If the Lion is considered King of the jungle then humans should be considered as Kings of the world. The decisions and actions that we make so casually impact the world daily no matter how small we feel that decision or action is. In a way, we control the fate of the Earth and have the power to lengthen or shorten it's life span. The majority of our interventions impact the biodiversity of our ecosystems negatively,
such as poaching/hunting, trapping, pollution, depletion, genetic engineering, global warming, and many, many other harmful actions. However, despite the overload of damaging human interventions, we are still capable of helping our ecosystems. An example of human intervention that has positively affected the biodiversity of our ecosystems is endangered species reserves. There are multiple endangered species reserves located in Canada, including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and British Columbia. By creating these reserves, humans have the ability and opportunity to save many species from extinction. The results of this human intervention are proven to be positive because there have been many encouraging examples of recovery activities. Species such as the White-top aster, Massasauga, and North Atlantic Right Whale have all been recovered from the brink of extinction and are examples of the positive results of endangered species reserves. Since many species are being saved, humans can maintain the biodiversity of our ecosystems through their efforts in reserves. As environmental stewards we have the responsibility of environmental quality shared by all those whose actions affect the environment (United States Environmental Protection Agency 1). As a result of the strong effects that our actions have, I would say that we are definitely being stewards of the world and should take on that responsibility even more so. We manage our planet’s species and our space (both negatively and positively), however we need to accept even more responsibility so that our human interventions only affect the biodiversity of our ecosystems in a positive way.
Sources:
United States Environmental Protection Agency. "Environmental Stewardship." April 30, 2009
http://www.epa.gov/stewardship/
Hinterland Who's Who. "Species at Risk in Canada." Canadian Wildlife Federation. 2009
http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?cid=4&id=232
Images from: http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?cid=4&id=232
Commented on:
Demijel Junio - Wong
http://bioblogbydemi.blogspot.com/2009/09/whats-going-on.html
Jed's Blog
http://dejedj.blogspot.com/2009/09/unit-2-wellat-least-humanity-got-what.html
