Thursday 23 May 2019

Of Birds, Bees & Turtles: Celebrating Biodiversity in May

In May we celebrate Endemic Bird Day on 4th, World Bee Day on 20th, the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22nd and World Turtle Day on 23rd. All these days are observed to raise awareness about the various at-risk species and at-risk biodiversity itself. Early in May, the report from Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), warned that the impact of modern civilization nature has put 1 MILLION plant and animal species of our planet's estimated 8 MILLION species at risk of extinction. Basically, 
"due to humankind’s relentless pursuit of economic growth!"
Source: Felix Mueller/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

The quest for convenience and easy living is unleashing a pogrom on all other life forms. Ironic, that under the UN declared period of pursuing sustainable development goals (#SDGs) human activity is predominantly unsustainable and putting life and biodiversity at risk. Be it the quest for "Responsible Consumption and Production" #SDG12, or even "Life Below Water" #SDG14 and "Life on Land" #SDG15, the pursuit of so-called SDGs 8 & 9 "Decent Work and Economic Growth" & "Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure" is putting other SDGs at risk in addition to biodiversity. The sixth mass extinction, a.k.a. the Holocene or Anthropocene Extinction is the existential threat of the 21st Century. Yet, powerful lobbies like Big Oil, Big Pharma, or as Vandana Shiva puts it the "Poison Cartel", Industrial Agriculture & Fishing, Manufacturing lobbies, FMCG and even Fast Fashion have worked to keep "Business as usual" even in the face of it's devastating impact on life on our planet and it's environment. 



The title of a recent paper by Jason Hickel of the Department of Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of London, "The contradiction of the sustainable development goals: Growth versus ecology on a finite planet" summarizes the dichotomy and the dilemma best. 

Human greed and gluttony manifesting in the love for mass production and mass markets is causing mass extinction! We can't allow "business as usual" when life is at stake:

  •  5G has been seen as most devastating of all mobile technology on biodiversity in general and birds in particular.
  •  Chemical insecticides and pesticides that kill bees more effectively than pests or harmful insects. 
  • Unsustainable agricultural and fishing practices in the quest for food security and profits is actually fueling "hunger" as well as "food waste."
  • A glut of plastics chokes the planet and all life forms, including turtles and birds shown in iconic the viral videos to be choking on plastic waste, be it through the subsequent air, water and soil pollution of plastic waste.
  • Rainforests - the ultimate biodiversity hotspots - are cut down to make way for monoculture hubs of agriculture, cattle ranches and palm plantations.
  • Climate change fueled by continued dependence on fossil fuels in turn super-sizes natural disasters devastating life.
The PETA ad campaign - Killer Cows - may be graphic but is apt, in the quest for meat in ur meals we are endangering biodiversity itself: 



Source: PETA.

We share our planet with many life forms, we are all connected. When the "bell tolls" for other species, if we ignore it, it will soon toll for us too, extrapolating and misquoting lines from John Donne's famous poem,

any man's  [species'] death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind [all life forms], and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee [us all!!!].