Just as cities, states / provinces, and nations were instituting lockdowns to reduce the spread of COVID-19—in April 2020, we launched the Species in Peril Project with an inaugural article that encouraged us to consider the coronavirus pandemic as a manifestation of biological annihilation which includes human caused species extinctions, die-offs and massacres.
While we are slowly but steadily developing the Species in Peril Project in the United States to foster conversations, creative production, public scholarship, and grassroots initiatives to bring attention to the escalating crisis of biological annihilation, the Outlook Magazine, one of India’s most widely read national news magazines is developing a new initiative, Planet Outlook, to foster conversations on the biodiversity crisis, the climate crisis, and other environmental concerns. The Editor of Planet Outlook, Ananda Banerjee recently conducted a set of interviews with writers, scholars, scientists and conservationists—each conversation lasting little over 30 minutes, providing ample depth. Ananda and his team plan to launch the website of Planet Outlook in the coming months.
For now, as a sneak preview, we are pleased to share a selection of four Planet Outlook conversations and announce the formation of Planet Outlook as a companion global initiative to the Species in Peril Project. Ananda is also a key member of the Species in Peril Project, a bridge between the two initiatives.