Of the many things concerning the environment that are close to my heart, biodiversity is at the top of the list. Biodiversity is what makes any ecosystem unique and it is what gives this Earth such an amazing plethora of life. Biodiversity, in a nutshell, is what helped bring us into existence. Biodiversity is everything.
It turns out, however, that biodiversity is fragile. It is easy to lose numerous types of animal and plant life if the parameters of an ecosystem are changed. Throughout Earth's history, mass extinctions have occurred which have significantly reduced biodiversity. Even now, the Earth's biological creatures are only a fraction of the diversity that existed in the far reaches of biological history.
Earth is in the midst of a sixth mass extinction level event. This time it can be directly traced to human activity. While things like hunting rhinoceros' and elephants are what the general population tend to think of, this mass extinction extends beyond the large Safari mammals (by the way, the Javan Rhino in Vietnam has now become extinct). From bacteria to redwood trees to Blue whales and everything in between faces the extinction of its species.
While we lose these great forms of life (yes, even bacteria is a great form of life), we are also decreasing the surviving species' (including our own) ability to adapt to the coming climate changes. A detailed and sobering article on treehugger.com provides information that the higher biodiversity is, the greater the chance many species can survive a life-changing event. When biodiversity drops, so does life's ability to respond to strong alterations in the environment. We now face the greatest threat to life on Earth. A rapidly changing and unstable climate and low biodiversity.
We don't know what the outcome will be, as we as humans have yet to know what we are going to do about climate change. One thing is clear, though. We must not only work to change our activities with regard to emissions and energy standards, we must also work to protect the biodiversity we have left on this planet. Both plants and animals are threatened with habitat loss, poaching, and over harvesting. We must continue to safeguard what is left and enforce the Endangered and Threatened Species Acts. Globally, each nation and its citizens must stand up to those who willingly destroy the environment and the life within it for their own material gain. This is a global crisis and it has direct influence on how we deal with the other great global crisis of climate change. Write to your elected leader and tell them to leave the Endangered Species Act and the Threatened Species Act alone.
It turns out, however, that biodiversity is fragile. It is easy to lose numerous types of animal and plant life if the parameters of an ecosystem are changed. Throughout Earth's history, mass extinctions have occurred which have significantly reduced biodiversity. Even now, the Earth's biological creatures are only a fraction of the diversity that existed in the far reaches of biological history.
Earth is in the midst of a sixth mass extinction level event. This time it can be directly traced to human activity. While things like hunting rhinoceros' and elephants are what the general population tend to think of, this mass extinction extends beyond the large Safari mammals (by the way, the Javan Rhino in Vietnam has now become extinct). From bacteria to redwood trees to Blue whales and everything in between faces the extinction of its species.
While we lose these great forms of life (yes, even bacteria is a great form of life), we are also decreasing the surviving species' (including our own) ability to adapt to the coming climate changes. A detailed and sobering article on treehugger.com provides information that the higher biodiversity is, the greater the chance many species can survive a life-changing event. When biodiversity drops, so does life's ability to respond to strong alterations in the environment. We now face the greatest threat to life on Earth. A rapidly changing and unstable climate and low biodiversity.
We don't know what the outcome will be, as we as humans have yet to know what we are going to do about climate change. One thing is clear, though. We must not only work to change our activities with regard to emissions and energy standards, we must also work to protect the biodiversity we have left on this planet. Both plants and animals are threatened with habitat loss, poaching, and over harvesting. We must continue to safeguard what is left and enforce the Endangered and Threatened Species Acts. Globally, each nation and its citizens must stand up to those who willingly destroy the environment and the life within it for their own material gain. This is a global crisis and it has direct influence on how we deal with the other great global crisis of climate change. Write to your elected leader and tell them to leave the Endangered Species Act and the Threatened Species Act alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment