Future of ecosystems balance - out of our hands please
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- published 19 July 2024 | modified 22 December 2024
For quite some time I have been thinking about the relevance to our Planet’s ecosystems by human beings. Are we, or perhaps I should use the overarching term humankind, a disturbance to the balance in ecosystems or are we able to maintain that balance or even reinstall that balance?
We know that our existence on Planet Earth relies on the services that these ecosystems provide, such as clean water, clean air and food (animals, plants). The ecosystems can only do this when they are healthy - in balance. Unbalanced ecosystems cannot sustain itself and as a consequence cannot deliver the services we rely on.
As far as I know all ecosystems consists of a diversity of living organisms, including supportive materials (dead matter) for some of these organisms to thrive, like stones to which organisms can attach. When speaking of organisms a full range of the Tree of Life is meant, from micro-organisms to apex predators like tigers. But does it include us, human beings. How and what do we contribute to the ecosystems that exist. Straightforward reasoning leads to the conclusion that nature conservation is part of our contribution. Although regarded as a positive impulse for ecosystems – I assume – it is not necessarily a...