According to this World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report released earlier this week, humanity’s impact is causing the decimation of a shocking 60% of the planet’s wildlife between the years 1970 and 2014.
With the assistance of scientists from Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and others around the world, this report concludes that, through the ever-growing consumption of food and resources, the annihilation of nature is only inevitable and ours would follow shortly after.
To further explain the scale of destruction, Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF, speaks to the Guardian and says:
“If there was a 60% decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania.”
However, we are not only losing nature’s beauty and causing the extinction of numerous species, but we’re also jeopardizing the entire plant and by consequence the entirety of the human race and civilization.
To put it plainly, we are killing this planet, and we are going to die with it.
Chief executive of WWF, Tanya Steele is quite frankly stunned, saying: “We are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last one that can do anything about it.”
WHAT CAUSED SUCH CATASTROPHE?
Our planet has been around for 4.5 billion years and yet humans, who’ve only been around for 200,000 of those, are the ones with the greater, much deadlier impact on it.
Us, humanity as whole, should get our act together, rise up and advocate change, REAL change. And such change could only brought on through campaigning against politicians and figures of authority who claim that phenomenons such as global warming, loss of wildlife and others are merely myths of the media who are against capitalism.
One of the major reasons for the 60% decline in wildlife is the loss of habitat due to its destruction for farming or agriculture. Over-killing for food, fur or leather also largely contributes to the extinction of countless mammals and reptiles.
In addition, oceans are being grossly over-fished while the waters are being used as an industrial dump with plastics filling them up and suffocating the creatures living there.
The question is: what can we do?
Actually, there’s plenty.
- Stop the negativity, spread the word and educate others,
- Reduce your meat and dairy/dairy product consumption or consume them in moderation.
- Stop buying from clothing stores that use real fur, leather, etc… Buy faux fur/leather from cruelty-free companies.
- Stop buying makeup products that test on animals like Mac, purchase from ones that are certified as cruelty-free.
- Stop supporting any company/business that is responsible for any sort of deforestation or habitat destruction.
WWF’s website also offers you ways through which you could support their efforts as well as find out your footprint on the environment and how you could personally reduce any negative impact you have on the planet.
You can check your footprint calculator here.