World Environment Day

The Earth as we know it is suffering from environmental issues, with humans as the main culprit.

The article ‘Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years: UN’ brings about a worrying issue that food supplies from the ocean might be dwindling in the future. Some of the causes include overfishing and pollution of the ocean.

Overfishing happens when too many fishes are being caught and not given time to breed. The fishes are therefore unable to sustain their population.

Humans, especially those from the poorer nations, depend on fish as their source of food and fishing as a source of income. In order to meet the demand of a densely populated nation, which is reliant on fish for food, bigger vessels are being used. This is even encouraged by the fact that the government is willing to subsidise the fuel cost of the activity.

Oil spillage and improper disposal of waste are forms of ocean pollution. The recent incident of British Petroleum (BP) rig collapsing and sending a massive oil spillage, threatening marine life and their habitat proves just how serious the effects of ocean pollution is.

In the article ‘2010 Year of Biodiversity Tries to Rein in Runaway Extinctions’, it states that wildlife is facing extinction due to climate change contributed by human activities.

Global warming occurs when there is a rise in the average temperature in the atmosphere. Causes of global warming can be contributed to increasing of CO2 level and thus resulting in a climate change.

The effect of climate change is a cause for a worry as it is affecting the wildlife’s habitat and food web. As stated, polar species are being affected by loss of ice due to global warming. Marine life and wildlife in the tropical region are also affected due to the rising sea level and rising ocean temperature.

However, there might still be hope for the marine life and wildlife facing extinction as more and more people all over the world are raising environmental awareness and joining the movement.

United Nation has marked 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity - the variety of life on Earth, with the purpose of raising public awareness on the importance of biodiversity and the consequences of its loss to human well-being.

Singapore is also doing her part by running the ‘Saving Gaia’ campaign, a MediaCorp’s green initiative, in conjunction with World Environment Day.

As individuals, we can also do our part. Some examples include; using the public transport and cutting down on personal transport whenever possible, putting the 3R (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle) into practice, using the fan instead of the air-con and turning off the power switch when not in use.

Most of the activities involved are not hard to do and can be incorporated into our daily routine. It all boils down to the individuals and whether they are willing to take the initiative.