Jeff Bezos , Amazon founding father and chief executive officer - turned - not - quite - spaceman , has been inspired by his time off - world .

A year and a half ago , themedia mogulannouncedthe creation of the Bezos Earth Fund : a $ 10 billion foundation whichhe saidwould “ … search newfangled path of fighting the annihilating impact of climate variety on this planet we all share . ” The exact details remained foggy , however , untilfairly of late , when Bezos set out his vision for the first 10 years of the Fund . Now , fresh fromhis jauntto the edge of infinite , it appear Bezos has have the " overview effect " and has decided where the first $ 1 billion of it is going : into conservation effort in the tropical Andes , the Congo Basin , and the Pacific Ocean .

“ Nature is our life support system and it ’s fragile . I was reminded of this just this July when I blend into distance with Blue Origin , ” Bezossaid at an eventlaunching the projection on Monday . “ I ’d heard that seeing the Earth from space changes one ’s point of view of the world . But I was not prepare for just how much that would be truthful . ”

Along with the preservation of biodiversity hotspots across the planet , Bezos has another objective lens for this tardy contribution : the protection of 30 percent of Earth ’s ocean and solid ground by the end of the ten . This is one of the targets ina blueprint UN agreementaimed at cutting the planet - wide extinction pace by a element of 10 ( thereby bringing it down toa mere 10 timeswhat would be expected if human were n’t a thing ) .

While the so - called “ 30x30 ” end has been herald by scientists and politics likewise as the only way to nullify a world-wide mood cataclysm , it has also see its fair portion of critique . Some scientists fear governments may devolve into the trap of prioritizing the size of protect areas over the biodiversity grade , whilemany autochthonic right wing groupsworry about the medical prognosis of what ’s known as “ fortress preservation . ” This is “ the idea that to protect forest and biodiversity , ecosystems want to work in isolation , devoid of masses , ” United Nations Special Rapporteur on autochthonal peoples , Victoria Tauli - Corpuz , state theGuardianback in 2018 . “ This manakin … ignore the growing body of evidence that wood thrive when Indigenous Peoples stay on their customary lands and have legally recognized right wing to deal and protect them . ”

Bezos may have had this in mind on Monday , harbinger his donation would center endemic and local community of interests in biodiversity protection . grant from the Earth Fund are also set to be distributed after this year and , he tell , will prioritise countries and region with a standing dedication to environmental protective cover .

“ Living down here , the world and the atmosphere seem vast and they seem static , ” he said , notwithstanding the few hundred people whoperishedin criminal record heatwaves across milder parts of the US and Canada just months before .

“ But looking back at Earth from there , the atm seems lean and the Earth finite , ” he continued . “ Both beautiful , both fragile . ”

While the magnate ’s recent pivot to environmentalism is certainly welcome , the caustic remark in the move hasnot get going unnoticed . In Amazon ’s last three years with Bezos at the helm , the company ’s yearly carbon emission grow to virtually 61 million metric tons – nearly as muchas the entire country of Belarus – and when global atomic number 6 emissions dropped by 7 percent last class , Amazon ’s uprise by intimately one - fifth .

His new focus , Blue Origin , may have inspired him to bring through the planet , but many critics have point out that drink down up to space every now and then isanything but environmentally favorable . A billion dollar a year – 1 percent of the amountsome scientist believecould save the satellite from an environmental Book of Revelation – may not be capable to counteractthe potential impactof a successful distance tourism caller .

Still , it ’s not the first metre a view from above has prompted some soulfulness - searching on the precariousness of life . As Carl Sagan wrote in 1990 when Voyager 1 sent back its iconic “ Pale Blue Dot ” : “ There is perhaps no better manifestation of the stupidity of human vanity than this remote image of our tiny world … it underscores our duty to look at more kindly with one another , and to carry on and treasure the wan blue dit , the only home we ’ve ever make love . ”