We often hear about numerous ‘endangered’ birds, but as human population and endeavour increases even previously common birds are in decline, according to the BBC NEWS:
The populations of the world’s common birds are declining as a result of continued habitat loss, a global assessment has warned.
…The State of the World’s Birds 2008 report, the first update since 2004, found that common species — ones considered to be familiar in people’s everyday lives — were declining in all parts of the world.
… By consolidating data from various surveys, the team of researchers were able to identify trends affecting species around the world.
[Via : BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | World's common birds 'declining'.]
There are stunningly gorgeous photos with the article on the BBC News website, along with further details of what’s going on.
Our world’s rich resources are disappearing by the day, and not being replenished. Plenty of reports tell us that fish stocks have dropped by something like 90%. Bird numbers are down. We’re removing forests and farmland in favour of industry and habitation, or simply changing land use drastically from broad types of farming to intensive single-product uses.
All these things are interconnected — all the birds and trees and insects and vegetation and rivers and fish. All depend on and contribute to the welfare of the others.
We’re part of that picture too. As birds and animals and vegetation disappear, our own existence becomes ever more precarious.
We can wait for our governments to get around to wondering if there’s a problem. But we can also look to ourselves.
The old slogan, a few decades ago, was ‘reduce, recycle, reuse’. We seem to have hooked on to the ‘recycle’ part of that slogan, but it would be more appropriate to emphasise the first. If we can reduce our demands on the earth perhaps we can slow the decline.
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