[Iyencar]

Came across this shocking article on USA Today about a massive UN report Link
Some points from the report:

• “While the planetary garden still exists,” Thomas Lovejoy of George Mason University said about the report, “it is in deep disrepair, frayed and fragmented almost beyond recognition."
• 1 million of the planet's 8 million species of plants and animals are at risk of going extinct in the near future.
• The pace of species loss “is already tens to hundreds of times higher than it has been, on average, over the last 10 million years,"
• "Through 'transformative change', nature can still be conserved, restored and used sustainably – this is also key to meeting most other global goals," Watson said. By transformative change, we mean a fundamental, system-wide reorganization across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values."
• "the biological diversity of this planet has been really hammered, and this is really our last chance to address all of that,”

Everyone of us has to take some form of action no matter how small. Being a part of the second most populous nation on earth and becoming a society that is veering more and more towards consuming than recycling, the situation is even more dire for us. Even assuming the numbers in the report may be inflated, there is still serious cause for concern. On my part I try to take public transport,i.e. trains, buses and the metro as far as possible. My car is the absolute last resort for going somewhere alone. Also, I'm aiming to make my next car a Hybrid depending on convenience and price. If others have any easy to adopt practices, please do let me know.

[Thermodynamics]

Important topic indeed, sad, but unstoppable. Wonder how many of us are would be genuinely worried about this report. Some may even question the authenticity or genuineness and suspect exaggeration/doctoring. Forget environment, we live in a society where is no value for human life.

The report says humans are ravaging the planet by:
Turning forests, grasslands and other areas into farms, cities and other developments. The habitat loss leaves plants and animals homeless.
Overfishing the world’s oceans. A third of the world’s fish stocks are overfished.
Permitting climate change from the burning of fossil fuels to make it too hot, wet or dry for some species to survive.
Polluting land and water.
Allowing invasive species to crowd out native plants and animals.

Although pollution and climate change is what many talk about, there are lot of insignificant things that slowly and steadily choke life lines of numerous species on earth.

For example highways. The highways from wild animals perspective are guillotines. They must be lucky to cross with their dear lives. Highways have systematically cut access to their day to day needs. Not just big animals, snakes, frogs, snails, whatever, they are confined to isolated pockets.

Think about water table. We dam rivers and all biological lives that were dependent on river water for thousand of years are condemned to death on the construction of a new dam.

[Aditya]

There is no question about the fact that we humans are causing immense destruction in the world. If any species of animals or plants go extinct, we are directly or indirectly responsible.

Just yesterday, I was sitting with some buddies on the Haji Ali "katta" enjoying the rains. One glance towards the sea and we couldn't help noticing the immense amount of plastic trash being washed onto the rocks below. Obviously, this is being dumped into the sea by us humans. No wonder there are stories of various sea creatures found with plastics in their stomachs.

Then there is the issue of construction. At many places in the country, there are forest department check posts, but the forests are missing. They have been cut down to make way for farms, residential / office buildings, warehouses, etc. There's no place for the animals in the forests to go. Animals, big and small, depend on each other for their survival. Take one out of the eco system and all the others will suffer.

The way things stand at the moment, I don't think there is much hope.