My First Journal Entry
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” – Dr. Suess
Describe the significance of this quote in today’s world and how this project relates.
Simply put, without community engagement in global issues that peg the world with impending condemnation such as ocean acidification, pollution, deforestation, reductions in biodiversity, etc., these crises will remain unsolved. Our trip to Century Park was one where we used Seek to seek for flora and fauna, understanding more about our environment and, what we are actively or unthinkingly doing to spoil the said environment. By surveying the life at Century Park I found that there was in fact, less biodiversity than I had originally hypothesized. Of course, there were many plants and animals, but it was the small details that shook me: the monotony in the colors, the lack of vibrancy, the murkiness in the waters. Perhaps one main thing that I took away from this trip BioBlitz was merely the increased awareness and empathy.
Share your thinking on the value of Biodiversity. Please include one idea or fact from your research.
The significance of biodiversity is rather evident: it supports human and societal needs by supporting the ecosystem with oxygen, by providing nutrients and resources, and by promoting soil formation and protection. An increase in biodiversity almost directly links to an increase in health and wellbeing as access to a sufficiency of a nutritious variety of food is a fundamental determinant of health. According to the World Health Organization, “Nutrition and biodiversity are linked at many levels: the ecosystem, with food production as an ecosystem service; the species in the ecosystem and the genetic diversity within species. Nutritional composition between foods and among varieties/cultivars/breeds of the same food can differ dramatically, affecting micronutrient availability in the diet.” Additionally, traditional medicine has an important connection to biodiversity—many medicines such as antibiotics and painkillers are cultivated from plant and animal sources. “Wild and domestic animals and their by-products (e.g., hooves, skins, bones, feathers, tusks) form important ingredients in the preparation of curative, protective and preventive medicine. Additionally, a significant portion of the currently available non-synthetic and/or semi-synthetic pharmaceuticals in clinical use is comprised of drugs derived from higher plants, followed by microbial, animal and mineral products, in that order” (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health). Furthermore, biodiversity boosts productivity in ecosystems. Although it is easy to neglect the role that small flora and fauna have in ecosystems, they still play vital roles that would hold detrimental to the remaining ecosystem if nullified. Illustrated simply, biodiversity is the fundamental key that unlocks health in ecosystems and humans. More biodiversity could also be the solution to a problem that has been weighing on most global leaders’ shoulders: climate change. “Healthy ecosystems will be more resilient to climate change and so more able to maintain the supply of ecosystem services on which our prosperity and wellbeing depend” (European Commission). Biodiversity is utterly essential to the exorbitance of our ecosystems, so much so that it should be considered a primary form of measuring a country's success as opposed to simply money. In conclusion, biodiversity clearly demonstrates its vitality in the prosperity of our planet through its role in improving health and potentially reversing climate change.
