"Science does not know its debt to imagination."

Many scientists consider humans as the most invasive species, as humans can greatly change the environment and impact living things that reside there. Are we being stewards of the world? Take a look at an issue in which human intervention has positively or negatively affected biodiversity of our ecosystems.

r-r-r-research!

As a person who looks for the good in all things I tried to go against the flow and pick a topic where humans actually had a positive impact on biodiversity. I googled "positive human effects on biodiversity and ecosystems" and didn't find too much (thanks a lot, humans). So, I guess I'll have to give my opinion on my research observations.

Assuming that everyone knows what I'm talking about, we can all agree that biodiversity is extremely important in maintaining a healthy ecosystem and Earth. According to the Bible, God assigned humans to be caretakers of all living things and stewards of the Earth.

Stewards, huh?

When I hear the word stewards I think of the people who serve you on airplanes. The ones in uniform who go up and down the aisle with huge refrigerated carts. What do they get paid for? To give you drinks and serve you food to make sure you have a pleasant flight. As long as you're on the plane, you're their responsibility to care for and look after. They're basically the pros of air travel accommodation and probably know how to help with any airsickness like irritating ear popping or nausea, etc.

What does that have to do with ecosystems?

Well, scientist are highly knowledgeable of organisms and ecosystems, right? They know how and why living things act/ work/ eat/ move the way that they do. If they were to apply their knowledge wouldn't that make them pros of caring for all living things? You'd think that wouldn't you? So why don't they? Sadly, because of man's selfish motives and narrow-mindedness, we continue to misuse and squander the Earth's treasured resources.

Humans barely used their knowledge to accommodate all organisms along with themselves until recently. They never thought of the great b

enefits of living co-operatively with other organisms than they did of the benefits from them until it was too late.

Humans need to remember that this Earth is not just our home but all living things' home as well. And because most animals and plants can't defend themselves from humans and the forces of nature, we need to accommodate them by being the kind stewards we are meant and called to be.

I really tried to find examples of humans helping the environment and the ecosystem but really, from recycling, park reserves, and strict laws on hunting we can tell that these are just ways to treat the symptoms. In truth, humans brought it onto themselves with their reckless deforestation, hunting, and consumption of the Earth's natural resources. This just lead to them having to treat the outcomes, not the actual

problem. There is no way to bring back extinct species and undo the damage to the ozone layer, what's done it already done (I personally blame the people in the 60s and 70s with their giant hair and excessive use of aerosol hairspray). I'm sure that if we invented a time machine to go back in time to warn everyone about the environmental problems of the future there are still those who wouldn't give it a second thought and continue on with their excessive usage. The point is, humans are naturally selfish and will do anything that they see fit for their benefit as long as they have a "good excuse".

We can learn A LOT from Pocahontas

"You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name

You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew.

And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends."

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Everything we do, whether good or bad has consequences. Humans need to understand that ARE connected to all living things through...

The Web of Life!

Quote from The BioDaVersity video:

"They believe the greatest lie ever told: that humans are not part

of the web of life. That they can survive apart from it. But they cannot."

For those who didn't bother to watch it, it features talking animals with french accents teaching each other about the importance of maintaining the Web of Life and it's cute.

As explained in the video, when humans take away natural habitats, over fish, over harvest and introduce new species this can cause animals or plant species to become endangered or extinct. This is because it alters the Web of Life. Last year, we learned about Tent Caterpillars and how little changes like weather, predators, food, and human intervention affected them so much. Their population increased and decreased over the years as nature would balance itself every time.

In nature this can be easily accomplished, however, since humans have interfered it has become more and more difficult for nature to do this on its own.

Humans focus so much on what they can get out of nature and what it can do for them when they don't of the seemingly obvious other option, what they can do for nature, the environment and all living things in the world. This may seem like a vague, stupid question but when you think about the current environmental problems that affect you, you're already on your way to reaching it.

Of course, at the moment, prevention seems like the best way to go. Recycling so we don't create much larger landfills, preserving so endangered animals don't become extinct, and properly disposing chemicals to prevent mutation of any living organism and creating deviations that we wouldn't know how to manage because then we'd have flying people and they're dirty the land AND sky even more.

Let's just prevent it!

This seems to be the best we can do and really, that's all we could ask for. For everyone to do their best to help the environment to protect biodiversity in our ecosystems. Not to be negative but there are probably much harder times in the future and more greater challenges. It's our duty to make sure that the world is ready for it (well, as ready as they'll ever be).

I leave you with a quote and a bit more:

"Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us." -Henrik Tikkanen

Let's not be the selfish great grandparents that the future generations will hate us for. We don't wanna be known for creating the era of destruction. For your kids' sakes, LOVE THE EARTH.

So remember kids:

Reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink.

Turn the lights OFF when you leave a room.

It won't kill you to walk/bike to/from school once in a while.

Eat your vegetables and hope they're organic.

AND don't torture snails by sprinkling salt on them! (Unless you're going to eat them after.)

When we focus on the little things, we can observe the big changes they produce. Do your part (:

Bibliography:

http://www.quotegarden.com/environment.html

http://countdown2010.net/daversity/

Blogs I've commented on:

http://marvinsbioblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/ohhh-humans-and-their-crazy.html

http://scienceisorganizedknowledge.blogspot.com/