PDS AP Environmental Science 5th Period 2010-11

On monday, we talked about how the US and others have turned to protecting and saving nearly extinct creatures.  The government has stepped in and created two lists of creatures that are either endangered, something that is at risk to be extinct in all or some of its natural range, and threatened, something that is at risk to become extinct. We have accelerated the extinction rate by 1000-10000 times faster than natures extinction rate would have.  This needs to be changed because wild species are very important for many reasons: utilitarian uses, aesthetic beauty, moral reasons, and ecological reasons.

These creatures are some of the most noticeable endangered or threatened species across the globe.  These creatures are vital parts of their ecosystems and are normally top tier predators that keep the other populations intact and not have them blow out of proportion.

Some ways that we have been trying to prevent these extinctions are treaties, or other pacts like CITES, or Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species.  This prohibits international trade of any endangered or threatened species across international borders. Also The ESA or Endangered Species Act, protects creatures and the critical habitat from being harmed.  These are only two of the many acts and treaties that have been enacted to protect endangered species.

Some of the main reasons that creatures go extinct prematurely are in a nice acronym HIPPO, this is the five highest reasons for premature extinction.  1) Habitat Destruction.  2) Invasive species 3) Human population growth 4)Pollution and 5) Over harvesting/poaching.  This spells HIPPO.

An example of how a species succumbs to HIPPO are sharks all around the world, this video talks about how humans are depleting the sharks in such a short time period.  Shark Alert! species struggles.

The most important environmental issue is the dependency of fossil fuels and not knowing what to do when they run out.  The burning of fossil fuels is bad enough, but the more important issue is what are we going to do when we run out of fuel.  We have only made small inefficient strides on creating clean energy.  Solar energy is incredibly inefficient and costs large amounts of money to do.  Wind energy is far too inconsistent because there are only a few places on earth where wind is constantly blows at high enough speeds to keep the turbines turning at all times. Unless we can make large strides in our short period until we run out we may be out of what the world has run on for over 100 years.