Josh Evolve: Terra Firma: Get it, use it, trash it!

Ok, so I open my browser today, which is set at natgeo there was an article that caught my attention, it was explaining how new methods of looking at extinction rates are showing us that previous decided rates maybe overestimated by as much as 160% which is beneficial but does not negate the fact that extinction through habitat loss is still occurring in epic proportions around the globe constantly. Eric Dinerstein who was not directly involved in the study puts its best by saying

"If it's a 160 percent overestimate or an 80 percent overestimate or a 20 percent overestimate, [comparing] which model of extinction rates is more accurate isn't the most important question," "The overpowering message is that habitat loss and fragmentation are still the greatest threat to the future of species, and they are only increasing."

Reading this coupled with watching a documentary last night titled 180 Degrees South, a movie about an individual heading down to Patagonia, emulating a famous 1968 video, to climb one of its most remote peaks, also touched on how human growth, even though mostly in large cities, has many tentacles stretching out into all parts of our planet. It showed how due to large amounts of energy use in Chilean cities a new dam is in the works to dam up one of the most wild remote rivera in Chile which will not only kill the entire ecosystem but also put all of the local farmers in ruins.

Really what I am trying to say is that people are so concerned with our throw away style of life. Get it, use it, trash it! But are failing to see the consequences of this and what must be happening for this type of life style to occur. Damming of pristine rivers to make way for hydroelectric dams to create and send electricity to mega-cities hundreds of miles away, polluting oceans with toxic run off from sea floor drilling and creating a trash heap roughly twice the size of Texas in the middle of the Pacific Ocean which has also polluted the northern most islets of Hawaii killing hundreds of birds and fish every year.

All of our actions have a direct effect on the world around us, and we are usually not the ones feeling the direct effect of these actions. Its our planets wild spaces and its inhabitants that are suffering from our energy lust. below are just a few more example of what we are doing to our planet, maybe, just maybe we can all stop and think that maybe there is a better approach. To where we are still able to meet a realistic energy need for the population while at the same time allowing our planet to not suffer.