Week 4 : Let's Conserve Earth and Its Wildlife!

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     As we all know, Earth is the only planet in our solar system that has all the favorable conditions of life. We are really lucky to live in a planet like that, which is also home to many different species. So it is our responsibility to protect it, instead of polluting it and destroying it. Usually, we, human beings are very selfish that we don't think about the wildlife on Earth, and we become the reason for its extinction. Every single plant and animal on Earth has an equal right to live as much as we do. So as the most intelligent living beings on Earth, we are responsible to protect it. Now it is time to think again, and work together to correct our mistakes. 
    
     Scientists estimate that 150-200 species of plants, insects, birds, and mammals go extinct every day, which means that 50000-70000 species go extinct each year. Who knows? Maybe even more extinction might happen! As the human population is growing, animals and plants are rapidly going extinct! We all know that the global warming is one of the main reasons for all these extinctions. Well, global warming is happening because of the overproduction of greenhouse gases, which allows the Earth to absorb more heat. The increased heat level alters or eliminates a species' habitat, which lets it go extinct. But aren't we the ones who are responsible for that? 99% of the threatened species are at risk from human activities.

     Here are some examples of human activities that risk the wildlife...

• Deforestation - The carbon dioxide level will not be controlled because of the absence of plants to absorb them. Not only that, the birds that live on trees will lose their habitat and might go extinct. 
• The smoke emissions from vehicles and factories - More greenhouse gases will be produced. The air is polluted, and species' habitats are eliminated.
• Hunting animals for fun.
• Eliminating garbage on water bodies - The water will be dirty and the marine creatures might go extinct.
• Usage of chemicals and fertilizers - More greenhouse gases are produced. The toxic environment becomes the cause for the extinction of flora and fauna.
• Eating meat - If you do, it will encourage people to kill more animals, and there will be none of them in the future!
• The burning of fossil fuels - It will pollute the air and produce more greenhouse gases.  
• And many more...

     One species' extinction can affect the other species as well, (you will understand if you look at the food web). So it is very important to protect the balance of the living beings. One species is the bait of another species. And the balance of the number of species is very well maintained by nature. If one species goes extinct, the bait of that species will be overproduced. So, the number of species will be unbalanced. Not only that, if a species only eats one type of species and if that goes extinct, the other species will also go extinct because of starvation. To be clear, let me give one example. A special group of rabbits only eats Cordoba carrots, and suddenly the Cordoba carrots goes extinct. So, the rabbits will also go extinct because of starvation. 
     
     So as I mentioned before, as the most intelligent beings on Earth, it is our responsibility to protect its wildlife. Try to imagine the earth without any plants and animals. Will we survive there? That would be dreadful! There are no plants, but ruined buildings. There will be no animals, but their skeletons. The whole earth will be a one single desert. Because of the overproduced greenhouse gases, our earth will be a very hot place. Can any one of us survive there? No food, no water, simply nothing! Of course, the whole human species will go extinct! So, that proves that the humans can't survive without animals and plants. What is the use of being a rich person who owns big house if there are no trees and animals? The future is unpredictable, but if we don't protect the wildlife on Earth, our terrible nightmare will become true, the humans will go extinct! 

     But this is not the time to give up, because we are still not that late. We could still make a wonderful future for our planet Earth. As we always say, teamwork makes the dream work! We, AITIS students are not grownups yet, but we could still do small things that make the big things happen. 
     
     Here are some actions that we take in school.

• We organize cleaning day at AITIS.
• We grow many plants.
• We organize art competitions with the theme of saving environment.
• We recycle paper in our classrooms. 
• We create art and crafts with used items in after school activities or art classes.
• We engage in after school activities like Green Club.
• We organize Earth Day.
• We prepare Class/Drama presentations on conservation of environment.
• We have lately started saving water in Songkran festival.
• We take care of endangered animal species in Thailand like Monitor Lizard by not disturbing them in AIT. 

 Information Sites 
 http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/
 http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep16b.htm
 https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/SAVE-THE-MOTHER-EARTH
 http://unfccc.int/cop3/fccc/climate/fact22.htm
 https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/directory?sort=extinction_status&direction=desc
​ http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/global_warming_and_life_on_earth/index.html

So, what can you do to protect the Earth and its wildlife? Let me know in the commenting section!