I am involved in both botanical field work and ML, unfortunately most of the data that I have gathered and analyzed in the last 12 years indicates how quickly many ecosystems are degrading. Often I wonder why I do the analysis, simply taking a photograph in the same spot ~7 years apart allows any average person to see that things are not on a positive trajectory.

Attempting to convince people to change course and focus on restoration has mostly been a losing battle, with much larger forces behind the main detriments that make local changes feel inadequate.