Why Care if a Species is Wiped Out?

'No Man is an Island' (John Donne or 'Unknown') was a song I learned in Girl Scouts. Essentially the message is that we are not alone-we cannot survive without one another, and certainly, not without this planet that we are living on.

No man is an island, no man stands alone
Each man's joy is joy to me
Each man's grief is my own
We need one another, so I will defend
Each man as my brother
Each man as my friend

Our world gives us life, and allows us to exist. It provides us with many things essential to survive:

Medicinal

About 40% of all prescriptions written today are made from natural compounds of plant species. In 2002 a Harvard study found that our commonly used drugs were derived from 119 chemicals derived from 90 plants. The Pacific Yew used to be considered a 'trash tree' and so was burned after clearcutting. However, a substance in its bark (taxol) has been identified as a treatment for breast and ovarian cancer. Three million Americans use Digitalis which comes from the purple foxglove.

Agricultural

We depend on 20 species of plants to provide 90% of the world's food. Wild relatives of wheat and corn contain disease-resistant material, and they often thrive in poor soils under drought conditions. Material from a wild Mexican corn species was used to stop a leaf fungus that had previously wiped out 15% of the U.S. corn crop.

Ecological

Coastal mangroves and wetlands absorb the brunt of hurricane winds and floods. Forests and grasslands store water, retard floods, and purify the air by absorbing carbon dioxide. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that losing one plant species can trigger the loss of up to 30 other insect, plant and higher animal species. As coral reefs are killed off, the hundreds of fish species which live in the coral reefs either die, or move elsewhere; hence, the fishing and tourist industries which are dependant on the reefs suffer.

Oysters and Mussels, which are shellfish, are filter feeders; this means that they also clean the water. "Oysters are the canaries of the ocean," (Colored Stone, May-June, 2007). As ocean water absorbs more carbon dioxide, the water becomes more acidic. The higher acidity decreases the shellfishes' ability to produce calcium carbonate to make their shells.

A significant decline in frogs and other amphibians has been reported; it is believed that climactic events such as drought combined with spreading disease are the reason.

Commercial

Salmon in the Pacific Northwest provide $1 billion in income. However, damns, clearcutting, and overgrazing along the streams threaten this industry. Almost half of the freshwater mussels in North America are threatened. These mussels support a thriving industry for cultured pearls with 10,000 jobs and add $700 million to the economy.

Recreational

Over $59 billion is spent annually on travel, food, lodging to participate in non-consumptive wildlife recreation.

The Problem-some examples

• American Honey Bees have declined 40% in the last 60 years. They pollinate our food crops. Currently farmers have to 'rent' hives from Bee Farmers to pollinate their crops; they can no longer rely on native wild bees.
• In the Pacific Northwest, approx. 72,000 jobs were lost because of the loss of salmon runs due to damns and habitat losses.
• Big visible animals with limited ranges and slow reproductive rate that live high on the food chain have been most vulnerable. Polar Bears are a good example of this. It is predicted that 2/3 of the 20,000 Polar Bears will disappear in 50 years; and they will be extinct in 3 arctic ecosystems within 75 years.
• India has 50% less tigers now (2008) than six years ago.

Top Priorities

• Protect the Amazon, Congo, and other rainforests. They are only 6% of the land surface but hold more than 50% of the world's species.
• Protect coral reefs
• Halt logging in old-growth forests
• Clean up fresh water ecosystems
• Promote eco-tourism and tighten security in wildlife preserves
• Promote captive breeding programs for vanishing species
• Complete the inventory of the world's biological diversity