Ecological Literacy

Ecological Literacy

To me, ecological literacy is the understanding of how one organism's actions can cause another organism's downfall or rising. The ecosystem is composed of many different living organisms' all of which depend on one another in some way to thrive. When one organism falls out of the loop caused by an effect of an eco-illiterate organism then the loop is thrown off and the natural occurrence of rebuilding takes place. Many of us are not ecologically literate and are damaging the world around us; in order for us to thrive we need to be able to live in a sustainable community by understanding the functions of our ecosystem.

Our dysfunctional relationship with the environment is being affected by every action we take, no matter how big or small it may be. We live in an era where it is common to not stop and think about the effects of our actions. Many species have become extinct as a result of the human race either being over populated, or to the over hunting of an animal species. Today, hunting is a major threat to about a third of the unprotected threatened mammals and birds worldwide. (Science daily) The first step is to acknowledge and document the over-hunting of wild meat. Doing something about it is the second step.

Just last year, the African Black Rhinoceros was named extinct as a result of illegal poaching; this species was killed only for their horns. With the world's population estimated at over 7 billion people today, and with the livable surface on earth being only 30% while 70% is composed of water bodies, we need make aware how much of the natural resources we are using up in the short amount of time we are using them, (Planet pals). This is a direct result of the human races' lack of knowledge with ecological literacy. We need to augment our knowledge on being more ecologically sound for the human kind, plants, animals and other living organism's sustainability.

Not only would it be valuable to the human kind, but to the world in which we live and rely on to behave in a more ecologically intelligent manner. If we continue down this path of carelessness, in hundreds of years to come earth may not be a sustainable place to live. The human race may start to die off because plants and food may not be readily available, or able to grow; and bodies of water will start to dry up leaving us with nothing to drink or to supply to plants and animals that also rely on it. Water plays a huge part in the ecosystem; it is used for drinking, cooking, washing, but also and mostly, for producing food, (World water). On average we drink 2.5 liters of water daily, it takes 1500 liters of water to produce 1 kilo of grain and 10 times that amount to produce 1 kilo of beef (15,000 liters). In order to produce enough food to satisfy one person's daily consumption you would use 3000 liters of water per day, per person.

Water can be replenished back in the earth naturally by rain and moisture stored in the soil. A few other ways we can help cut back on the use and waste of water are: turn off faucets while