The flight of man is the plight of nature
Dec 15, 2022
Right from the beginning, men rule supreme over all other life forms. He establishes himself at the top of the food chain, goes through painstaking experiments to light up the darkness that comes after dusk, and through decades of scientific progress can put himself against the unpredictable weather changes.
Homo sapiens have set themselves apart from other species because the human body is gifted with impeccable intellectual abilities. Briefly, at all the achievements, the man had single-handedly accomplished over time, one must think what mortal hand or eye could challenge man for his position. But one may want to think again. No animal would inflict pain on another of their kind for reasons other than self-defense and food.
Man is an integral part of the environment, yet he is the archenemy of it. Degradation of the world’s natural resources by humans is rapidly outpacing the planet’s ability to absorb the damage, meaning the rate of damage is increasing globally. It is to be considered that when the environment is compromised, lives are often endangered and people’s opportunities for better standards of living are profoundly curtailed.
For instance, the ocean has ensnared around 90% of the harmful air pollution present in the environment according to a recent study. The effect is not seen visibly but has made drastic changes to the ocean’s deep-rooted composition. The increased prison plastics induced by the continual drainage of illegal industrial affluents and compulsive habits of people are affecting sea creatures at an all-time alarming pace. A recent study found that sea turtles having just 14 pieces of plastic were already closer to their deathbed than their healthy plastic-avoidant kin.
In the 2016 report released by the World Economic Forum, it has been speculated that there will be a greater concentration of plastic than fish by the time we reach 2025. This is not that far from imagination as the once imperative factories that amassed up to 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic are not able to decompose more than 9% of the pliable material.
Coming on to the topic of forest fires which are happening now more than ever at an increased pace causing around 3 million hectares of land to be burned which is equivalent to the area of Belgium. The culprit behind these horrendous acts of natural imbalance is the progeny of severe climate change and overall atmospheric temperature to a few degrees higher than its present state. The drastically changed temperature causes dry grass to ignite sparks in the forest.
The heart of our biodiversity comprises the wildlife inhabiting there which in recent times has declined far more than 68% till 2016, as said by a survey of living planet report 2020. However, some species are being conserved with the added efforts of people of which the prime examples include coral reef sharks and the Nepalese tiger. When the valuable sources of life start to change into a commodity, environmental disaster is particularly not far behind.
Moreover, the global carbon index is peaking at its all-time high thanks to the rapid evolution of the content creator genre and consumer-centric companies focusing on the mantra of creating more and consuming more. This happens because there is a huge amount of power required to get these machines up and running 24/7 to provide the internet and recharge the machines available for wireless network operations. We may think what good is it if I stop using my phone for sending that Snapchat filter but you have to keep this in mind when around 4.1 billion people use these services at an incredulous rate, the resulting ideal picture of no damage is far from the real 3.7 % carbon footprinting accumulated annually.
Climate change, wildlife crimes, microplastic pollution, and land degradation are just a few examples of environmental ills that affect the health and well-being of man. The consequences of failing to manage the environment sensibly and effectively are profound and far-reaching. We would like to believe that attaining our fundamental rights entails clean air, healthy oceans, resilient ecosystems, and a global environment managed sustainably for the benefit of the people and the globe.
Resources:
https://sentientmedia.org/humans-destroying-ecosystems/
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210520-could-humans-really-destroy-all-life-on-earth
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2019/december/humans-are-causing-life-on-earth-to-vanish.html