Plastics have become the bane of humanity, threatening every living thing’s existence – from land to the ocean, from the depths of the earth to the sky. It has become a monster unleashed, destroying and threatening to extinction everything in its wake. Closing in on the 50th founding anniversary of Earth Day in 2020, nature is, at this very moment, choking on garbage and filth, here and across the world.
Earth Day, organized in 1970, a time of great anxiety and turmoil, pushed to international consciousness the need to protect the environment amidst the rapidly advancing technology. It seems the world has turned a blind eye. Earth Day 2019, gets inspiration from Silent Spring author Rachel Carson’s verse “In nature, nothing exists alone,” dedicating this year’s observance to the theme; “Protect Our Species.”
The call for this year is for us to protect nature’s gifts to our planet which are the “millions of species that we know and love, and many more that remain to be discovered.” But with the wanton destruction through reckless human activities, “the world is facing the greatest rate of extinction since we lost the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago.”
We quote: “The unprecedented global destruction and rapid reduction of plant and wildlife populations are directly linked to causes driven by human activity: climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution and pesticides to name a few. The impacts are far reaching.
If we do not act now, extinction may be humanity’s most enduring legacy. Here are some quick facts on the current wave of extinction and additional information about this problem here.
All living things have an intrinsic value, and each plays a unique role in the complex web of life. We must work together to protect endangered and threatened species: bees, coral reefs, elephants, giraffes, insects, whales and more.
The good news is that the rate of extinctions can still be slowed, and many of our declining, threatened and endangered species can still recover if we work together now to build a united global movement of consumers, voters, educators, faith leaders, and scientists to demand immediate action.” (www.earthday.org)
Earth Day has to be observed every day. It is more urgent now when it is our very survival that is at stake.
