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Our planet was formed around 5 billion years ago when a star exploded somewhere in our galaxy, expelling enormous amounts of gasses. These gasses then collided with a cloud of other gases giving birth to our solar system (more or less). Life erupted at around 4 billion years ago, an unthinkable amount of species have lived in this time. However, 99% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct.
It is true that there has been mass extinctions of species in the past. However these ill-fated events have happened slowly. We are currently in another extinction crisis, but for the first time ever a living species is responsible, humans. Although we have only been on our planet for around 3 million years, we have managed to dramatically alter this planet. Since the 1900’s the change has been unprecedented and almost all species on earth are feeling the effects of the change.
Whether this change is because of climate change, over hunting, habitat destruction, pollution ….. It is us humans which are pushing the rest of the planets species to the brink of extinction. Many of these issues are not taught in schools and are not well known. Often when an environmental tragedy like the fires of Indonesia (November, 2015) happen, our mainstream media do not show any attention or inform us of the situation.
This section, ‘The Big Issue’, is going to keep readers up to date with the latest environmental and conservation news in the world. We will also discuss the major threats to our planets environments and species, some of which will come as a surprise. With this knowledge we will then explore what the everyday reader can do to try and reverse the crisis and how we can encourage the environment around us to flourish.
We are currently at a turning point. Now is the time to act on these issues and try put right the problems that our species have created for our neighbours. After all, we have just one planet, we share this planet with an array of beautiful and extravagant living organisms. Many people don’t realise that it is these organisms that create the conditions to allow humans to comfortably live here. Many of these organisms are currently on the brink of disappearing for ever, which also means we are on the brink of disappearing for ever.
Don’t sit back and watch our one planet be destroyed. Make sure people know what is going on. Make sure people know how they can help. Make sure we are the generation to make the change.
