Tracking Darwin - by Dale

Charles Darwin has been the stuff of legends for nearly as long as I can remember and that is getting longer all the time. We were in Brazil some years back and were lucky to be able to see a traveling exhibit celebrating his life and discoveries. He did quite a bit of work along the Brazilian coast and inland while sailing on the Beagle. The exhibit was mostly in Portuguese and one of the things that really impressed me was the large crowds that came out for it. People stood and read complex display material describing these early studies by Darwin as well as his family history and much more. It was clear that Brazilians were interested and proud of this piece of history their country played an important role in.

Darwin outside the city library
 

Not long afterwards, we were able to see the English version of this exhibit in the Chicago Field Museum. We spent the better part of a day in the museum and didn't tire of studying all the materials. This chance opportunity added to the power of Darwin's discoveries and the times he lived for me. 

For the last few days we've been in Shrewsbury where Darwin was born in 1809 and lived the first 27 years of his life. His 200th birthday was well celebrated there a few years back and there are many signs of his celebrity even in this old city that has so much history over its long existence. The library has a large statue of Darwin sitting with a large stack of books in his later years. There are many other places tied to Darwin's time in Shrewsbury including a few strange ones like a shopping center. None the less it was a powerful feeling to be so close to such an important time in history and evolutionary discovery. We enjoyed following part of the Darwin "town trail" but didn't have time to see his home and garden which are not easily available for the public due to some short sighted thinking. His home is used for local government offices and the gardens are only available during church fundraising periods. Hopefully that will be fixed soon.

A different kind of landmark

Darwin's Gate is a landmark in Shrewabury

More importantly, these sights remind me of the importance of ecological discovery and evolutionary principles as well as the need to conserve biological diversity. This is very apparent as we travel through vast areas that have been greatly changed by centuries of human activity. In many areas we've travelled through on this trip the landscape has been greatly changed and many native species are missing or replaced by nonnative ones. There are also many indications that climate change is accelerating this anthromorphic process. 

We missed this talk but know the story well now 

We will be giving much more thought and reflection to the importance of this work as we visit the London Museum of Natural History. I'm specifically interested in the celebration of Alfred Wallace who independently and collaboratively helped shape the theory of evolution. Much of Wallace's work took place in Indonesia. Visiting that special and very diverse place last year will make this opportunity even more meaningful. I'll have more to say about that soon as we had an amazing visit there today and will be back tomorrow for a behind the scenes tour with one of the museum scientists and our hosts in London.