We hear so often 'this is the only planet we have, we need to take care of it.' This is completely true. At one time in our history, we co-existed with nature and the planet. Then the industrial revolution hit and overnight we went form co-existing with our environment to tearing it apart and destroying it. A few people still valued everything our planet has to offer and saw the need to protect resources. Yet it wasn't enough to prevent the damage the human race has caused to the planet.
Now we're in a situation to where several species and natural resources are going to be extinct in a matter of years, maybe in our lifetime. To be honest many of it is interconnected. One of the most important is the bee. Not just one type of be but over 30 species of bees. The basic fact is that bees pollinate,everything. If we so not have pollination the plants do not produce. If they do not produce we lose, things such as coffee, chocolate, fruits and most vegetables. We lose so much. If bees were to go extinct, lastly we would not have honey.
Yes some of these are seen as frivolous in some eyes, but the major impact is to the food chain. Without plant life, animal life cannot be sustained. If neither plant life or animal life is not maintained mankind cannot be sustained. Over dramatic? No not really. It's a reality many don't want to face. That something so incredibly small that many people see as a pest, is so connected to our life cycle.
I only have a few friends that agree with me on this. In fact, my husband is completely indifferent to all of this. 'If the world is going to implode, there isn't anything you can do about it. You need to worry about yourself and live your life." I see his point, but if we don't discuss this and raise awareness nothing will change. Since this subject has been brought to public attention, there has been a 30% increase in the bee population. Some of the species have built back up. We're still not out of the woods, but it's a start.
We have seen when we address the problem, changes can occur. Case in point. Air pollution. Growing up in Southern California (Los Angeles is a decent point of reference for those of you not familiar with American references) I actually grew up in a city called Mission Viejo. It's just north of San Juan Capistrano. (Many people know of due to the Mission there and the Swallows that used to show up year to year.) Anyway, when I was in grade school around 1977 we had 'Smog Days' These were days that the air quality was so bad, we weren't allowed to go outside and play. On the really bad days, the air would be a brown haze and we had to stay inside. I would have softball games canceled due to the smog.
Fast forward a few years, ok a lot of years. To when I had my own kids, in the early 90s. They did not have to go through any of that. It was seen how damaging the air was to everyone. Regulations were put into place a timeline was made and effort to clean up the air. It worked.
Now we see streams, rivers, lakes and areas of the ocean that are filled with trash, mostly plastics. Mind you this is a struggle that has been going since I was a kid. A 6-pack of anything had plastic strap with holes to hold the pack together. Birds and various sea life were getting tangled in them. So there was a movement to remove them. They were redesigned to be breakable. I simply cut them up. We make a humongous effort to remove plastic straws. Yet, they're still going into a plastic cup. It doesn't make sense to me. One step at a time, right?
I hope you all have a GREAT EARTH DAY. Spend some time outside and remind yourself what a beautiful place we live in.
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