Raising awareness about the extinction of species and its’ consequences

On April 22, 1970, approximately 20 million Americans participated in a national rally and protests against environmental deterioration. Since then, Earth Day has been celebrated on April 22. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness about environmental issues and also to bring together different groups who are fighting separately against issues like oil spills, pollution from factories, power plant, sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, air pollution and other environmental pollution issues. On Earth day 2016, political leaders gathered in New York and sign the Paris Climate Agreement. This year Earth Day is focused to educate and raise awareness about the extinction of species and its' consequences, activate a global movement that embraces nature and its values and encourage individual to stop using pesticide and herbicide.

History suggests that the Earth Day stems from Arbor Day and the common practice of Arbor Day was to plant trees. Gaylord Nelson, a Senator from Wisconsin is widely credited for suggesting the first Earth Day on April 22. However, Nelson was not alone in this cause. Several other Activists and Senators realized before Nelson that the Earth environment is deteriorating. As an example, J Sterling Morton, an editor for Nebraska's first newspaper advocated planting trees in order to improve the Earth's environment.

Morton at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture in 1872 proposed that the Nebraska citizens set aside April 10, 1872 as a day to plant trees, which was the first Arbor Day.  He also suggested offering prizes as an incentive for communities and organizations that planted the most trees. In Arbor Day in 1872, one million trees were planted. Then Arbor Day became a legal holiday. A suggestion came later to observe Morton's birthday as the Arbor Day, which was 22 April.  In that way April 22 become the Earth Day.

Senator Nelson, in an essay about the Earth Day mentioned that, the environmental problem was not a political agenda but he brought this into the political limelight. Nelson pursued President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.

On November 30, 1969, The New York Times published an article which states that "Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...." . It is interesting to know that at that time student's opinion was shifted from anti-Vietnam War to environmental problem. So, Senator Nelson utilised the student's energy to raise the awareness about environmental issues. Because he realised that environmental degradation was appearing everywhere, but this issue was not available on the nation's political agenda.

Today, a common practice in celebration of Earth Day is to plant new trees.  But why trees?  Though we focus on electric and hybrid car and other solar technology, the reality is that we also need to restore our forest as it is the most affordable and regenerative solution to climate change. 80 per cent of the world forests are already destroyed. Every 2 seconds man destroys an area of forest the size of a football field. 70 per cent of the world's plants and animals live in forests and are losing their habitats due to deforestation.

Loss of habitat can lead to species extinction. It has negative consequences for medicinal research and local populations who rely on the animals and plants in the forests for hunting and medicine. Current prediction is that the world rainforest will vanish in a hundred years if deforestation continues at the current rate. This leads to the extinction of 28000 species.

Martin Rees, in his book, On the Future, informed that the extinction rates are rising and we are destroying the book of life before we can ever read it. In his book, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, eminent ecologist Edward  Wilson mentioned that 'at the heart of the environmentalist worldview is the conviction that human physical and spiritual health depends on the planet Earth�Natural ecosystems-forests, coral reefs, marine blue waters-maintain the world as we would wish it to be maintained.

Our body and our mind evolved to live in this particular planetary environment and no other.' This indicates the practical benefit of a diverse biosphere. All living things play a unique role in the complex web of life because of their intrinsic value. So, we must work together to protect endangered and threatened species such as bees, coral reefs, elephants, giraffes, insects, whales and more.

It is clear that there is a need for this diverse ecosystem. So, we should protect them, but how? We might get further direction from Wilson, who in his book Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life argues that the situation facing us is too big to solve it as a piecemeal and therefore we should dedicate half the surface of the Earth to nature. In considering nature, Wilson not only considers large animals and plants but also considers the millions of invertebrate animals and microorganism that form the foundations of Earth's ecosystems.

 However, we should remember that our environment is a 'life support system'. It is a source of immediate sustenance. We also should not forget that there is a limit to any growth in this environment, as suggested by the report commissioned by the Club of Rome, a think tank in 1972. Two basic conclusions from the report is that-environmental problem is interrelated. Solving one problem might create another problem. Second conclusion is that the technological solution can prolong the growth, but the ultimate limits to that growth represented by the finite Earth remain.

Above all, as Physicist Albert Einstein puts it, 'We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.' New thinking is needed in order to retard the extinction of species. Millions of species in this planet is our nature's gifts. So, we should maintain the balance of nature.

On this Earth Day, let us pledge something for the planet. It may be to avoid using car on this day or recycle some paper or stop using plastic bag or plant some trees in order to protect some species. We should not forget what Rachel Carson wrote in his book, Silent Spring that 'In nature, nothing exists alone'

The writer is an academic, environmentalist, columnist and author, who lives and work in UK