GR: This is an urgent message that everyone should receive: We must act to stop the global deterioration and loss of forests, shrublands, grasslands, soil, and wildlife. Human activities–plowing the land, cutting the forests, grazing the grassland, warming the air, and exposing soil to wind and water erosion–are destroying our planetary life-sustaining ecosystems. Over the 40-year period to 2012, more than half the animals on Earth disappeared. Unless we make an immediate and powerful response, vegetation and soil losses will continue until they strip the planet’s surface bare. Without soil, much of the Earth will become as lifeless as the moon. Barren and silent but for whispering wind, pockets of weeds, clouds of wildfire smoke, and the distant cries of a few remaining animals.
Bessie Parker farm, Leon, Iowa. The erosion in these fields has reduced the value of the farm to the point where all but 40 acres have been taken over for taxes. Erosion has not stopped. Cattle grazing and sporadic hay mowing will continue to expose soil (photo: public domain, U. S. National Archives).
The source of the information on wildlife decline is the World Wildlife Fund: “Global biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate, putting the survival of other species and our own future at risk. The latest edition of WWF’s Living Planet Report brings home the enormity of the situation – and how we can start to put it right. The Living Planet Index reveals that global populations of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles declined by 58 per cent between 1970 and 2012. We could witness a two-thirds decline in the half-century from 1970 to 2020 . . .”
Without soil, there will be no farms, freshwater will runoff to the sea, vegetation will disappear, and wildlife will die (photo © Kelly Sillaste / Getty Images / WWF).
Wildlife decline: Living Planet Report 2016 | WWF
GarryRogers Nature Conservation 
Hyacinth, death and sadness are coming near for all.
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In the 1980s a common sight in the southern region of Nigeria was of hunters with their guns and hunting dogs moving to the forests to hunt for wild animals. On their way back you could see delight on their faces because of the number of animals killed. Nobody talked to them about conservation despite our departments of Zoology in nearby universities. In 2018, the story has changed. Hunters come home empty handed. The same thing will happen to our rivers. They are being suffocated. Atimes the rivers protest and man cries.
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Hyacinth, though large numbers of scientists warn that a global emergency has come, most scientists and their students are ignoring the warnings. Like the musicians on the Titanic, they will continue their work until the walls of their laboratories are swept away.
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As I walk through the campuses of universities in Nigeria nay Africa, I see young people trooping in and out of lecture halls and I wonder if their science and engineering curricula have any relevance to mitigating the problems confronting ecosystems. What will be the impact of this generation of students on the degradation taking place in the ecosystem? To what extent can the blame be shared by the political class that do not believe in university autonomy and to the academic staff and students who worship paper qualifications instead of pursuing ensuring relevant curriculum?
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Thanks for the follow, Mara 🙂
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It’s easy to be cynical but I keep telling myself that as long as there are birds in the sky and air in my lungs, there is something that can be done. I think a lot of people have just given up and that’s got to be the worst anyone can do no matter how bad things seem.
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You are absolutely correct and I fully agree. So the plan, as hopeless as it may be, is to replace current politicians with progressive leaders that are not controlled by avarice and desire for power. This requires public education and political participation.
Not many people are paying attention to the environmental problems. Tough to educate the great majority who will not look or listen. We have to hope that the onset of global warming’s nasty storms will begin to focus attention and will open ears to the dangers and the solutions.
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Agreed.
Those with the wealth and power, wouldn’t give it up, their comfort. Economic growth ensures their survival.
We know the problem, we still need the solution. A dream without a plan, is just a wish.
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Rosaliene, I know you do your part. We are on the brink of great changes. Perhaps luck will favor nature and let humanity replace avarice and the need for immediate gratification with altruism and a desire for balance with nature.
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Hi Kelly,
As things stand, the social and political powers see nothing to gain by shifting from Capitalism and its growth-at-all-costs strategy to a naturalist, minimalist strategy. Let’s hope that in the crucible of global-warming catastrophes minds will change.
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I share your concern, Garry. I do my small part, but, until we-humans abandon our current exploitative system of Nature, we cannot stop the ecological collapse underway. Major change requires a giant leap forward.
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I know it is such a terrible mess. I do what I can to be and environmental advocate. I think about it all the time. What is the solution? It is great to tell people they need to change, and I do believe many people would like to do more but how do we transition people from the way they live today, to living more aligned with Nature?
I am vegan, I didn’t have children, I have no pets. I am cautious about what I purchase and recycle and reuse, I live a minimalist life. I also live in the rural countryside. Could l live without my vehicle? Not unless I sold my place and moved closer to the amenities, But urban sprawl is not more environmental either. People are so resistant to change.
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