Thanks to a wonderful suggestion from a member of the greenhomexpress facebook fan club, I checked out the site amphibianark.org. Even if you have ranidaphobia, fear of frogs, you still can certainly appreciate the contribution they make to our ecosystem and as indicators of the planet's environmental health.
First some fascinating and terrifying frog (amphibian) facts: 50% of the approximately 6000 species are threatened with extinction. 165 species are already extinct. 500 species will become extinct in the near future, too late to save them. And the really sad news: it appears with current efforts and spending levels only about 50 species can be saved. So, if we stay on course it should only take us about 100 years to wipe out about 90% of a species that has been around for about 400 million years. Astonishing!
In the following paragraph I will briefly describe how frogs are vital components of our ecosystem. Just to be clear, this is for informational purposes only since I personally believe that if something exists on our planet and we did not create it, i.e. build it, pour it out of a test tube, etc, then it belongs here regardless of what we understand about it. Actually, I will quote amphibianark.org since they do such a great job of explaining it. “Amphibians feed primarily on insects and other invertebrates. It was estimated that a single population of ~1,000 cricket frogs (Acris crepitans) could consume almost five million invertebrates in one year. Clearly they serve as significant predators of small invertebrates, as abundant prey for larger predators, and as a vital link in the food web between the two. In areas of the world where amphibians have declined, there has been an increase in invertebrate pests that damage crops and that carry human diseases.”
How we, humans, benefit directly from amphibians: They provide vital bio-medicines. Some of the categories of medicines that amphibians have contributed to are analgesics, antibiotics, stimulants for heart attach victims, antidepressants, medicines for stroke, seizure, Alzheimer’s, cancer and HIV infections.
How we should benefit from amphibians: They have been compared to canaries in the coal mines. They have very thin skins and are susceptible to environmental contaminants. Amphibians might be able to warn us if certain unsafe environmental conditions exist. Some environmental and scientific organizations do this now, i.e. The Natural Defenses Resource Council, but it is clear that all of us need to pay more attention. For example, Atrazine can chemically sterilize tadpoles at levels well below the EPA maximum allowable level for drinking water. And Atrazine has been found in more than 1 million American’s drinking water above the maximum amount set by the EPA. So the obvious conclusion is since Atrazine is sterilizing amphibians and it’s in our drinking water, Atrazine might be sterilizing us. So we should pay very close attention to the amphibian population.
There are many time consuming and expensive processes we can become involved in to help rectify this horrible situation. But, as always, the simplest and quickest involves being extraordinarily environmentally careful when spending your hard earned money. Please make sure you are not allowing your health and the health of your loved ones to be controlled by a company that thinks its expendable.
No comments:
Post a Comment