Today, regardless of that remarkable attainment and decades of environmental progress, we find ourselves facing an even more dreadful and appalling global challenge, from loss of biodiversity to climate change to plastic pollution, what we are facing now is the deadly outbreak of Coronavirus that has taken its toll on almost every country across the globe.
We the human race have put too much burden on the Earth causing irremediable destruction, however, with the onset of coronavirus outbreak, the planet seems to flourish and recreate the encumbrance which has been there over the past 50 years from the time when the first Earth Day was celebrated.
We all know that healthy forests, streams, and wetlands contribute to clean air and clean water by enabling impurities to settle out or be converted to harmless compounds by plants or soil. The diversity of organisms, or biodiversity, in an ecosystem provides essential foods, medicines and other materials. But as human populations increase and their encroachment on natural habitats expand, humans are having detrimental effects on the very ecosystems on which they depend. The survival of natural ecosystems around the world is threatened by many human activities: bulldozing wetlands and clear-cutting forests, the systematic cutting of all trees in a specific area, to make room for new housing and agricultural land; damming rivers to harness the energy for electricity and water for irrigation; and polluting the air, soil, and water.
It was as late as the beginning of the new millennium that the idea of environment protection like so many phenomena of the modern age went global, and the people around the world realized its significance and the purpose of raising global environmental awareness. And now worldwide campaigns on four critical environmental issues, crucial to a sustainable future have been started in the rapidly growing urban environment. We have been discussing on the following issues, which I would like to recall again however, there is more to the scene now which I shall brief towards the end.
BIODIVERSITY: Protecting biodiversity means protecting life on Earth. Each species, ecosystem, gene and culture is important to the future of our planet. All these have a specific role to play on Earth. For example, animal species are predator or prey. If a predator species disappears, the populations of prey will grow until there isn't enough food for all of them. The prey animals then begin to die as well. On the other hand, if the prey species disappears, the predators will starve. Each species is crucial to the system. When one species, one gene or one culture is destroyed, important information about how to adapt to the world is lost and can never be recovered.
Habitat Destruction: This includes the degradation of all ecosystems on land and in water. It includes the mass-scale clearing, over-harvesting and burning of forests for agriculture, mining and development. Desertification is a critical issue that results from habitat destruction.
Introduction of Invasive species: Invasive species are organisms (usually transported to new areas by humans) which successfully establish themselves in native ecosystems and then take over. Species suddenly taken to new environments may fail to survive, but often they thrive and become invasive, killing off species of plants or animals native to the area. This process, together with habitat destruction, has been a major cause of extinction of native species throughout the world in the past few hundred years.
Pollution: Pollution, as we all know, comes from human activities. Household cleaning products and agricultural fertilizer and pesticides contaminate soil, groundwater and surface waterways. The burning of fossil fuels, among other things, causes pollution and global warming, which damage biodiversity as well.
Over-exploitation: This includes fishing and hunting. Over-fishing is depleting fish populations all over the world. Illegal hunting and poaching to satisfy the global demand for animal products is also a major threat to biodiversity.
FORESTS: By destroying our forests we are losing our most reliable resource and are struggling with global warming, floods, droughts and soil erosion. The main threats to forests come from commercial logging, land clearing (for infrastructure, mining, farms, shopping malls and other development), and the building of roads for logging and mining.
Today there is a rising concern worldwide to save forests. People all over the world are told to plant trees as a symbol of unity, peace and environmental concern, for forests are the lungs of our planet. They purify the air, protect our water and soil, and are a critical habitat to millions of animals and plants.
ENERGY: If we are honest enough and think it over that how very often we leave our television sets on while talking on the telephone! How often we leave the fan in the drawing room on while we are in the kitchen! How often do we forget to switch off the gas when our milk is boiling over! We can drastically increase energy efficiency through cost-effective technologies and commonsense practices. The efficient use of energy is a key step toward clean energy systems using the sun, wind and hydrogen. We must adopt systems that generate minimal pollution and use energy sources that are naturally and quickly replenished.
WATER: The earth is 70 per cent water, as are our bodies. What we do to our water, we do to ourselves. Humans are increasingly putting this resource in danger. But, although 70 per cent of the earth is water, fresh water is a scarce resource. Freshwater ecosystems only cover roughly 1 per cent of the surface of the Earth. Conversion of salt water to fresh water is difficult and costly. Yet each one of us can play an important role in conserving and protecting our local water supply.
Despite all these issues discussed above which are leading the mother earth towards a peril, isn't the planet looking uninhabited these days as people across the world are sheltering in their places and avoiding social gatherings to contain the spread of the virus.
This year, as the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of World Earth Day, the entire Earth is at its best condition in half a century, says Mohammad Darvish, a member of the National Security Council for the Environment.
Referring to the outbreak's effect on the spread of the pollutants throughout the world, he noted that over the past two months, most people around the world have experienced unprecedented surprises, and for the first time in a row, greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel consumption, air, land and water traffic have dropped dramatically.
All of this has led to greenhouse gas emissions in March 2020 being the same as in the 1990s, 30 years ago, and this shows how much people's lifestyles are at odds with what they call "global resilience," he highlighted.
Pointing to the pandemic impact on wildlife, he stated that due to declining human presence in natural areas and habitats, living conditions of wildlife have improved dramatically.
Elaborating on that protecting the planet is important to humans, and we need to maintain the best conditions on Earth after Coronavirus, he said that the pandemic has caused the earth to breathe deeply, and now the wise man is faced with the question that "why, when human activity as a member of the ecosystem decreases, not only does nothing happen, but the condition of nature improves."
It's high time we CHANGE. The times have come when we should think about making earth a better place by contributing on individual scale. It is also about getting ordinary citizens like you and me to change their daily habits to make a positive environmental impact. We can start from our own homes by doing little things like using less water, using less electricity and educating our children on the importance of resource conservation. Small changes can make big differences!
"What we need is not the will to believe but the will to work out." |
