The world has lost 68 percent of wildlife species since 1970, according to the World Wildlife Fund, a global nonprofit. This represents a staggering loss of what scientists call biodiversity, a crucial metric of environmental health.
"If you begin to reduce or remove animals and plants from any ecosystem, the way it functions begins to unravel, and that's what's happening now," Rebecca Shaw, global chief scientist for World Wildlife Fund, told Cheddar. "Biodiversity then is under threat primarily from habitat destruction and over-harvest."
This steep reduction in biodiversity has serious implications not just for the animal kingdom but for humans as well.
"All of the species in an ecosystem play a role in delivering benefits to humans," she said. "We call them ecosystem services, because they're services that come from the ecosystem like clean air or clean water. So when we reduce populations of animal or plant species, we reduce the capacity of an ecosystem to deliver those services."
She pointed to one study showing that three billion birds are missing from North American skies, which has implications for crucial environmental processes such as pollination and seed dispersal for plants. Similar depopulations are taking place in marine ecosystems as well.
"Globally, hundreds of millions of people depend on their local fisheries for income and nutrition — I know my community does — and the decline of fish species leads to less productive fishery systems and undermines the health and welfare of those people that are dependent on those oceans," Shaw said.
There have been global efforts to counter this decline, but they've met with limited success in reversing the downward trends.
In 2010, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity gathered in Japan to establish the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, setting specific goals to halt or reduce the destruction of wildlife.
Shaw said the UN agency started evaluating the success of those targets this year.
"It doesn't look at all," she said. "While we came close to protecting 17 percent of the world's forests, which was a target, we failed miserably to protect the world's oceans and fisheries in the world's oceans."
The UN is set to meet again to establish goals for the next 10 years, but the date of this meeting has been delayed until the first quarter of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the meantime, Shaw said it is crucial that governments work with the food industry in particular to fight the loss of biodiversity.
"Production and consumption of food is the major driver of habitat destruction and over-harvesting on the planet," she said. "So the policy actions include working with companies that produce and sell food to make sure that the production of their products is biodiversity friendly."
As for the average consumer, a change in diet could help as well, including eating less red meat. "We need to eat smarter and reduce food waste," she added.
Neil Young has come up with an ultimatum for Spotify: his music or Joe Rogan’s podcast. This comes over concerns that the podcast is spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation to its listeners. "The Joe Rogan Experience," which is exclusive to Spotify, is currently the number one streamed podcast on the platform.
Commercial and residential buildings account for 13% of carbon emissions in the U.S., according to the EPA, and one company says it has a solution. Runwise says it has updated the boiler and heating systems of thousands of buildings, and that its technology not only lowers carbon output but also saves landlords money. Lee Hoffman, Co-Founder and COO of Runwise, joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Jo Ruxton, Founder of Ocean Generation, joins Cheddar Climate, where she explains the threat that plastic pollution poses to marine life, but elaborates on why we shouldn't be looking to ban plastic entirely. Ruxton also discusses her biggest takeaways while producing the film ‘A Plastic Ocean.'
President Joe Biden's Build Back Better deal seems all but finished after months of Democratic infighting and the Senate's deadlock over certain provisions. But Biden mentioned during a press conference marking his first year in office that 'chunks' of the bill could be passed. Is that enough motivation to force Democrats to rally around certain parts of the bill - especially those that focus on climate and green energy? Andrew Freedman, Energy and Climate Reporter at Axios, joins Cheddar Climate to discuss whether Senate Democrats will be able to rally around climate provisions, if the idea of passing Build Back Better in 'chunks' is doable, and more.
Anyone who remembers the 70s and 80s will probably remember acid rain. Industrial emissions acidified precipitation around the globe, which killed forests and crops, rendered lakes inhospitable, corroded buildings, and exacerbated human health problems.
But anyone who follows environmental news will be surprised to learn this: we solved it! Countries came together to limit acid rain-causing emissions, eliminating the problem altogether.
…kind of. Acidic precipitation may not be a thing of the past after all.
Natalie Ginsberg, Global Impact Officer, MAPS, joins Cheddar Reveals to discuss MAPS organization and its current initiatives and their work to get FDA approval for MDMA to treat PTSD.
Kelsey Ramsden, Co-Founder, President & CEO, Mind Cure Health, joins Cheddar Reveals to break down what 'psychedelic therapy' could look like once it's legalized and how Mind Cure Health is using AI to help treat everything from addiction to depression.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Natalie Ginsberg, Global Impact Officer, MAPS, discusses the MAPS organization and its current initiatives and their work to get FDA approval for MDMA to treat PTSD; Kelsey Ramsden, Co-Founder, President & CEO, Mind Cure Health, breaks down what 'psychedelic therapy' could look like once it's legalized and how Mind Cure Health is using AI to help treat everything from addiction to depression; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Pain, Pus and Poison.'
