#4 Biodiversity

Angela Ferr

SOC-202-01

2.11.11

Every plant and animal on our planet plays an important role in our ecosystem. Unfortunately, the biodiversity of species are decreasing because of the climate change that has been happening globally. Almost everyone agrees that climate change is one of the greatest threats facing our planet. Because of the climate change the world has been faced with, there has been and will be changes in the food chain as well as water resources and medicines we need to survive. How does Biodiversity tie into this? The animals we hunt, the plants that give us medicine and herbs, the life that help maintain the earth are dying off because the climate change is becoming too drastic. This can be seen a lot in the Artic where polar bears and penguins are becoming extinct due to the melting of the ice and the shorter winters. It can also be seen in any ocean where coral reefs are dying and because of that fish are decreasing as well. In the warmer areas such as the desert or the tropics, lizards are diminishing as well as insects spreading further from temperate zones.

We are shown pictures and facts about global warming every day and some are making an effort to stop it but not all. We can do things as small as recycling or using less heat and air conditioning to do our little help. We can also just turn things off when we are done using them or maybe buy more energy-efficient products. There are still some out there that don’t believe in global warming, but every year it is getting worse and worse, and we can just hope that people will make more of an effort to take care of the planet we live on.

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/169/biodiversity