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Every day, in many different ways, we humans impact the elements of our Earth. Greenhouse gases are released by the burning of fossil fuels, and the result is a rise in global temperatures. e ever-increasing carbon dioxide levels pollute both our air and our water at a critical, lethal rate. As we continue these practices, and disrupt the oceans' balance by overfishing and changing their chemistry, we make them uninhabitable by the aquatic life that should flourish there. is includes microscopic plankton, which provides more than half the oxygen on the planet—the very air we breathe to live. Projections show that 40% of existing plankton will disappear over the next 50 years due to these actions. Even more alarming is the prospect of unleashing the deadly methane gas that is now trapped beneath the frozen tundra. Degree by degree, our actions are progressing toward a gradual melting of that protective layer, putting our Earth and life as we know it in grave danger. "The whole world is singing, but we've stopped listening." -Christopher Clark, senior scientist in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Bioacoustics Research Program Dr. Clark's statement is both literal—as in the plight of the Kauai O'o bird—and urgently figurative. e "song" is the message the world's animals are trying to send to us: Harming them is essentially killing our planet. Documentarian Louie Psihoyos (director of the Academy Award-winning "Racing Extinction") states that, "Scientists predict humanity's footprint on the planet may cause the loss of 50% of all species by the end of the century." To counteract this outcome, he employs an artistic tactic in his film of showcasing the beauty of the world around us in order to frighten and emotionally move us enough to save it, and in turn, save ourselves. Whole species are dying off at an alarming rate in today's natural world—by some estimates, up to 1,000 times faster than expected. A poignant example given in the 2015 film "Racing Extinction" is the Kauai O'o bird, a native of Hawaii, that is now extinct. The bird's sad fate is demonstrated to dramatic effect in the form of a recording of a lone male calling to a mate who no longer exists. Later, even that call falls silent. CRIPPLING DEFORESTATION Palm oil, a cheap substitute for butter in baked goods and an ingredient that gives shampoos and cosmetics a creamy texture, is one of the leading culprits in environmental destruction. According to the World Wildlife Fund, an area equivalent in size to 300 football fields of rainforest is cleared each hour to make way for palm oil production. Stop and think about that for a moment: 300 FOOTBALL FIELDS…PER HOUR. More sustainable means of running palm oil businesses—also called Better Management Practices (BMPs)—have been proposed and implemented in different parts of the world. These include building smaller mills, monitoring the use of dangerous fertilizers and eliminating catastrophic burning practices. Such strategies get us on the road to improvement, but they need to be employed on a significantly larger scale in order to better manage the environmental effects of palm oil development. A N D W H A T W E C A N D O A B O U T I T B E F O R E I T ' S T O O L A T E N E T I N C R I S I S By Vanessa Houston Subscribe at GravitasMag.com | 61

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