Transcript Use of Endangered Animal parts Soil Erosion and

“If today is a typical day on planet Earth, we will lose 116
square miles of rainforest, or about an acre a second. We
will lose another 72 square miles to encroaching deserts, as
a result of human mismanagement and overpopulation. We
will lose 40 to 100 species, and no one knows whether the
number is 40 or 100. Today the human population will
increase by 250,000. And today we will add 2,700 tons of
chlorofluorocarbons to the atmosphere and 15 million tons
of carbon. Tonight the Earth will be a little hotter, its
waters more acidic, and the fabric of life more threadbare.
The truth is that many things on which your future health
and prosperity depend are in dire jeopardy: climate
stability, the resilience and productivity of natural systems,
the beauty of the natural world, and biological diversity.”
David Orr, 1991
All life on Earth is part of one great interdependent
system.
Life (or biotic factors in our environment) interacts with
the non-living (or abiotic factors in our environment)
components of the planet.
• atmospheric gases
• oceanic waters
• minerals and rocks
• pH and salinity of the environment
• non-living component in the soil
Humanity depends totally upon this community of life, or
the biosphere.
Biodiversity is defined as the variety of the world’s
organisms, including their genetic diversity and the
many different forms each species takes.
Biodiversity underscores planetary health and wellbeing.
The greater the biodiversity, the healthier the
ecosystem.
There’s almost no end to the role plants play in the workings of
our planet. Plants perform each of the following services, just to
name a few:
• Maintain a breathable
atmosphere by giving off oxygen
• Keep us cooler by providing
shade and releasing moisture
through their leaves
• Prevent mud slides and
flooding
• Remove the main
“greenhouse gas,” carbon
dioxide, from the atmosphere
When plant communities are damaged or destroyed, so too are
important biological services that people and other living things
depend on.
Open your medicine cabinet and you’re likely to see a number of
products derived from wild plants and animals.
In fact, more than 25 percent of the
medicines we rely on contain compounds
derived from or modeled on substances
extracted from the natural world.
• The Pacific yew tree—once burned
as trash in forestry operations—
produces compounds found to be
effective in treating ovarian, breast,
and other types of cancers.
• Animal-derived products are also important in medical
treatments. For example, calcitonin, a hormone used for the
treatment of osteoporosis, and protamine sulphate, an important
medicine used in open-heart surgery, both come from salmon.
But microorganisms may well be the best-represented species in
medicine cabinets around the world: More than 3,000 antibiotics,
including penicillin and tetracycline, were originally derived from
these tiny life forms.
As each of the above examples
points out, all species—even those
that seem “worthless,” like the
Pacific yew, or microorganisms like
fungi and bacteria—have the
potential to provide us with useful
or even life-saving products.
• Sales of prescription drugs that contain ingredients extracted or
derived from wild plants totaled more than $15 billion in the
United States in 1990.
Rosy Periwinkle: Anti-cancer agent
Foxglove: Cardiac stimulant
Common thyme: cures
fungal infections
Pineapple: Controls
tissue inflammation
Indian snakeroot:
reduces high blood
pressure
Calisaya: (Quinine)
antimalarial
• Each year, more than 350
million people visit our
national parks, and wildlife
refuges. This visitation
generates more than 400,000
jobs and more than $28
billion of economic activity.
Bees, butterflies, birds, bats,
and other animals pollinate
75 percent of the world’s
staple crops and 90 percent
of all flowering plants.
• More than 40 crops produced in the
United States, valued at
approximately $30 billion per year,
depend on insect pollination.
• Certain types of bacteria make nitrogen available for
use by crops, pastures, forests, and other
vegetation…and in turn animals. Economists estimate
that the value of this activity is $33 billion annually.
Scientists say we're on the brink of the
greatest global loss of biodiversity since the
extinction of the dinosaurs and many other
species more than 65 million years
ago…the middle of an extinction event!
Human activity is the cause.
We're at risk of losing thousands of species in the future, in many
cases because we simply don't recognize how our actions affect
other living things.
There’s nothing unnatural about the process of extinction or, for
that matter, about disturbance to Earth’s ecosystems.
The fact is that more than 99 percent of all species that ever
existed have become extinct over a period of more than 3.5 billion
years of evolution.
Of course, the big difference between
extinctions of the past and those
of the present can be summed up in
one word: HUMANS.
Never before on our planet has one
species been responsible for such a
massive decline of global biodiversity.
The loss of habitats—the places where organisms live and get the
nutrients, water, and living space they need to survive—is the
primary reason biodiversity is in decline.
Habitat destruction can
disrupt human communities as
well as those of plants and
animals. Dams on rivers in the
Pacific Northwest have
produced inexpensive electricity
and have redirected water for
agriculture—but they’ve also
interrupted salmon migrations, The dams impede juvenile and
drastically lowering the number adult migrations to and from the
of salmon that reach their
ocean by creating reservoirs.
spawning grounds.
• Less than one percent of North America’s original tallgrass
prairie ecosystem remains.
• More than one-half of the original wetlands in the United States
have been lost or severely degraded in the last 300 years as a
result of draining and filling.
• More than 95 percent of the lower 48 states’ original primary
forests are gone. The largest areas of primary forest are in the
Pacific Northwest, where about 10 percent of the original forests
remain.
• The Yellowstone River is the only large U.S. river (longer than
600 miles) that is not severely altered by dams.
• In Arizona, about 90 percent of river and stream habitat has
been destroyed by dams, conversion to farmland, excessive
pumping of groundwater, cattle grazing, and urban development.
There is little doubt that our growing population will result in
continuing habitat loss and will put enormous pressure on Earth’s
natural resources.
While some people argue that new technologies could indefinitely
extend the use of nonrenewable resources and allow the use of
alternative ones, many others feel that technology can only delay
the time when the Earth loses its ability to sustain us.
Karachi, Pakistan
Population growth alone
doesn’t account for the
increasing consumption of
natural resources that is
largely responsible for
biodiversity’s decline.
Those of us living in affluent, industrialized nations consume a
disproportionate amount of resources, including fossil fuels.
Use of Endangered Animal parts
• Tiger medicine. Leopard pelts. Armadillo purses. Alligator shoes. Each
day, thousands of wild plants and animals are plucked from their
natural habitats, converted into these and other products, traded in
markets, and shipped across borders.
Products made from endangered animals
and plants come at a high ecological cost.
Trade in endangered species is often
restricted, so products that cost just a few
dollars in a shop can cost hundreds or
thousands of dollars in fines if they are
brought back to the United States.
For joint pain, for example, users of TCM have
long turned to tiger bone, which they believe helps
reduce swelling and suppress pain.
Soil Erosion and Loss of Nutrients
Plants grow in it. Pigs wallow in it. And termites build with
it. Healthy soil supports a great part of life on Earth. That’s
why scientists are concerned about soil erosion and the loss
of nutrients caused by certain farming practices, cutting
down forests, and building homes and roads.
In the last 40 years, one-third
of North America’s topsoil
has washed off the land, and
it’s ended up in waterways
where it can cloud freshwater
streams and smother
incredibly diverse coral reefs.
Supporting soil health and
stability is key to sustaining
productive farmland and a
diversity of life for the
future.
Loss of Forests and Trees
•From a cluster of pin oaks in a city park to tropical jungles
of teak and mahogany, forests are the life support systems
of the planet. They pump our air full of oxygen. They
fortify our soils. They shelter, feed, and shade. And they
house an amazing amount of plant and animal diversity.
But in the past 200 years,
many of the forests that
once covered the planet have
disappeared. Farms, houses,
roads, and cities have sprung
up in their place, along with
imported species and whole
plantations of just one kind
of tree.
MONOCULTURE
Are There Enough Fish in the Sea?
Shrimp. Lobster. Swordfish. Tuna. What do you think of
when you hear these words? Marine biodiversity … or
dinner?
Fish have been a staple of the human diet for thousands of
years. Most fisheries are in trouble because we’re catching
fish and other marine species faster than they can
reproduce.
We’re also fishing in ways that destroy marine habitats and catch
millions of “unwanted” creatures called bycatch, which are often tossed
overboard, dead or dying.
Shrimp trawl
catch. The 95%
of the catch in
this photo that
was not shrimp
died on deck and
was shoved
overboard. This is
called “bycatch”
Environmental Toxins
Bug spray. Powerful cleaners. Fertilizers for lawns, crops,
and golf courses. These and other chemicals can help make
our lives easier—but they can also cause unintended
problems.
Toxic chemicals have made their way into every ocean and
continent on Earth and contaminated whales, panthers,
seals, and almost every living thing, some very seriously.
If they’re going to
kill bugs, fungi,
rodents, and
weeds…what do you
think they’ll do to
you?
Climate Change
What’s the connection between polar bears and power
plants, coral reefs and SUVs? Global warming.
The use of fossil fuels for lighting our homes, driving our
cars, and other activities is contributing to major changes
in the Earth’s climate.
It’s causing problems in every part of the world for all living
things—including polar bears, coral reefs, migratory birds,
plants, and people.
What we need now, is cooperation
from people everywhere, especially
those of us in industrialized nations
who “feast” the most on fossil fuels.
Many people believe that biodiversity should be preserved
not just because it is valuable to us in some way, but simply
because it exists.
People who hold this opinion believe that each species
should be respected and protected because it is the
product of many millions of years of evolution, and we have
no right to interrupt the evolutionary process.
Because we have the power to destroy species and
ecosystems, humans have a moral obligation to be careful
stewards of the Earth.
Our children will inherit the planet with whatever
biodiversity we pass on to them. The decisions we make as
individuals and as a society today will determine the
diversity of genes, species, and ecosystems that remains in
the future.