Disappearance of Bugs and Bees will lead of Life on Earth!

Disappearance of Bugs and Bees will lead to the disruption of Life on Earth! 1

Pic Courtesy – https://www.npr.org/transcripts/825305756

Today On 31st December I got stuck with a piece of news in the paper “Bugs & Bees Are Dying Therefore, So Will We”. It gave me food for thought to search, for why the population of these tiny species is going down and what will be the overall effects of this phenomenon on life on Earth. Everybody knows, how the last 250 years of ever-accelerating human activities have completely modified and destabilized this planet earth. Everything in this universe is in constant motion. We are also changing every moment. But there’s a certain trend and a definite pattern in this movement, which is governed by the laws of nature. In the pursuit of more and more in terms of convenience, comfort, and control, we have crossed every limit precisely defined by nature. Let’s try to understand the critical roles of these species or biodiversity in sustaining life on Earth.

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We have seen how old buildings, palaces, and forts convert into deserted and abandoned places. It does not happen in a day or a week or a month or a year. It happens only in a gradual and long process. It starts from the deterioration, damage, and displacement of only one brick. So, this is the case of life on Earth. The dying of bugs and bees will not be limited to those species only. It is going to affect all forms of life on Earth. Human is not realizing that this insensitivity toward other species, surroundings, and nature is becoming self-destructive.

Life on Earth emerged in the form of a single cell. In a gradual, complex, and long evolutionary process, the single cell evolved into multicellular organisms. Then multicellular organisms grew and evolved into complex organisms, every time giving shape to a new and different organism, which we call species. This is a chain where every organism is dependent on the next one in the series. So, the existence of every organism is as important as our existence. Human is the most intelligent species in this long chain of organisms or species on Earth. But unfortunately, human has ignored the very essence of the existence of life on the planet.

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In the last few years, we notice the word “Climate” being quoted frequently in our talks. Climate Change is now an issue recognized by people and governments across the world. Generally, people take weather and climate in the same reference. But climate is different and is one of the Earth’s fundamental life support systems. It determines the existence and sustainability of different forms of life on Earth. It has four components. The Atmosphere, (The air we breathe). The Hydrosphere, (The planet’s water). The Cryosphere, (The ice sheets and glaciers). The Biosphere, (The planet’s plants and animals). Nature has provided in abundance for life to exist and sustain through all these four components, but with a balance of all four. But human with their activities has started modifying each one of them creating an imbalance in the climatic conditions on Earth jeopardizing the very existence of life on Earth.

We humans emerged as a species about 200,000 years ago. We got to where we are now through civilizations and society-shaping events. They are Agricultural Revolution, Spiritual and Religious Revolution, Scientific Revolution Industrial Revolution, Health Revolution, Space Revolution, and finally Digital Revolution. But one fact remains the same and that is “Life operates its life support system. In this system, not all the species are equal. Some species are essential and some are less. But all species are interconnected. The so-called “higher animals” are not so essential. The irony is, Human is one of them. Captain Paul Watson has compared Earth to a huge spaceship. It is transporting the cargo of life on its fast and furious trip around the galaxy “Milky Way”. This voyage takes about 25 crores years to complete just one circumnavigation. Our planet has only made this trip 18 times since it was formed from the dust of our closest star.

He has also narrated that the responsibility of taking care of this spaceship is necessarily that of every life form. To run this spaceship there needs to be an experienced and skillful crew who can produce oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, etc. in our atmosphere. It is this crew that cleans the air, recycles waste, and helps in the circulation of water. It is this crew that removes the toxins from the soil and keeps it rich with microbes. The plants serve the animals, and the animal serves the plants. The plants feed on the soil and the animal feed on the plants. In turn, the animals impart nutrients to the soil. Whereas each life form has been doing his duty precisely, it is only the Human who is doing just the opposite to that. How human has affected this spaceship, let’s try to understand.

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Read Also : Climate Change and how can YOU fix it

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Because of the increase in agricultural land use, Industrialisation, and transportation in world trade, the emission and accumulation of CO2 and methane in the atmosphere has already reached a dangerous level modifying our atmosphere. Increased use of water has changed our hydrosphere. Rising temperature has been modifying our Cryosphere and increased use of land for agriculture, urbanization, and mining has started modifying our biosphere. The shipping and increasing use of Airlines to meet passenger commutation and the goods transporting demands creates a highly efficient network for the global spread of catastrophic viruses and diseases like “Corona”.

To meet energy demands we will be required to build approximately 1800 large dams, 23000 nuclear power stations, 14 million wind turbines, 36 billion solar panels, or otherwise going with, predominantly oil, coal, and gas. A rise above 2*C would certainly lead to irreversible planetary tipping points for which the whole world now seems to be worried. With the increase in this temperature, the melting of the Greenland ice shelf and the release of frozen methane deposits from the Arctic will be triggered. It has already started happening below the 2*C threshold. Moreover, we may likely be looking at a future global average rise of 4*C by the end of this century. And in the worst of situations, we can’t even rule out a rise of 6*C temperature.

Hidden water is water used to produce things we consume. They include chicken, beef, rice, cotton, chocolate, cars, and mobile phones. Do we know that it takes around 3000 liters of water to produce a burger? It takes around 9000 liters of water to produce a chicken. It takes around 27000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of chocolate. It takes around 9000 liters of water to produce and manufacture one pant or pajama. It takes around 100 liters of water to produce one cup of coffee. It takes four liters of water to produce a one-liter plastic bottle of water. Finally, it takes around 72000 liters of water to produce one of the chips used in a laptop. The result is that water which is the requirement of every cell of every plant and animal is going to be in acute scarcity in the coming years. This is how we are modifying our planet into a big graveyard because of our lust, greed, and insecurities. We are sitting on the dynamite of CLIMATIC CRISIS. Let’s wake up and do something to save the next generations from this climatic crisis.