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Billionaire Donates To Climate Change

May 28, 2019

Plants and animal species are going extinct 1,000 times faster than prior to human activity, according to a Brown University study. One of the ways to combat this, according to some scientists, protecting at least 50 percent of Earth in its natural state. Currently, only 15 percent of the Earth’s land and 7 percent of oceans receive protection.

A Swiss billionaire and philanthropist aimed to change that. Hansjörg Wyss pledged to donate $1 billion dollars over the next ten years in a New York Times op-ed addressing the issue of climate change.

“There’s a lot of people interested in preserving [the Earth] and protecting it,” biology teacher Dr. Sara Edelman said. “But I also think that there’s a lot of damage done on a daily basis that we’re all participating in as well.”

Wyss plans to donate the money through his foundation, the Wyss Foundation. His op-ed explores the supposed best way to preserve species and the Earth, by declaring large patches of land national parks for everyone to experience in its natural state.

“Governments need to focus more attention and funding on climate change and create programs for citizens to reduce their negative impact on the environment.” junior and member of the environmental board for student council, Sophie Shrestha said.

Wyss concluded that half of the world must be protected in order to save the whole world. Without this, species will continue to die out.

“Currently, the health of the environment is decreasing quickly due to many anthropogenic causes,” Shrestha said. “At the present time, I don’t believe politicians are doing enough to address the issue.”

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