Biodiversity as a Social and Political Crisis

By Allyson Haskins

Before delving into the complicated role biodiversity plays in our everyday life, it’s good to start with a definition of what biodiversity truly is. Google will tell you that biodiversity is “the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem,” which is basically your average generic answer. However, biodiversity plays a role

in how everything exists in our world– it even explains what coral reefs offer to ocean creatures versus what they would offer if present in a rainforest. 

Biodiversity surrounds us every single day, even when we don’t realize it. It is the very reason we don’t see monkeys or sloths living in our backyards, or why we don’t see rhinos walking along the beach on vacation. Biodiversity offers an important aspect to all of our lives for both ethical reasons as well as those in nature. It offers crucial services such as pollination, climate regulation, and many other things while also offering potential benefits not recognized yet, such as future medicines and other services we have yet to discover. It also adds a cultural value to humans on a religious or ethnic stance.

It may seem as though biodiversity relates more to nature and climate than anything else, but with further research, it is evident that biodiversity is essential in religion and ethnic groups. In most cultures, religion is a system of faith and defining things as morally right or as wrong. Since nature is often believed to hold spiritual powers, many religions deem that it commands respect. As a result, nature has been included, and still is included, in the religious code of morality and etiquette by religions ranging from Hinduism to Christianity. Even if these codes have different ways and means, they still venerate biodiversity. These ethical beliefs and religious values help to influence behavior towards nature, creatures, and all the plant life that biodiversity encompasses.

With the rise of climate change and destruction of ecosystems, the threat to biodiversity has exponentially increased. Of course there have always been changes to ecosystems, from when Pangea formed into multiple different continents to when meteors struck the planet, but now they are occurring at an unprecedented rate. Some of these major and direct threats are habitat loss, unsustainable resource use, pollution, and global climate change. With help from political parties that decide to tackle climate change and biodiversity with tangible policy, there may be hope to save it.

In earlier years, anything that dealt with climate change was not a political matter. Everyone turned a blind eye to the climate change that was beginning because it wasn’t as serious as it is now; it didn’t seem like an urgent problem to be prioritized before other matters. However, as climate change slowly deteriorates biodiversity, this matter needs to become more political and the way it is addressed needs to be changed. While the left wing is known to prioritize climate change and the decrease of  biodiversity more than the right wing, they still do not place it on the top of their list. Over and over again, political parties use the excuse that once they are elected, supported, funded, that they will take a stand against climate change and help save the planet. Nevertheless, once they are elected, they often choose to do nothing.  

The good thing to take from this reading is that biodiversity still has a chance to be saved. The conservation efforts that have been taken recently have helped biodiversity greatly, such as protecting national parks, wildlife refuges, game reserves, and marine areas. Since most of these are managed by the government, we need to ensure that those in power stay committed to taking care of the planet and biodiversity.

Biodiversity is vital to everyday life, even if you’ve never heard of it before. Use your voice to encourage those in office to open their eyes to the harmful ways of climate change, pollution, and the loss of habitats among other factors. Write to your local representatives and make the case for specific environmental legislation. However, do not stop there. In your everyday life, think about what you can do to help the planet and save biodiversity and the habitats that it creates.

Art Credits: Hilary Simon