“Somewhere between action and reaction there is an interaction, and that’s where all the magic and fun lie.” —Tyson Yunkaporta, Indigenous Elder, author and scholar
When studies are made of human impact on almost 100,000 ecological sites across the globe and all give similar results showing that humans directly and deleteriously affect the viability of those sites, we know that human populations are completely out of balance with other forms of life—and ultimately with their own interests. This is the sobering conclusion of an article in Naturemagazine titled “The Global Human Impact on Biodiversity,” which compiled 2,133 publications covering 3,667 independent comparisons of biodiversity impacts. https://tinyurl.com/activity-and-biodiversity
Monarch butterflies are frequently spoken of as being a source of wonderment. These extraordinary insects migrate 4,800 kilometres from the sacred fir trees of central Mexico up to eastern Canada and northeast USA, and then back again. They achieve this journey by propagating a few generations of butterflies along the way. It is an amazing story.
Yet the fate of these charismatic creatures is a well-documented example of humans’ overreach into Nature, witnessed in the catastrophic effects of human activity on the endangered habitats along the insects’ migration routes and in their final destinations.
As we know, monarch butterflies are in trouble in eastern North America, but they are even more so in the west. But we can help to reverse their tragic decline. We can do so much more to support them when they arrive by making sure the right milkweed plants are available for the caterpillars to eat.
This month Oliver Milman wrote in The Guardian: “Last year, the US government proposed the species be listed as endangered for the first time, its numbers winnowed away by habitat loss, pesticide use and the onward relentless march of the climate crisis.” https://tinyurl.com/butterfly-migration
Publications like The Guardian are committed to making it transparent that the world’s ecological integrity is being put in danger by humans’ propensity to tear down an astonishingly crafted evolutionary system. The newspaper has dedicated much work to educating western readers and alert them to the huge crises the planet is facing now, but a large, long-term sustained effort is also being made to engage people in acting because they love Nature. By creating a pathway for wonder and contemplation of Nature much has been achieved.
The Guardian even has a contest for invertebrate of the year and encourages people to vote for their favourite. “We backboned beasts are a tiny minority, barely 5% of the planet’s species,” writes Patrick Barkham. “Most life on Earth has chosen a spineless path, and they are animals of amazing diversity: beetles, bivalves, bees; corals, crabs, cephalopods; snails, spiders and sponges… Many of these animals perform vital functions for our habitable planet. Invertebrates supply the vast majority of pollination that enables us to grow food, and enjoy flowers. Invertebrates make soil, and keep it fertile. They clean water and tidy land, devouring poo or decomposing animals, repelling everything from bad smells to deadly diseases.” For more on this and a range of other engaging articles about insects and other invertebrates, see https://www.theguardian.com/environment/invertebrates
Whether we notice the critically important earthworm when we are gardening, or pass by a flowering apple tree in May and hear bees pollinating, any celebration on the 55th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22 puts Nature at the forefront. This seems obvious. EARTHDAY.ORG tries to engage us in its corporate way by reaching out through its 2025 theme Our Power, Our Planet. The plea is to vigorously embrace alternatives to fossil fuel energy so that we can reverse the climate crisis that threatens Earth’s biodiversity. The website asks individuals along with local and national governments to conscientiously strive to accelerate commitments for renewable energy. www.earthday.org
This sounds valid enough, but Earth Day is a once-a-year popup event that we are told a billion people participate in. It is also a non-profit trade mark organization that makes a lot of money. The website has a greenish activist tone to it: “The organization continues to build a historic movement as citizens of the world rise up in a united call for the creativity, innovation, ambition, and bravery that we need to meet our climate crisis and seize the enormous opportunities of a zero-carbon future.”
Earth Day Canada (www.earthday.ca), the Canadian version of earthday.org, talks up the same word salad and announces each year that Earth Day should be celebrated every day. Fair enough, but have these platitudes translated into meaningful actions? The website speaks about the need to protect biodiversity and stalwartly declares we are also a part of biodiversity. “Our interactions with the world around us need to be thought anew to lower our impact. Focusing on the preservation and restoration of biodiversity will do just that. And because ecosystems differ from one region to another, local actions need to be implemented. Municipalities operate on a local scale and as such, they are the first to see the changes in the ecosystems around them. It also means that they are the best positioned to implement impactful actions to preserve or restore biodiversity.” This strikes a true sensibility for our problems.
Bishop’s University’s guide to positive biodiversity involvement has some bright stories. The First Supper: A Food Conversation & Art Experience, a symposium held a month ago, gave us a taste of what will be continued in September. It enabled the university community and beyond to “bring together experts and practitioners in agriculture, sustainability, and food systems to explore hopeful initiatives that are reshaping the way we produce and engage with food.”
Unfortunately, contrary to this vision, the university’s rigid status quo system is more concerned with laying out expensive grass sod instead of planting perennials, and spending thousands of student dollars for one evening of high-carbon-emissions “skiing” that left two increasingly filthy mounds of blackened snow in the quadrangle for months. Equally, using highly noise- and air-polluting gasoline leaf blowers—electric ones need to be recharged too frequently, I was told—does not add credibility to the overall uncreative bureaucratic reach of that institution.
Journalists who cover the climate/biodiversity crises have now banded together across the globe to share scientifically based climate news and expand local coverage around the world. The organization Covering Climate Cooperative (www.coveringclimate.org), launched on Earth Day 2021, has also launched the 89 Percent Project: “The overwhelming majority of the world’s people—between 80 and 89%, according to recent science—want governments to take stronger action. But that fact is not reflected in our news coverage, which helps explain why the 89% don’t know that they are the global majority.” https://89percent.org
April 21 marks the beginning of a year-long worldwide effort through Covering Climate Now to promote and report on what the 89% of the world’s population want to be done to address the urgent need to act on the climate crisis.
When hubris gives way to humbleness and wonder, our interactions with Nature will benefit us all.