THINKING ABOUT BIODIVERSITY IN NATURE, PART 2

                    CLIMATE WARMING AND FAST DISAPPEARENCE OF BIODIVERSITY IS WORRYING

All life forms in nature are genetically interconnected, some are more interconnected than others.

While thinking about the immense biodiversity in nature, one cannot help but to think about fast disappearing biodiversity, with permanent disappearance of many species except human species, and diminished DNA pool in the nature.

Thanks to the advanced medical sciences and improved food sources and nutrition, humans are steadily increasing in number and approaching 8 billion. This insurmountable number, not only creating an imbalance in the nature but also many logistic problems. How are we going to be able to feed, cloth, house, educate, employ, and protect them from the ravages of climate change without invading and destroying the living environment of other species, thereby causing their disappearance?

Since all living creatures in nature are biologically interconnected, and living in a balanced harmony with each other, are we unknowingly digging our own grave by doing this?

Climate scientists tell us that humans’ activities, in form of population explosion, addiction to dirty fossil fuels for energy, electricity, transportation, and the destruction of rain forests for lumber and more food production are causing environmental pollution and accumulation of excess greenhouse gases that absorbs the sun’s heat and cause climate warming.

Climate warming, in turn, causes intense heat and variable climate patterns in the form of destructive storms, hurricanes, torrential rains, flooding, melting icebergs and permafrost, raising sea level, wildfires or droughts and famines, thereby adding more pollutions and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and causing mass disappearance of biodiversity in nature.

Rain forests are the lungs of the Earth. Because trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and release O2 in return. Additionally, rain forests are habitat for immense biodiversity and animal species. Destruction of rain forests hurts every nation, and every living creature on Earth.

Even though mass extinctions occurred in the remote past on Earth, they were the result of natural catastrophes like massive volcanic eruptions, or collusion of a giant asteroid with planet Earth, not the result of human’s activities induced climate warming.

As I see it, fighting climate warming and preventing mass extinction of biodiversity should start at home by every one of us.

I remember, a few years ago I hired a lawn maintenance company to make my lawn look as lush and green as my neighbor’s lawn. They dumped a lot of insecticides, fertilizers, and water on my lawn. It made my lawn look just as green as my neighbor’s. But I noticed something disturbing, there were no longer insects, butterflies, birds, fireflies, little critters on my lawn. I used to enjoy seeing them and listening to the bird sing songs. I cancelled my lawn service, stopped spraying and watering my lawn.

By online search I found out that Americans use over seventy million pounds of pesticides and fertilizer yearly to maintain their lush green lawns. This is more chemicals that used in all agriculture in the US. Considering there are over 11 000 lush green, well-manicured golf courses in America, this should not come as a surprise, especially when you dump many gallons of water on toxic chemicals to make it seep into ground water. They are carcinogens and harmful to humans and deadly for wildlife.

The other culprit that contributes to the pollution and excess green-house gases is food waste. Food waste is the third biggest emitter of green-house gases, it ends in landfills, rots and generates and release methane which is 28 times stronger than CO2 to retain heat.

In the US, almost half of the food supply which is worth $ 48,3 billion is wasted each year. Food waste is a complex and multifaceted social and economic problem because food waste contributes to world- wide hunger, it means loss of energy and money, and inequality in food availability and distribution.

In my family we try to drive less, plan to convert our cars to EV, not to waste food, recycle and use plastics as little as possible.

Of course, individual responsibilities to prevent climate warming is barely enough. Climate warming affects the entire world. Every country of the world must be responsible for it. Under the auspices of the UN, every country must unite and form a Global Community, and act in unison, to replace global fossil fuels addiction with clean and renewable energy sources.

In addition, the world’s nations must not allow a lone dictator with Napoleon complex to start an unjustified war with a nuclear threat and with carpet bombing to destroy the other country’s human population, infrastructures and wildlife population. This is creating an energy and food crises on a worldwide basis, adding more pollutions and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Otherwise, we are destined to turn our life giving and beloved planet Earth into a lifeless planet like our neighbor planet Mars.