FROM POLAR BEARS TO KOALA BEARS – WE ARE KILLING THEM ALL

God created this planet for everyone and not just humans alone. He gave us that extra bit of intelligence and expected us to use it to take care of all His creations. How miserably have we failed Him! Lust for power and greed for materialism has metamorphosed us into monsters and we are about to destroy the only world we have!

Global warming is a reality no matter what the American President rants. Human activities have warmed the Earth’s average temperature from 0.8 to 1 degree Celsius and the polar ice is melting faster than ever, rising the sea levels and inundating the coastal areas and islands. This is effecting us all from the ice capped North Pole to the burning bushlands of Australia. The polar bears need sea ice to hunt seals. If the sea ice melts away faster they and their babies starve to death.

It had not rained in the South-Eastern part of the Australian continent since 2018. These areas were getting hotter and drier and by the end of 2019 the conditions were so hot and tinder dry that lightning strikes that followed prompted the bush to burn at multiple places. High winds made them rage ferociously and travel quickly to adjoining townships and soon the fire was out of control of all human efforts! While human death can still be counted, the loss to the flora and fauna Down Under is simply incalculable! 80,000 koalas have been lost to these fires along with countless other smaller marsupials and birds and insect species found only in this part of the world. Several species of orchids have disappeared from this planet forever.

The commercial bee-keeping industry of New South Wales and Victoria has suffered terminal losses as the bees have been killed and their food source destroyed. The tall Eucalyptus trees would provide food to the koalas and their hollowed trunks would be home to parrots, cockatoos, marsupial gliders and possums. No one would ever know how many of these species are now extinct. The Long Footed Potoroo, a cousin of the kangaroos, are found only in this bit of Australia as are the Black Tailed Antechinus and Silver Haired Antichinus. All three marsupials are probably extinct now! Black Cockatoo, a very rare breed and Dunnart, yet another marsupial are only found in the Kangaroo Island of South Australia and there is no trace left of their habitat after the inferno!  

Ecologists in the University of Sydney estimate that nearly half a billion animals have been impacted and millions of acres of vegetation has been burnt. Will this flora and fauna ever recover?

WHY SHOULD WE BOTHER?

1. The food we eat and the oxygen we breathe are produced by the biological plant world.
2. We need healthy bush-lands and rain-forests to keep our planet cool and help regulate global rainfall pattern, which in turn will help our crops.
3. The loss of pollinator species like the bees and the butterflies and other insects impact the crops which give us cereals, vegetables and fruits. Many others are involved in seed dispersal and spore dispersal. Some contribute to the soil health by digging in the top layers and allowing rainwater in them and enriching the nutrient content of the soil.
4. Ethically too, the planet is for all the species. How can we act as arrogant fools and selfishly destroy all the flora and fauna on it?

MASS EXTINCTION

There have been 5 major mass extinction events in the past in our planet in 540 million years of its life and we may be terribly close to the sixth. In the past these extinctions have occurred because of huge ecological disruptions which in turn annihilated multiple species. The events have been either because of factors external to our planet like Asteroid impact or internal to our planet like major changes in carbon cycle altering our planet’s ecology, volcanic activities, increase greenhouse gases and global warming.

While Australia remains the ‘extinction capital of the world’ other places are not doing any better. The Amazon rainforests suffered massive damage recently while countries like Brazil and France were involved in personality clashes and petty quarrel. Rain-forests are being cut down in Brazil and Indonesia to meet their developmental needs. Even our most close relatives, the Gorillas, Orangutan and the Chimpanzee are threatened. Very soon we will be staring at a phase of loneliness in an empty, barren lifeless world and we, the greedy monsters, will too disappear from the face of earth.

If we work to save other species, we work to save ourselves. We are all interconnected. It is

ridiculous to think that we can destroy so many of earth’s plants, animals and the eco-system and nothing will ever happen to us. This will slowly come back to bite us....sooner than we think. They are not just pretty animals, annoying insects and idyllic landscapes; these are the keys to our future survival. The foundation of our economy – food security, health and quality of life rests on this ecosystem of plants, animals, birds and insects. Any time the last member of a species perishes, we are left a bit more deprived and a bit more closer to an apocalyptic collapse.

GOVERNMENTS SHOULD WAKE UP

The collapse of the Paris Accord and the drama that followed has left us doubting the sanity of a few in positions of power. Reducing greenhouse gases and reducing carbon footprints are non-negotiable. Business leaders the world over are growing increasingly worried and know that climate change will hit their bottom lines. The International Monetary Fund warns global warming is now a major financial risk, and countries could be forced into rescuing the economy and the environment. There are increasing fears among economic policy leaders that climate change could cause the next global financial breakdown. In Australia the Reserve Bank has been warned it may have to take extraordinary action to save the economy from climate change-induced financial disaster, including buying coal mines and fossil-fuel power stations.

India has committed herself to advancing renewable energy and promoting re-forestation. We intend to generate 175 GW of renewable energy, which in turn will generate 2,30,000 jobs by 2022 and improve our air quality. This is how we can manage development and environment as complimentary goals, and create a win-win situation for all stakeholders. In an unprecedented royal intrusion on government policy, Prince Charles has pleaded with world leaders and businesses to shift to a new economic model to save the planet from an "approaching catastrophe".