When you hear the word “wildlife,” what comes to mind for you? For many, we immediately think of some of earth’s amazing animals, like lions, elephants, bears, toucans - there’s so many it’s impossible to list them all!
The truth about wildlife we might not think of at first is the fact each of these beautiful creatures require an entire ecosystem to survive. For each of these amazing animals, if their environment becomes imbalanced or destroyed, their survival is put on the brink.
The truth about humans is that we’re just like each of our favorite animals - reliant upon a thriving ecosystem and harmonic environment to survive. And the thing is, we all share this one world, lions and dolphins and humans alike.
As Heraclitus once said, ‘Change is the only constant’. In our modern world, there’s so many new things happening, and so many variables affecting not only human technology, but also Earth’s ecosystems and wildlife.
As climate change continues, it affects us all. Regardless of who’s suffering first - species or country, the harm spreads and affects the entire ecosystem that is Earth.
Luckily, there’s a lot of good we can do to help make this a healthy home for all of us.
What Is Climate Change, And How Does It Affect Ecosystems?
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Through Earth’s history, there have been many shifts that were slow, long, and natural. Right now, most of Earth’s climate change is driven by the burning of fossil fuels, causing quick, dramatic shifts.
These fossil fuels emit CO2 and other gasses when burned, which linger in the atmosphere, trapping heat from the sun, causing disruptions below.
It’s crucial for us to know how climate change will affect the Earth - as we’ve said, everything is connected, the environment, wildlife, and humanity all share the same Earth.
Disrupting changes in climate can have a domino effect on an entire ecosystem. We’re seeing much climate change now in the form of more extreme weather occurrences, taking place more often.
As various floodings, droughts, heat waves, and glacial melting happens more and more, this affects the food chain, sending bigger and bigger shockwaves through the environment.
For example, even if just the population of the little honey bee suffers, it affects so much - many plants need the bees to reproduce, and so many animals need to eat those plants to survive.
Though it might seem like humanity could never be affected by these increasing changes, we’re starting to see the effects on our communities even now.
Biodiversity - the many millions of different species living on our Earth, is essential to maintain for the survival of the whole, and though humanity has affected the climate so badly, we still have the ability to make a better future for both ourselves and the wild.
It’s becoming easier and easier to see how our planet’s wildlife is in crisis.
Every day we hear of a new flood, wildfire, or drought that’s affecting different countries across the world. Each ecosystem is sensitive, and requires care to be maintained during this climate crisis.
But The Good News Is, We Actually Can Help!
Conservation and preserving or restoring nature is a powerful tool in the race to stop climate change. Healthy ecosystems also filter water, buffer against flooding, reduce the impact of disasters, improve soil health and support rich biodiversity. Keystone species and nearly all animals play vital, sometimes invisible, roles in securing biodivers.
One of the most powerful weapons in fighting against climate change is wildlife conservation.
By participating in and helping fund conservation groups, we can help maintain the areas that are most affected by climate change, and help preserve the many awesome animals in each place.
Improving ecosystems also bears a lot of other awesome benefits, too!
- Prevents animal and human conflicts
- Stabilizes our own foodchain
- Creates new jobs
- Aids infrastructure and development
- Promotes economy through tourism
- Cultivates soil health
- Filters clean water for the area
- Fosters and maintains biodiversity
Check out how you can partner with 4WildLife so we can help conserve our environment together!