Cause: Preserving & understanding the Planet's Biodiversity
Solution: The Encyclopedia of Life
www.eol.org

Last year, Harvard University biology professor, E.O. Wilson, won the prestigious TED Prize. Along with the $100,000 cash award, Wilson was granted a wish, and his wish was to "create the key tool that we need to inspire preservation of Earth's biodiversity: the Encyclopedia of Life."

Less than a year after announcing his wish, the Encyclopedia of Life is well on its way toward becoming a reality. Ultimately, the Encyclopedia will be a collaborative, comprehensive online database that will hold crucial information on every one of the 1.8 million species that exist on Earth. It will be a place online where students, teachers, researchers and the general public can come to learn about the amazing biodiversity of our planet. Wilson's dream is that as we learn more about the creatures that inhabit the Earth, we will no longer be able to stand passively by as their natural habitats and ours are destroyed.

Learn More:

“The Encyclopedia of Life” by E.O. Wilson

E.O. Wilson’s TED Prize Wish

EOL Launch Press Release