Biodiversity Essay Competition - II

There are several major problems facing the world. One of them is a reduction in the earth’s biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to the variety of life. Natural diversity in ecosystems provides essential economic benefits and services to human society, particularly food and clothing. Without biodiversity, the ecosystem would not be able to sustain itself. Considering the unpredictable future from climate change, biodiversity is a key element to the survival of humans. Even so, reckless human activities have driven a vast number of species towards extinction, thereby threatening human survival.

Agricultural biodiversity has been dramatically changed. The livestock industry, in particular, has experienced a transformative change from small family ranches to large-scale, intensive production, heavily dependent on a very narrow range of high output breeds. As a result, local animals have been driven out. Many breeds with diverse, unique characteristics, such as disease resistance or tolerance to extreme weather, are facing extinction. These breeds include species of the Siberian Yakut cattle that can survive in freezing temperatures and the Namaqua Africander sheep that can survive without water for a long time. If a virus breaks out, attacks our “cattle factories,” and wipes out all the cattle, our hope should lie in a virus resistant breed. If the temperature of the earth drops to freezing point due to climate change, the Siberian cattle species would be our only hope. Without diverse breeds, humans will no longer be able to eat meat.

Overfishing has driven blue fin tuna to extinction. Blue fin tuna is a popular ingredient for sushi. Sushi’s growing popularity has increased the demand for the fish, and hence, the price of blue fin tuna has skyrocketed to over $500,000 per fish. This has caused an increasing number of fishing vessels to adopt highly developed, modern technology. These vessels can detect any trace of blue fin tuna from the deep water over a great distance. People are consuming more tuna than the sea is producing. As a result, its population will not last long. Without an international commitment to preserve this species, humans will no longer see it in the near future.

Here is a great historical example to show the enormous power human activities wield over the nature. The almond we know right now was originally from a poisonous plant. Lots of people died because of not knowing this fact. One day, a boy ate an almond, but he did not die because it was not poisonous. This accidental discovery of the non-poisonous almond led people to begin planting non-poisonous almonds. Therefore, the non-poisonous almonds kept on growing in number and the poisonous ones were crowded out until they no longer exist. This tells us that if human activities focus on a species or a breed and intensively cultivate it, the others will disappear. That is why we need to take diversity seriously.

A real problem lies in our lack of concern for the diversity issue. Many of us do not realize its significance, but the problems have steadily started to get bigger and will seriously affect our lives in near future. In order to stop animals from becoming extinct, we need to wake everyone up to make them realize the imminent disaster from the loss of biodiversity.  By Yeokyoung Alberta Yoo

Biodiversity Essay Competition - I

We participated in an essay competition. The topics were preserving biodiversity or saving energy. I chose to write about biodiversity. This is one of the essays submitted into the essay competition:

Suppose a massive climate change crisis descended upon the world and all our livestock died? How will we obtain protein-rich food? Our only hope is other species that can survive harsh circumstances. Unfortunately, we are killing off these unusual species in order to increase the population of our normal livestock. Therefore, if our current livestock resources would be depleted, we would have no other back-up food source for extinction is an irreversible process. Scientists believe that humans have triggered a mass-extinction of a scale never seen since the last major mass-extinction, 65 million years ago, at the end of the dinosaurs’ epoch. Biologists have estimated that about 30,000 species see their last member die annually. By the end of the century, nearly 500,000 species would have become extinct. It is believed that, in the last 100 years, humans have increased the extinction rate by over 1,000 times.

Biodiversity has been a serious issue for a few decades. Although, many governments and organizations have tried to tackle the problem with several methods, there has been no sign of improvement. All efforts to stop the mass-extinction have been futile. The main reason why there has been no progress is because we have pitted biodiversity preservation and human welfare against each other. For years, preservationists have believed in the hotspots theory, in which twenty-five locations in the world with the most diverse plant life are protected at any costs. Usually, these hotspots are in rainforests. People have lost their homes and wealth while moving out of these national parks. However, plants make up less than one percent of the Earth’s life tree. Hence, it is unreasonable to justify that the more the plant life in a location means the more biodiversity. Recently, numerous conservationists have opposed this theory and have developed ecosystem services strategy. Why place biodiversity and human welfare on opposite sides of the see-saw? This new strategy informs the public about our dependence on the resources of ecosystems and aims to protect biodiversity for the sake of humans. Therefore, we must preserve biodiversity because it is essential to humankind’s survival.

Currently, we owe our terrestrial ecosystems a great debt. Without any of them, humans would become extinct. The raw materials, food, and other resources we obtain from the life around us helps all of us survive. It is safe to state that everything we make or use involves nature’s resources in some way. However, we are using these resources at an uncontrollable pace. In 2000, the United Nations launched the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Conducted by an international team of more than 1,300 scientists, four aspects of ecosystem services were assessed: provisioning (resources from nature), regulating (nature’s control over catastrophes), cultural (benefits for social relationships), and supporting (basic elements of ecosystems). It was reported that nearly all of these services have not only declined, but have been used unsustainably. Simply put, we humans are fueling our own destruction. The damage of Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was amplified by the lack of vegetation on coastlines. In both cases, humans depleted vegetation along coasts, leading to more damage than with vegetation. Moreover, farmers in the Sahara desert are affecting economies half the world away. Every year, several hundred million tons of sand is blown away to the Caribbean Sea, in which coral reefs and local industries are harmed. Natural resources are the backbones of developing economies. Improving the environmental situation is to alleviate poverty for 750 million people. Third, when ecosystems collapse, human health is threatened. Nearly two million people die of water contamination. Wetlands and forests can provide abundant resources of clean drinking water.

Biodiversity is not only helpful to humans now, but it can be crucial in the future. According to scientists all over the globe, there is a 70% chance of a global disaster to occur in the next century. This catastrophe can be a sudden climate change, an outbreak of a universal pandemic, or fluctuations in sea level. Regardless of the case, there is an extremely high chance of our main sources of food to become extinct during the event. Only thirty types of crops provide more than 90% of the world’s calories and 14 animal species that make up nearly 90% of our livestock. Moreover, all of these crucial species are prone to diseases and are sensitive to climate changes. If some of these keystone species die off, the entire world can become dead by a global mass-extinction. Fortunately, there is a solution to this dilemma. There are some relatives of our central plant and livestock species, which can withstand dire conditions, such as diseases and harsh climates. Some examples are the Blanco Orejinegro cattle of the Andes, Namaqua Africander sheep of Africa, and the Yakut cattle of Siberia.

In conclusion, biodiversity must be maintained not only for the sake of other organisms, but also for the sake of humans. Humans heavily depend on the lives of other species right now and will do so in the future. Many ecologists and biologists are starting to think that the Earth still has a chance of reviving itself. Although the extinction rate is rising, it has not yet reached the threshold, which divides sustainable rates and catastrophic rates. Already, many plans are being executed in both developing nations, such as China and India, and developed countries, such as USA and Japan. Many illustrious icons have said encouraging words to the public about the relationship between biodiversity and human comfort. Former U.N. secretary-general Kofi A. Annan said “our fight against poverty, inequality and disease is directly linked to the health of the Earth.” In short, to maintain biodiversity is to protect all organisms on Earth, including us.  By Y.J. Kim

Eco-generation street campaign

On August 12, 'Eco-generation' hit the street!

Eight ambassadors from Korea gathered in Itaewon, Seoul, favorite hang-out place for foreigners. We set a booth where passersby could see the on-going environmental problems of Korea and pledge for green-conscious-life.

Laying Claim to the Rich Arctic Seafloor

The United States, Canada, and Russia are competing again for the vast riches under the Arctic Sea. The United Nations has reached a decision that the three nations are only to drill the resources two hundred kilometers from the edge of their continental shelf. However, all of the countries are claiming that their continental shelves reach far beyond the expected point. Russia has even stated that their continental shelf was beyond the North Pole. Therefore, all three nations started to send expeditions in order to clarify where their own continental shelves end.

Russia sent a small cruiser in order to investigate the North Pole to see if their continental shelf really does exceed the special point. Meanwhile, the United States and Canada are cooperating to investigate Beaufort Bay and the area off the coast of Alaska and Canada, which is constantly disputed among the two nations. Finally, BP and Canada has decided to erect the first drilling platform in the area owned by Canada. Pressure is building up because the United Nations will have to decide who will own the Arctic Ocean by 2013, and already the three nations are pressuring and urging the main committee.

BP spills coffee ( parody video clip)

Very witty parody from UCBComedy. This parody video clip shows the current status of BP's crisis management. In U.S., according to the media report, consumers are avoiding BP stations. Local BP gas station owners are pleading their customers to come back, but that won't likeyl to happen in the near future. Unless, BP executives are showing their sincere commitmment over the tragic incident. By Y.A. Yoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM

Interview on Conservation

Today, we interviewed a civil engineer who specializes in conservation. Our interviewee, Dr. Yoo JeongWahn, talked about how civil engineers try to minimize the damage done to the environment during a construction project. Many countries are having massive development projects, and civil engineers are trying their best to maximize the convenience of humans and minimize the environmental damage.

I believe that structures that are both beneficial to humans and the environment must be built. If conventional buildings are constructed, the environment will be destroyed and if development is stopped altogether, humans will lead inconvenient lives. We surely need more civil engineers.

Please watch the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7W60n4lnNc

Lakeview Gusher: The World's Worst Oil Spill

The Lakeview Gusher was a small well owned by the Lakeview Oil Company. The company wished to find a small amount of natural gas and petroleum. However, under the small amount of fossil fuels, there lay the one of the largests oil reserves in the world. In curiosity, when the workers drilled down to about 2,500 feet, all hell broke loose. Oil gushed out and made a fountain of several hundred feet high. On average, nearly 18,000 barrels (2.9 million liters) poured out of the well every day . At its peak, the gusher spewed out an uncontrollable 100,000 barrels (16 million liters) daily. Therefore, the well spilled 9 million barrels (1.4 billion liters) during a 18-month period. The workers had to use dykes and sand bags to prevent the oil from spreading. Eventually, a massive lake of oil was formed and people had to use small boats to cross it.

Fortunately, scientists have invented something called the blowout preventer, a device that stops gushers from sprouting oil. Essentially, it consists of a mechanism that stops the uncontrollable flow of oil through a well by severing the pipe with hydraulic locks. However, these blowout preventers are not always a success. The recent Deepwater Horizon oil spill was caused by the failure of the blowout preventer. Therefore, I believe that we should have multiple lines of defense. Nearly all blowout preventer has only one stopper. Having numerous stoppers will ensure that, even though the first stopper fails, the secondary and tertiary stoppers will stop the oil. By Y.J. Kim

Please refer to : http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/the-era-of-the-oil-gusher/?scp=1&sq=gusher&st=cse