Can Generation Y Redeem the Sins of the Fathers for the Benefit of Generation Z?

Can Generation Y Redeem the Sins of the Fathers for the Benefit of Generation Z?

The human onslaught and threat to wildlife, especially in Africa, is not a new phenomenon. Ever since Europe colonized Africa, the continent’s wildlife has been eradicated with brute gunpowder and man’s intent on satisfying his lust for blood sport. Many European and British colonial vanquishers relished in the delight of trekking for months in Africa with an arsenal of horses, men, ox-wagons, guns, gunpowder and indigenous slaves to embark on a journey of destruction of Africa’s wildlife.

Elephants, rhinoceros, lion, leopard, the Quagga (an extinct subspecies of the plains Zebra), antelope and other animals were regarded as pure fodder for these men, intent on exploiting Africa of its riches in wildlife. Nothing stopped their super egos in acquiring tonnes of trophies of ivory tusks and rhino horn in their African exploits, to be shipped and sold at a fraction of its worth in European and British cities. British society and the press of the day hailed these merry men as superheroes, conquerors of darkest Africa. Possibly the only saving grace for Africa’s wildlife at the time was the discovery of gold and diamonds on the continent, commodities with much higher value than that of ivory and rhino horn.

 ‘How long do the sins of the fathers bare on the

sons? Will this lust eventually come to an end?’

Move the clock 200 years on and the tables are reversed. Today rhino horn can fetch as much as $75 000 a kilogram, nearly double the price of gold. This history of man’s lust for the kill begs to be questioned: How long do the sins of the fathers bare on the sons? Will this lust eventually come to an end? Leonardo da Vinci commented in the fifteenth century: “The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.”  At what stage will Generation Y or Generation Z stand up and say enough is enough? When will the Millennial Generation take a stance across all cultures, from Africa to the Americas to Asia and decide that Earth is to be inhabited by all God’s creatures, free from persecution and that the animals on this planet play a vital role in the biodiversity of ecosystems?

 Generation Z is a name used for the cohort of people born after the Millennial Generation. Generation Y (The Millennials) is the demographic cohort following Generation X. Generation Y are those people that were born in the years early 1980s to early 2000s. Generation X is the generation born after the Western Post World War II baby boom (birth dates early 1960s to 1980s). Baby boomers were born between the years 1946 and 1964. The Silent Generation is a term for the generation of people born from 1926-1942.

Generations

1983-2001 – New Boomers

1965-1982 – Generation X

1946-1964 – Baby Boomers

1929-1945 – Lucky Few

1909-1928 – Good Warriors

1890-1908 – Hard Timers

1871-1889 – New Worlder

It is well documented that all the generations leading up to the Baby Boomers were active and instrumental in the eradication of many wildlife species in our lifetime. Whether it is the American hunter who brings his teenage son to experience the kill of an endangered leopard, or the wildlife crime kingpin in Laos that orchestrates the decimation of hundreds of rhinoceros every year for the lucrative four kilogram of horn it carries, we are facing a crisis of enormous proportions with the loss of ecologies across Africa.

‘We are facing a crisis of enormous proportions 

with the loss of ecologies across Africa’

Hunting has contributed to wildlife conservation in certain parts of Africa. How much of this revenue ends up in the hands of local communities is questionable. In August 2013, South Africa’s Minister of Tourism made a comment that one in eleven jobs in the country serves in the tourism industry. Photojournalism and conservation tourism create far more revenue and employment than the elite sport of trophy hunting can ever achieve. President Ian Khama of Botswana has regulated that all trophy hunting in his country will be banned from 2014. With a population of less than 1.5 million people, this vast and beautiful country on the African continent may prove under his visionary leadership to be an exemplary force that can illustrate to the world what we should be doing with the continent’s ecosystems.

The digital era can possibly be instrumental in saving wildlife across all continents from extinction.  With the advent of the Internet and social media, affordable digital photographic/video graphic equipment has resulted in the streaming of millions of images in real time across the globe. Techno savvy groups of Generation Y and Z are potentially the canons in the arsenal of conservationists that the world needs to protect our species from extinction. Visual footage of a rhino that was butchered alive for its horn, maimed beyond recognition by axes and pangas and left to die a slow death that can take days, is soul destroying for any viewer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVS3GrVIyxA).

Social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube have larger audiences than the populations of most continents. It has contributed to the Arab Spring that has toppled dictators who yielded power for more than three decades.

‘Generation Y and Z are known

as the Digital Generation’

Generation Y and Z are also highly connected and have had lifelong use of communication and media technology, hence being called the Digital Generation. This is prevalent across all cultures. A “Digital Wildlife Movement” amongst these two generations can trigger a response of repulsiveness to the barbaric onslaught that elephants, tigers, bears, rhinos, pangolins, polar bears, wild dogs and others are handed by older generations.

It is with this in mind that I conceptualized a rhino conservation program for Generation Y students that were affiliated to The Young Presidents’ Organization through their parents. Consisting of 21 000 CEO’s across the globe, YPO employs more than 15 million people and has a combined GDP in excess of 6 Trillion Dollars in 125 countries. The organization’s motto is “ better leaders through education and ideas exchange”. Creating an eight-week rhino conservation program in Africa, to learn about wildlife conservation and the demand that exists in Asia for rhino horn and ivory, seemed an ideal opportunity to initiate the power of the youth. From small beginnings it is possible to create a tidal wave of support. The objective was three-fold: raise global awareness of the rhino poaching crisis through social media, raise funds for rhino conservation and lastly create lifelong wildlife conservation ambassadors who can help a “Digital Wildlife Movement”.

‘Five international young adults embarked

on an eight–week journey that would live with them

for the rest of their lives’

After 9 months of preparation the YPO Rhino Conservation Internship eventually started in June 2013. Five international young adults, selected from twenty-one applications, embarked on an eight–week journey in South Africa and Botswana that would live with them for the rest of their lives. Friendships were forged, social media skills were developed, leadership capabilities were tested and the sad and sick demand for rhino horn and elephant ivory by mostly China and Vietnam exposed. The outcome was hugely gratifying. These youngsters created a substantial following on Facebook and Twitter, started this blog and have endeavored to continue to spread the word around the world that is needed to conserve wildlife. This is their journey.