Blue Whale, Amur Leopard, Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Orangutan, Bengal tiger. These are just a few names of the many animals that are on the verge of extinction. Now you may not care about what I’m telling you, you may think I’m some famous wanna be who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, when in fact I do, most of it is just common sense, while the rest is done through countless hours upon hours of research.
There’s been 5 major extinctions in the history of the planet: The Ordivician, The Devonian, The Permian, The Triassic-Jurassic, and then the KT extinction (the one that killed the dinosaurs), but right now we’re going through a sixth one called The Anthropocene, the age of man. This time, however, the cause is not volcanic activity nor asteroid impacts. It’s us. Human activity is triggering a change in global climate. This change has increased species extinction to between 10 and 100 times than normal. We need to change our ways immediately in order to slow down extinction! For if we don’t, I’m afraid our species will be wiped out. Our ocean is heating up as well. This may not seem bad, but you have to realize that the ocean is what mostly controls our climate. Why is it bad that ocean temperatures are rising? Well, rising ocean temperatures mean melting polar ice meaning sea levels will rise, at least 70 meters (230 feet) ! It’s all caused by the polar ice caps melting because of the planet heating up so much. Oceans are heating up so much that marine biologists are saying by mid-century there will be only remnants of coral reefs left. To me, that’s like losing everything that’s beautiful about the planet.
When I to sit back and think that my grandchildren wouldn’t see a coral reef unless they were watching a documentary really would kill me. Today in our society we care more about politics than we do about our own environment. The Kauai Bird was driven to extinction because man destroyed trees in their habitat which caused them to retreat to higher ground and that eventually killed them excluding one male. In 1985 biologists went to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. There they discovered this bird was calling to a mate. He sang his heart out. Calling to a female who would never come. The Magnificent Dodo bird. Hunted to extinction just 100 years after its discovery in 1581. But did that effect us? No, it didn’t because all we know how to do is take. Every second, there are an estimated 55,600 trees that get chopped down. This is what our species has come to. Killing off other species just so we can populate other parts of the world. We’re pushing our planet too much! I wouldn’t stand up and give a message of hope, if I didn’t think we didn’t have a chance to turn things around. I still think we have a chance. Let’s say we’re going to try and squeeze the history of the earth into a 24-hour clock, where does man fit on that clock? A few seconds before midnight. We’re newcomers.
The generation that’s alive right now is the only generation that can heal the planet. Unlike any other time in history, our generation has the power to fix things, and we actually have the tools now to do it. 100 years from now people will look back on this particular time period and say to themselves, “How could they allow all those amazing creatures to vanish?” In a society that is filled with nothing but hate, racism, and abuse it is important for us to realize how much of an effect we’re having on our planet. I feel that if we all come together as one with a goal to fix the planet, we could accomplish great things and eventually change the world. How do we react if someone gets killed? We find whoever killed that person and arrest them and make a trial. How do we react if thousands upon thousands of animals are killed? We don’t. We build cities where lush rain forests once thrived and beautiful creatures once roamed. And what about the animals? We’re only focused on what new technology we can create and what new discoveries that will help us conquer the universe.
When in reality we should actually be focusing on trying to save our own planet and trying to make a difference. If a few species at the base line of the food chain go extinct, let’s say for example coral reefs. All the life in that ecosystem that would depend on that reef for food, and shelter would go extinct as well, and then the animals that depended on those animals would go extinct as well, and so on and so forth. In China, sharks are being killed by the thousands just for shark fin soup. By the thousands! That’s absolutely ridiculous! Sharks predate dinosaurs. They’ve been around for millions and millions of years, and the short time we’ve been on this planet, we’re killing them all off faster than they can reproduce. And it’s absolutely ridiculous. And another animal that’s being hunted to the verge of extinction, Manta Rays. Mantas are one of the most graceful creatures on the entire planet. They’re not being killed for their fins like sharks, and their meat is too tough to be eaten, instead they’re being killed for their gills. There was an old saying that manta gills could be used to cure cancer.
It’s not just animal extinction that is destroying our planet, its climate change too. If we stop and look back on all 5 of the major extinctions in the planet, what did all of those have in common? A massive increase in carbon dioxide. And scientists have never seen a carbon dioxide spike like it’s happening right now. And you have to realize that almost 70% of that carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans. If you want to know what that does, get a seashell and drop it in a glass of vinegar. The seashell simply dissolves. Each year our ocean is becoming more and more acidic. Before we know it, our ocean could become nothing more than acid. An acid ocean that we’ve created. The climate is controlled by the ocean. We can’t afford to lose our ocean because of some stupid mistake we never corrected. I mean if you sit back and look at the gulf oil spill as one of the worst oil disasters in the entire U.S. history. You have to realize that’s just a quarter of what we use each and every day. And it’s all being released into the air and being absorbed by our oceans. The Black Rhino. Is at the point of extinction.
Now only 65,000 Black Rhinos remain. Which are hunted to the verge of extinction. The most common known animal on the verge of extinction is the Bengal tiger. There are less than 4,000 left in the wild. And now, Asia wants to build infrastructure where the last few tigers exist. This will eventually result in their extinction. We need to save the last few species that are on the verge of extinction. We take homes from innocent animals, and for what? To build factories that will eventually pollute the planet. We need to be willing to take a chance and create a better world for our children and grandchildren. Planting trees, using less paper, recycling, stop wasting water, riding a bike to work, interacting with each other, getting rid of all the hate. It’s not going to make the world a better place. We need to set an example for our future generations. The planet will take billions of years to heal itself, but it’ll take shorter if we all can ban together as one and change the world. If nobody is willing to do it with me, then I’ll do it by myself. Because that’s how willing I am to change the world. I believe I can change the world. I believe we all can. We just have to come together and work together as one.
Every second, over 2.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide are released every second. Every second! And over 93% of that carbon dioxide is absorbed by algae and coral in the ocean which is why our coral reefs are dying. That’s the reality of the world we live in today. We’re reversing geological history and we’re doing it really fast. Faster than it takes for someone to go through high school. I’m willing to make a change but I honestly don’t want to do it alone. But if I have to do it alone, I will. I want to stop all of the conflict that’s going on in our world. I want to give everyone a chance to do something good. I’m willing to make a change in this world. Starting with greenhouse gases. Cows are the world’s #1 leading producer of methane gas. That’s one of the factors that are contributing to global warming. And global warming will lead to global climate change. The Great Barrier Reef which is one of the most abundant ecosystems on the planet, is dying. Back in August it was declared dead. Until it was discovered that it actually wasn’t dead and that part of the reef was still alive. Why are the reefs dying you may ask? Corals are a very delicate species of animal. They die and more coral builds up on top of the dead coral and the ocean has to remain at a certain temperature for them to stay alive. When the ocean’s temperature changes the corals die and it’s called coral bleaching this is because the corals turn completely white.
Coral Reefs produce 75% of oxygen on the planet. If the reefs die, then we’re out of luck. And yet this one species, homo sapiens, which actually means the wise ones, the wise humans, is causing this massive amount of destruction in the short time we’ve actually been on the planet, and now we have this choice: we can be destroyers of worlds or we can be creators of worlds. We’re having such a profound effect on the planet, that we’re now losing about half of the species on the planet by mid-century. Earth is 4.6 billion years old humans have been around for only a fraction of that time. Every one of us has the power to change the world in a very profound way. When we come together we can do extraordinary things. Every species on the planet has a story to tell. From plants, to worms, to butterflies, to blue whales, to homo sapiens. We have this conceit that we’re big, and not part of it, but we’re actually all connected. There’s still a lot left that’s worth fighting for. Margret Mead the anthropologist said, “A few thoughtful citizens can change the world,” indeed that the only thing that ever has.So how can you help? There a variety of ways you can help. From limiting your use of water, to converting to electric cars as your primary source of transportation. There are many ways we can all help the environment.
To start, we can reduce our carbon footprint. Reducing your carbon footprint means that you reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is emitted due to your daily activities such as driving your car, buying products that are shipped from overseas, etc. Or do what i do, go completely vegan. But for people who don’t want to go completely vegan, take one day out of your week to refrain from eating meat. Because if you do that, you’re saving as much energy as taking 200,000 cars off the road.At the rate we’re going, we will lose 50% of all life on the planet by mid-century. What will you tell your kids and grandkids when they look you in the eye and say, “Why aren’t there any coral reefs anymore?” Or “What happened to all the elephants?” Today we would give ANYTHING to see a t-rex, or a mammoth, or any kind of prehistoric creature. Our children and our grandchildren are going to be in the exact same position except they will be saying “I would give anything to see a whale” Change is happening. Will you sit back and watch it? Or will you stand up and be apart of it?I believe that we can change our world, and I want to change our world. I want to make the world a better place.
It’s always better to give than to receive, I have a feeling that if we change everything that we do for everyone, including the way we treat each other, I believe we can all accomplish great things. Now nobody may not really listen to me and we might go back to exactly the way we are now, but I’m willing to take a chance and at least change the world for the greater good. I’m willing to make the world a better place. I’m willing to band everyone together and change the way we’re treating our climate. It can be done. We just need to quit being rude toward each other and stop all the hate to actually do it. If we don’t, we’ll end up just like the beautiful Kauai Bird; All alone on one little island; Calling to a mate who would never come. This is what I truly believe. We’re living in the Anthropocene. We can turn mass extinction around. We just have to be willing enough to take a chance, and do it. It will take a lot; trust me I know. But we need to dedicate ourselves to achieving something amazing. We can create a new chance for man.
