Every single ecosystem on Earth, and a sobering percentage of the world's species, is now either threatened or critically endangered, and the culprit is at large, wreaking havoc without conscience or pause - and gaining momentum:
I could post dozens of
Every single ecosystem on Earth, and a sobering percentage of the world's species, is now either threatened or critically endangered, and the culprit is at large, wreaking havoc without conscience or pause - and gaining momentum:
I could post dozens of video links to monstrous activities like mountaintop removal coal mining, tar sands production, fracking, the relentless and merciless expansion of palm oil plantations, and the poaching crisis that is about to drive elephants, rhinos, tigers, lions... even pangolins, to extinction.
But instead, I share a small story - With huge import.
Because now we are clearly seeing the ripple-effects of our war on wildlife, our over-population, over-consumption and rapid exploitation of our planet..
And we are outstripping the capacity of the Earth to mitigate, or compensate for our assault on Her.
Anyone who read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, all those years ago, saw this coming
But - We did nothing to stop it. Or, at least, not enough.
Not by a long shot.
The planet soon will no longer be able to support us, at all.
Our plastic and chemical waste is choking Gaia, and sullying both the little pleasant landscapes and the once magnificent vistas we used to find solace in.
And - food.
Ecosystems are collapsing.
We are losing critical plankton - And that once burgeoning conglomeration of tiny and infant species not only fed whales and fish, but actually moved the ocean, mixing layers of nutrients and temperature layers, keeping the health of the entire ocean vibrant.
Plankton, among the tiniest of beings, have been key to supporting all life in our oceans - Perhaps, by extension, all life on Earth.
We are driving the apex predators of the planet, those keystone species that shape and benefit every other system under their reign, such as lions, wolves, and sharks, to extinction.
And now we're losing THE Great Barrier Reef. Of all the iconic, crucial, wondrous, marvelous gifts on this planet, a riot of life, biodiversity, color, mystery and beauty - we are killing it all off.
Are we The Doomsday Species?
So with a heavy heart! share this essay by Greg Ray on missing sea birds, missing fish, and seas so clogged with plastic debris they are virtually nonnavigable:.The Ocean is Broken.