Ecological Debt Repaid through Awareness and Commitment Essay

At this age of technological advancements, where people are more likely inclined with the latest technical and industrial innovations, the most modern gadgets, the cyber world itself, the group believes that a public service message posted to social-networking sites, like Facebook, would reach out with its millions of users; teen-agers, civilians, and people from all walks of life, who are still unaware of the impacts and dangers that humanity would face because of our ecological debt and neglect. Now that man is getting more engaged with a computerized and scientific world, the preservation of the earth’s innate form is often situated at stake. For instance, land developers aim to civilize mountain and forested areas in view of larger residential communities, neglecting the extinction of species and the degradation of their habitats in that area. In the same way, roads and tunnels are logged to provide efficient trips in woody regions, unaware of the affected species due to construction. It should be realized that in the context of global progress, biodiversity should not be sacrificed. Biodiversity is about making sense of the variation of life on earth, and its fundamental unit is the species. Why is there a must to conserve biodiversity? It is mainly because it affects mankind by all means. Outstandingly, biodiversity has an incontestable subsistence value. Remember that the species we use for our herbal medicinal needs, the plant and animal species that we eat, and the other species we use for our consumption, all contributes to biodiversity’s value for human survival. Biodiversity also has an economic value; the productive use it imposes into our market. In addition, it provides service value, like tourism benefits for a region where a certain specie is  endemic. But most importantly, biodiversity has to be conserved because of its intrinsic value. By the principle of Biocentrism: All species are worth of moral consideration. Humans have an obligation to protect them (Do or Die, 1999). We should be grateful for nature because it provides us our basic needs, water, food, air, even which the greatest engineering cannot tantamount. All of us have an ecological debt we can never repay fully, but we could somehow pay its interest, that is by preserving biodiversity. There are two modes of payments: In Situ and Ex Situ. In Situ is the maintenance of biodiversity in the wild, by allowing the species to continue their aboriginal evolutionary interactions (Reid, 1989, para.1). The species are left to be free and to continue their way of survival without any human intervention. This is a general and efficient solution that is left to the hands of government officials or organizations for strict implementations. But as part of the human race, we should be aware of the creation of such law and support it whole-heartedly. Many of our local or indigenous fellowmen would still continue the hunting or harvesting of the endangered species due to lack of knowledge or opportunities; thus, there should be thorough promotion of In Situ throughout the nation. On the other hand, Ex Situ is the maintenance of wild or domesticated species in home gardens, orchards, aquaria, zoos, or laboratories. These sites provide home for viable populations of threatened species, also providing areas for research, educational and public awareness (Reid, 1989, para.1). Indeed, there are several solutions man could engage to if we really want to hinder more biodiversity losses. We could grow endemic plants in our region in our own backyards. Every time we go to a beach, we must remember not to take souvenir seashells or corals with us. We should refute groups that do  activities leading to biodiversity losses. Or join movements which promote awareness and commitment in saving the earth’s biodiversity. Spread the information of biodiversity’s importance. All of us can make a difference. The move should start today before we reap the wrath of nature’s revenge. Change does not happen overnight, neither does it occur one-time big-time. The restoration of our ecosystems does not depend only on politicians or environmentalists, simple steps should be made by simple citizens, like you.