execute in the next 4 weeks, prior to starting excavation and site preparation. As stated above, there will be a groundbreaking ceremony at the site, taking place around Earth Week. More details on this event will be made available once they are finalized.
RRSP Season is here, are you saving wisely? In this article by MoneySense, we learned that a “whopping 60% of the typical [Canadian] portfolio is being held in cash–far too much to meet most retirement needs when you factor in record-low interest rates and inflation.”
This trend seems to be mirrored in ZooShare members as well: When asked, “Not including ZooShare, where do you invest?” 56% of ZooShare investors said “In my savings account”.
In the MoneySense article, when people were asked “why [they] were sitting on so much cash, the majority cited accessibility and/or convenience”.
Well, we’ve made it easy for you: Here’s a list of 3 resources to learn how you can align your investment portfolio with your values and perhaps earn more by becoming an impact investor.
Disclaimer: we are not legally allowed to offer financial advice, so please do your own research and speak to a professional. These suggestions are just starting points!
1) Read this:
The Responsible Investing Association recently published their Guide To Responsible Investment. It’s available online and chockablock full of great articles like “Climate Change and Responsible Investment” (page 12) and even features a list of Responsible Investment Funds (page 23).
2) Research these:
Since 60% of ZooShare members also invest in Mutual Funds, we thought it would be useful to share these recent developments:
NEI has recently announced plans to launch a new fund called the NEI Environmental Leaders Fund. The fossil-free fund will invest in companies providing solutions to environmental problems (focusing on energy efficiency, alternative energy, waste management, water, and sustainable agriculture).
OceanRock’s Meritas SRI Funds are the only mutual funds in Canada with an impact investing component. A portion of all portfolios is allocated to “Community Development Investments”. Read more here.
In addition to the funds listed above (and in the Guide), here are EVEN MORE responsible funds you can talk to your financial advisor about (if you have one) or research yourself. PS: If you don’t have a financial advisor and you’re looking for someone who knows about responsible investing, the RIA has an online directory of advisors.
3) Buy a Community Bond!
And of course, ZooShare is now offering a new series of bonds that are construction risk-free and earn 5% each year for 5 years. Help generate renewable power, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and return nutrients to the soil. You can learn more about our newest bond offering by clicking here. There are also other options to diversify your community bond portfolio, like:
The highlights from last month include project design, preparation and submission of building permit applications; completion of the Sales and Marketing Plan; planning for groundbreaking (!); and more bond sales. We also made good progress in our pursuit of additional feedstock suppliers, and have a plan in place to ensure we have all of the organics contracted within the coming months. This is an extremely exciting and critical time for our project, with much work to get done to be operational by year end. In addition, while the construction is taking place, we will continue to explore every possible avenue to maximize project revenues (primarily on the fertilizer side) and minimize future operating costs.
Bond Sales
As of Feb/1st, we had sold $304,000 of the 5% bonds, which are currently sitting in an escrow account awaiting the completion of construction. We continued to solidify our sales and marketing plans for the year, which includes leveraging our major milestones and any media we receive into more bond sales.
If you would like to invest in the latest bond offering, please fill out the form here (if you you a ZooShare member, make sure to check the “Yes, I’ve paid my ZooShare membership fee” box).
Feedstock
Meetings took place this month with multiple waste management companies, two major grocery retailers, and an industry association that is looking to facilitate meetings for us with their members. It’s an evolving discussion, but our focus continues to be first on retail-facing food companies who see the PR value of a long term relationship (20 years), followed by waste management companies that more easily serve our needs but on a more short term basis (1-5 years). As we get closer to construction and operations, more waste companies will call us, as our locational advantage translates to direct savings on transportation costs for them. In fact, this has already begun to happen – I got two calls this week with attractive offers. While the process has been slow to date, we are confident we will have our feedstock needs contracted in the coming months, as construction gets underway. As we have said for some time, the challenge is not securing waste, it is accurately predicting it’s make-up, level of contamination and price over the next 5, 10, 20 years.
Design and Construction
Our engineering team at Bioferm has been hard at work at finalizing project designs, site plans and the budget this past month, so that we can submit building permit applications to the TRCA and City of Toronto this week. We will also be ready to execute the Turnkey Design-Build contract, and will be submitting the first round of designs to the Zoo for their approval and comments. Based on the currently projected timelines, we will begin ground preparation and excavation in late March/early April. We are planning a groundbreaking celebration, which will take place around this time – stay tuned for further details.
The highlights of the holiday season included the launch of the new ZooShare bonds and starting the planning process for our biggest year yet!
6% and 5% bonds were offered first to the Waiting List, and then to the general public. The pent-up demand led to the 6% bonds selling out in 7 days, and over $250,000 in 5% bond sales in the first month of availability. After selecting a technology partner in late October, we have started planning for construction of the biogas plant this Spring(!), while also working on plans for marketing & sales, digestate management and transportation. We also continued our discussions with numerous waste producers and haulers regarding our feedstock needs as we look to resolve the remaining issues and sign a long-term contract.
Bond Sales & Revised Offering Statement
In November, ZooShare received approval from FSCO to begin selling Community Bonds again. We had a limited number of 6% bonds available, and as stated above, they sold out quickly. The 5% bonds, which are fully protected against construction risk, went on sale in early December. To date, we have sold $252,100 5% bonds, which are currently sitting in an escrow account awaiting the completion of construction. We feel confident that our biggest driver of bond sales this year will be our progress building the project. That being said, we spent a fair amount of time during December planning our marketing and sales activities for the year to best ensure our success with this new offering. This effort is being led by our Communications Manager, Frances Darwin, who was brought back full-time and extended for another year.
If you would like to invest in the latest bond offering, please fill out the form here (if you you a ZooShare member, make sure to check the “Yes, I’ve paid my ZooShare membership fee” box).
Feedstock
Discussions continue with our grocery partner to resolve the remaining issues standing in the way of us signing a long term agreement, namely, how to remove the packaging from the available organics. We are also engaged with other waste producers and haulers, in order to secure alternatives should our grocery partner be unable to supply the full amount of waste required. As stated previously, this is not how we imagined this process unfolding, however our confidence that we will be able to get what we need in fuel remains strong. This is due to our locational advantage, made more valuable by impending limits on carbon emissions from transportation, the Province’s recent announcement of new waste management regulations that would ban organics from landfills, and the potential PR value of working with a local non-profit associated with the Zoo. We will continue working on all fronts and look forward to resolving this challenge in the coming months, prior to starting construction.
Design and Construction
Since selecting Bioferm Viessman as our technology supplier in late October, the two organizations have been engaged in planning, procurement and negotiations. A transportation plan covering the construction and operations phases has been prepared and submitted to the Zoo (special thanks to ZooShare member, ND, for the help). A preliminary design and construction schedule was prepared by Bioferm, with a planned construction start date in May and a Commercial Operation Date of January 1, 2017. Working backwards from these days, the 30% project design and budget is to be finalized by the end of this month, allowing us to sign a binding turnkey construction contract, finalize the loan amount to be received from Bioferm and submit the designs to the Zoo for approval. We will also be applying for building permits from the City of Toronto and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) at this time. Staff from both organizations have already been contacted to ensure a smooth approval process.
The NEW ZooShare bonds are here with holiday cheer!
When we sold out of bonds in March, demand kept growing, so ZooShare developed a plan to offer new bonds that will earn 5% each year for 5 years.
These bonds have no construction risk: They will be held in an escrow account until after the biogas plant is built and will be used to repay the construction loan provided by our technology supplier.
Originally we had intended to borrow these funds from a commercial lender, however, due to overwhelming demand for ZooShare bonds and our preference to borrow from our supporters, we have decided to issue another $2.2M worth of bonds.
I would like to share a letter with you from one of our friends, Carol Lue of CaribShare Biogas. Carol is a fellow-entrepreneur and biogas developer, located in Jamaica. Drawing inspiration from ZooShare’s business model, CaribShare will use biogas technology to produce renewable power, reduce poverty and take action on climate change. They have enough funds to cover 85% of the construction costs for their pilot project, but they need your help to raise the last $20,000. If you are inspired by Carol’s work, we urge you to support CaribShare’s crowdfunding campaign. Please read Carol’s letter below to learn more.
Unexpected wins are one of the joys of being an entrepreneur.
I am the Founder and Executive Director of CaribShare Biogas, a social enterprise and registered charity in Jamaica. A few weeks ago, I was honoured to speak at a Virgin Unite event in NYC to celebrate the launch of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development (there are 17, covering poverty, inequality and climate change). As CaribShare touches on several of these goals, this was indeed an unexpected win and an amazing highlight to share our story there. I was especially honoured to also share the platform with Sir Richard Branson himself who has inspired me and so many other entrepreneurs to use business as a force for social good. Our mission is to produce clean energy in a way that reduces poverty and allows us to take action on climate change.
In partnership with Ch4 Biogas in Ottawa, we are developing and operating the first biogas plant in Jamaica to generate electricity on a sustained basis. And, drawing inspiration from ZooShare’s business model and developing a partnership with ReGenerate Biogas, we are working with the hotel and small farming communities to deliver biogas solutions to the entire Caribbean region in a socially impactful way.
What We Do
We collect tremendous quantities of food waste from hotels and animal poo/manure from small livestock farms to produce biogas (type of biofuel) and organic fertilizer for sale.
The biogas is sold to businesses that are high energy users so they can self-generate electricity at a significantly lower cost than purchasing from the grid. And, the fertilizer is sold to farmers at a highly discounted rate to help lower their production cost and promote organic farming.
We then share up to 50% of our surplus revenues with our participating farmers as meaningful income to help support their livelihood and the vitality of their communities.
Our Current Project
Construction of our pilot 100 kW biogas plant in Montego Bay will be completed next month. It will process organic waste from the Sandals, RIU, Iberostar, and Half Moon Resorts as well as from 50+ small pig farms in the surrounding areas. The biogas will be used to generate electricity to help power a highly energy intensive sewage treatment facility.
My Path to Launching CaribShare
Bringing CaribShare along over the past 3 years to launching next month has been both extremely rewarding and challenging. Continuous ups and downs and incredible struggles have been faced: raising capital with limited collateral, negotiating the bureaucracy of getting our environmental permit approved, and negotiating both the seen and unseen political and competitive dynamics that come with developing a pioneering venture that is both a waste and energy company are just a few examples.
But despite these challenges, what has kept me going, beyond my confidence in CaribShare’s business model and my own personal resilience, is the clear vision that I have for CaribShare to grow and deliver clean energy in a socially impactful way across the Caribbean.
Growing up in rural Jamaica, I felt so blessed to be close to nature and to have that connection. But, I was also affected by the poverty that was around and the struggles that good hardworking people were facing. I also felt that it didn’t have to be so, and I was determined to help from then.
Fast forward many years later to 2012 after having left Jamaica to study and having worked in business and sustainability for about 15 years in Boston and Toronto, that opportunity arose. Having just been laid off and looking to begin the next chapter in my life, I entered the proposal for CaribShare into the IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest that was being sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank. And, out of 3000 proposals, CaribShare was one of the lucky 8 winners. And, as a result, I gladly moved back to Jamaica.
From the competition, I was awarded a $200K grant which I have been leveraging to raise $600K to launch CaribShare’s pilot thanks to funding assistance from Caricom Energy Program, GIZ (German Corporation for International Cooperation), and the Development Bank of Jamaica.
The Way Forward
Amazingly, our biogas plant will also be the first in Jamaica to generate electricity on a sustained basis, which is a significant contribution to solving the energy woes of Jamaica and the Caribbean. Plus, we will be diverting immense quantities of organic waste from landfills for clean energy generation and rural development. And, I can clearly see developing up to 6 of these centralized 100kW generating biodigesters in Jamaica before expanding to other Caribbean countries that also have a lot of hotel and farm waste.
But, this excitement to expand comes with sobriety in knowing that I am going against the odds in developing CaribShare from the ground up. Luckily, my supporters have remained committed despite my struggles and lengthy delays in launching the pilot because they too support the vision and see my persistence. And, through divine intervention, somehow I have been brought in touch with persons in crucial moments willing either to offer some meaningful intervention or to be truly collaborative. So, despite the never ending exhaustion that I feel as an entrepreneur, I have a tremendous amount of gratitude, optimism, and certainty in knowing that with the right connections, partnerships, and collaborations CaribShare will be unstoppable in improving people’s lives. And, yes together we can all make the Global Goals come true.
If you are an animal-lover, environmentalist and/or conservationist, then you have probably heard the full gamut of zoo criticism. Yes, animals belong in the wild…But what happens when “the wild” disappears?
First, let’s step back a bit and start with a brief history of zoos…They have come a long way from the menageries of the Victorian era, which were designed first for the scientific study of animals, then quickly took off as a form of mass public entertainment:
It wasn’t until the late 1970s that the idea of creating a space for the needs of animals was developed into a reality. Up until that point, the Modernist movement had influenced the design of zoos, meaning that they were designed to be functional. On her website, desigingzoos.com, Zoological Planner Stacey Ludlum writes: “This belief, along with the advances in medicine and desire for sterilization, created zoo exhibits that were easily hosed down and cleaned regularly. This meant concrete everywhere.” 1
It took Architect-turned-Zoo Director David Hancocks to revolutionize animal enclosures. By redesigning the gorilla cages into habitat-inspired enclosures, he not only changed the philosophy of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, but inadvertently designed a new model for modern zoos everywhere…But, as he explains, change did not come easily: “If a traditional Zoo Director had seen or heard what we were doing he would have stopped it” he says, “I had Zoo Directors tell me it was stupid, irresponsible and unnecessary…If the gorillas climbed they would fall and break their necks…We were putting their health at risk.” Despite the criticism, the team at the Woodland Park Zoo pushed ahead, and soon “landscape immersion” was born. This coincided nicely with the building animal rights movement. (You can hear the rest of David Hancocks’ interview here.)
Just as larger societal movements influenced zoo design of the past, so too do they influence zoo design of the present and future. Currently, with our focus on “the brain” (MRI technology etc) we are now designing zoos that reflect that focus.
Currently, Zoos are trying to create opportunities for animals to use their brains as they would in the wild–even if those opportunities don’t look like “the wild”. A good example of this is the Philadelphia Zoo’s new trail system, Zoo360, which allows animals to explore the Zoo above visitor’s heads. This campus-wide network of see-through mesh trails links similar animal habitats, so animals can use one another’s spaces in a time-sharing system. 2
Andy Baker, the Chief Operating Officer at the Philadelphia Zoo, says “this really came out of our goal of creating best experiences for animals, and I truly think this reinvents the way animals experience our zoo…We’re not truly trying to recreate the wild. We’re trying to create environmental opportunities, so the opportunities for new sensory input, exploration, freedom of locomotion…The same functional needs and opportunities that animals have in the wild, without having to recreate the natural habitat.”3
But moving further into the future, we may see a model that is truly inspired by nature, and doesn’t just mimic the landscape or the activities that animals do in the wild.
“Zootopia” is a concept that flips the modern zoo on its head. The Givskud Zoo and Safari Park in Denmark is working with an architectural firm to create a zoo in which the animals roam free and the humans are in cages–or at least, in more confined spaces (safe from the animals). Architect Bjarke Ingels says “What we’ve tried to do is eliminate all traces of human architecture.” NPR reports that buildings are to be “masked as rolling hills and hidden barriers in waterways [that] replace visible fences and barricades”.4The model is inspired by the rapid collision of nature and cities, or as Ingels gently puts it “the distinction between the city and nature … is blurring more and more…It becomes more relevant to make sure that the other life forms can actually cohabit successfully with us.”
Cohabitation is a very important point. Because, up until recently, humans and wild animals have been able to maintain separate lives…But as cities and the human population grow, animals are having a harder time to find space to live. In fact, many don’t.
Currently, we are polluting rivers, clear cutting forests and acidifying the ocean faster than our environment–and most animals–can keep up. The latest edition of the WWF’s Living Planet Report is devastating: Since 1970, 52% of all wildlife on Earth has been wiped out.
Let me repeat that: In the past 40 years, half of the Earth’s wildlife has gone extinct.
Credit: Courtest of WWF International
When The Guardian interviewed the Zoological Society of London’s Director about this report, he said, “If half the animals died in London zoo next week it would be front page news…But [this extinction] is happening in the great outdoors.”
The implication here is that the vast scale of what we have done to the planet is too hard for most people to fathom–perhaps they don’t even know…But in a smaller, controlled environment, such as the local Zoo, people care. Julia Phillips, a Toronto Zoo employee explains, “When people see a live animal, they have a desire and a passion to protect that animal.” Zoos inspire us to do more to help the animals we see.
What many people may not know however, as Phillips explains, is that “Zoos play a really important role in terms of protecting species and acting as assurance populations for species [whose] habitat is no longer there for them in the wild…We can eventually bring them back to life, it’s sort of a Noah’s Ark in a way.” In her TED Talk, the Toronto Zoo’s Gabriela Mastromonaco also uses “the arc” analogy for today’s modern zoos, making the case that Zoos are ensuring the survival of endangered species that can be released into the wild after their habitat stabilizes.
In a video released this summer, The Toronto Zoo shows that they have a storage facility of genetic material (e.g. animal sperm, eggs, embryos etc) in tanks of liquid nitrogen, in which “there are herds of bison, prides of lion, and all sorts of wildlife that we don’t have enough space for in the Zoo itself, however these specimens fit perfectly well in the frozen Zoo, and are waiting to help repopulate species as needed. We are dedicated to conducting groundbreaking scientific research that will ultimately save many species that would otherwise disappear from our planet forever.”
Going forward, the public-facing exhibits of Zoos and the way we interact with the animals may change, but the role of zoos in the conservation of animals and valuable ecosystems must continue, and indeed, accelerate. Hopefully, we can all play a role in the protection and conservation of what is left of “the wild”.
PS You can read more about the Toronto Zoo’s conservation efforts in their Strategic Plan.
!["This was at London Zoo, on the famous Mappin Terraces...apparently practical, providing a catchment for water to feed the aquarium below, but it was no place for a polar bear. [They were] living in what looked like a concrete pit, where they had to endure baking sun with only a small, grey pool for their comfort, which seemed a poor substitute for the Arctic Ocean." writes Sue Gilbert. This photo was taken in 1972.](https://zooshare.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/polar-bear-1.jpg)
