This Is How It Ends: When you are a part of something, you care for it

Friday, 15 October 2021

OPINION: Of all the planets in our solar system, as far as we know, only one can support living things.

Somehow, four billion years ago, each element came together perfectly to form interconnected biomes, ecosystems, habitats, and species that work together in harmony to allow life on Earth to flourish.

It worked for millennia. It’s Goldilocks – not too hot, not too cold, it’s just right.

Well, until we messed it all up.

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**

In the history of this planet, humans are merely a blip. We’ve spent most of this time living in relative harmony with nature.

The tipping point? Thought to be around the 1960s, when humans harnessed the power of nuclear energy and plastic production.

This is when we grew arrogant, with many seeing ourselves superior to the natural world.

We became reckless, and now there’s not one place on the entire planet, from the highest mountain to the deepest ocean trench, unaffected by humans.

We have significantly altered three-quarters of the planet’s ice-free land, destroyed more than 85 per cent of our wetlands, polluted and overfished our oceans, and left one million species threatened with extinction.

WWF’s Living Planet 2020 report shows a 68 per cent decline in monitored populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish since 1970.

New Zealand’s environmental record isn’t any better. More than 4000 of our native species are endangered, 76 per cent of freshwater fish are threatened with extinction, two-thirds of rivers are not swimmable, only 10 per cent of wetlands remain, and our entire marine environment is under threat.

In just one lifetime, we have fundamentally changed our planet beyond the point it can sustain us, just to feed and fuel our 21st-century lifestyles.

This isn’t a warning of what our behaviour may cause to happen. It is happening.

Climate change is here. Nature and biodiversity loss is here.

While climate change is finally getting attention from governments, businesses and individuals around the world, nature is too often left out of the equation.

If we fail to address the loss of nature and biodiversity, we will undermine any gains we make combating climate change.

Not only can nature help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it also secures a liveable and balanced planet for us all to live on.

Nature loss and climate change are two sides of the same coin. If we are to survive as a species, we all need to address both, together, now.

I know for many of us, when we read a headline about a newly extinct species, we will simply read on. I know I did, until I understood the reality of how nature works.

It isn’t just one species impacted by the extinction, it is the entire ecosystem. That includes us.

However, I am not without hope. We, as Western humans, became disconnected from nature, but it isn’t hard to reconnect.

I say Western because many indigenous populations around the world, and Māori here in New Zealand, have always known they are part of nature, and when you are a part of something, you care for it.

You can begin today. The power is in your hands. It’s through everyday choices including holding businesses accountable through your wallets, and governments through your ballots.

So, how will this all end? That depends on you, and me, and what we all do together. If we don’t fix this, we will push humans to extinction. Nature is strong. She will survive. My question to you is, do we want to as well?

Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua.

As man disappears from sight, the land remains.

Livia Esterhazy is chief executive of WWF-New Zealand.