Catching up with the time that is left out; will we be able to do it?
-An Environmental talk-
Time spends so quickly. It is so fast that we can’t even manage our day to fit into it.
While the world changes every minute, with new technologies coming up and the world ‘developing’ rapidly, we as a global community; as the ‘wisest’ and the ‘most intellectual’ species on the planet, have failed to give the real meaning to what true ‘development’ means.
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Global development lacks a clear definition, but it is often linked with human development and international efforts to reduce poverty and inequality and improve health, education and job opportunities around the world.”
-Rolf Rosenkranz, Devex International Development
The author furthermore defines international development including a country’s gross domestic product or its average per-capita income, literacy and maternal survival rates, as well as life expectancy, human rights and political freedoms.
This might be another aspect of development, but we need to come across so many questions with it. Would this definition keep us going in the right way? In the path we need to proceed? Or at least, in the path which we have to proceed? Can we humans go ahead with only developing our economies and the technologies around us? Does true development mean only about money, human health, education and jobs? These incomplete definitions on what we are supposed to do as humans have always fooled us and are dragging us to extinction. That might sound dangerous, but that is what will happen even to us, if we continue to carry on destroying or environment; our planet; our only home.
The problem of the environment was never a problem back in the days, but two of the major roots of all these environmental problems are the biodiversity threat and the problem of deforestation.
Biodiversity is threatened
According to the IUCN Red List, which is considered to be the most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of species, more than 28,000 species (around 27% off the total amount of species on this planet) are threatened. That’s about a quarter of the biodiversity of the planet in danger. As of today, we can view some animals only in images; thanks to the action of mankind. And as long as we as a human race do not accept it as a fact that we really did drag them to extinction and those species who were here before us, have gone just because of us; we won’t feel guilty of it. This would still keep us going, dragging more and more animal species into extinction, to fulfill our numerous desires.
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Species that have been here longer than us will be gone because of us…”
-Prince EA
The studies of the IUCN shows that 21% of all known mammals, 30% of all known amphibians, 12% of all known bird species, 28% of all known reptiles, 37% of all known freshwater fishes, 70% of all known plant species, 35% of all known invertebrates are so far threatened. Deforestation and the rapid loss of forest cover/animal habitat, wild fires, poaching (which is illegal, but yet continues to happen in much larger scales than anyone could think), animal deaths from human-wildlife conflicts (wildlife deaths are around a hundred times greater than the amount of human deaths from the so called ‘conflicts’), pollution, invasive species, diseases, small populations and the presence of highly rare and specialized species are major reasons causing this destruction.
Just thinking of a world without all those amazing diverse creatures make the world look much gloomier, because the more diverse it all becomes, the more beautiful it is. Here is an example for an animal species highly facing the threat of extinction:
Javan rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sondaricus)
(IUCN status: Critically Endangered)
The Javan rhino unfortunately has only around 63–69 individual members who survive in a single national park in Indonesia. These creatures are given tons of attention and are now taken care of by various Rhino protection units. Threats faced by the species are hunting for traditional medicine and the small population.
We are losing our forests at a rapid rate
Let’s have a look at the recent fires in the Amazon, where still the blame is towards the humans, no matter what anyone says, this disaster could have been prevented as this mostly might have been caused by the total intervention of a group of people. Many animals were killed as they had no mode to escape. Thousands and thousands of trees and plants turning into ashes and all that greenery was destroyed by this disaster. Who is responsible for all the trees which have been destroyed? The lives of the animals taken? The tons of greenhouse gases emitted to the atmosphere, and the ones which will due to the loss of the forest? Recovery of the lost amounts of forest is something which is not what will happen. The money minded politicians have all their brains to have their plans functioning and alive. This deforestation which occurred caused a huge damage to the whole area of Amazon, burning for approximately twenty days. Remember, the Amazon is known as the lungs of the planet for a reason.
Today we have so many conventions and agreements signed, laws and rules implemented; nationally, and internationally, and they do mostly seem to function. But we have seen these protocols failing due to some reasons too. Here in an environmental crisis, we can’t be pointing our fingers at each other to do a blame game. The world needs to come together at common consensus to fight this problem as this would not just affect to a single country, or a single region; or a set of countries. This is something which is common to all of us living on this planet as we are a part of nature. Like the previously quoted Prince EA says,
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We are not apart from nature; we are a part of nature. And to protect nature is to protect us…”
The world really needs a change. In the ways we think about nature, in the ways we see Mother Nature and most importantly; in the ways we treat her. We have already faced the situations where we have felt the consequences of cutting down trees and drawing an unlimited amount of species to extinction. Let’s not do it again humans, let’s just not. Because after all, this is our home. Without a place to live, none of us can exist. Money doesn’t mean anything that important, when compared to nature. To catch up with the time left for us to act and bring the planet to a non-alarming stage, the effort we should make is huge. But together, as the human species, let’s show the real meaning of calling ourselves responsible and wise.
(At the end, this is not to be read only ones who choose to read this article. As the readers see the title, only the people interested in environmental activities would read this out, and that’s not what this article, or any environmental article is meant to be created for. It also needs various other brains to connect. Especially, of those who don’t care about the environment. Spread Mother Nature’s message of the scream of pain to the world. Let ‘Homo sapiens’ be the real ‘wise man’.)
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If you think that the economy is more important than the environment, try counting your money while holding your breath.”
