SOURCE:Green Builder Media
DESCRIPTION:
To quote American nature writer Kenneth Brower, “A living planet is a rare thing, perhaps the rarest thing in the universe, and a very tenuous experiment at best.” A living planet is comprised of complex ecosystems that nourish myriad species, each one interdependent, relying on the others to play their role to such perfection that only exists in nature.
When ecosystems fall out of balance, chaos ensues. The cycle of life is interrupted, and species perish. Without sustainable natural systems, there is no provision for communities, no sustenance for societies, no nourishment for economies.
Since our arrival some 60,000 years ago, humans have had a major impact on the planet’s ecosystems. Our presence has—slowly at first and now quite rapidly—caused the extinction of a broad spectrum of species across the globe.
Earth has experienced 5 previous mass extinction events, all produced by natural cataclysms or external forces (such as asteroid impacts). Today, we’re in the midst of a sixth mass extinction—this one caused not by the cycles of nature or an external force, but by the destructive activities of a single species: humans.
KEYWORDS: Environment and Climate Change, WWF, climate change, biodiversity, sustainability, Conservation
