Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Editorial: It’s a small world

June is a month with many qualities commanding our attention, not least of which is the natural world.

With our hemisphere moving toward maximum daylight hours, gardens are bursting with life and wild flowering plants and trees are coming into their own.  

While these small miracles still abound, the greater picture is looking bleaker. A report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services determined that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history — and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating.

The world’s oceans are among the hardest hit environments, perhaps because their plant and animal species are easier to ignore for humans who put most of their focus on the land. The IPEBS found that almost 33 per cent of corals and more than a third of all marine mammals are threatened. Whales face a peril we can no longer ignore, as their deaths surface to haunt us. Close to 60 grey whales have washed up dead along the Pacific coast from Alaska to California in 2019. Two prevailing theories are either warmer oceans or lack of food (amphipods, krill and small fish) are to blame. Southern resident killer whales are also turning up malnourished to the point of starvation. These days, the rare birth of a new calf warrants as much anxiety as joy.

With all these worrying facts casting shadows on June’s sunny days, the month has also become a time to raise awareness of the linked issues of species loss, climate change and human action. World Oceans Day arrives this Saturday, June 8. The month of June is Orca Awareness Month in Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia, and it’s also been claimed as Climate Awareness Month by Transition Salt Spring this year.

While far-reaching initiatives are needed on all fronts, paying attention to our actions as individuals is a simple start. Things like minimizing waste that could end up in the ocean, growing more of your own food and saying no to farmed salmon are all ways  to help lessen climate impacts and maintain ocean health. Not coincidentally, these actions will also help orcas.

Our biosphere is an amazing network of connections. Starting small could help in ways we can’t even fathom.

Sign up for our newsletter and stay informed

Receive news headlines every week with our free email newsletter.

Other stories you might like

RCMP asks for help with wanted person 

Police on Salt Spring Island are seeking help from the public in locating a person wanted for several alleged offences. 

Salt Spring LTC sues AirBnB, farm stand owner 

The numbered corporation the Islands Trust says owns two luxury vacation rental properties — and a popular retail farm stand — on Salt Spring...

Updated: Body found at Long Harbour

A multi-agency search for a missing man ended tragically Thursday morning as a body was recovered from the shoreline in Long Harbour.   Salt Spring Island...

ePlane makes first Ganges visit

Science talk, ePlane presence and panel discussion plug into low-carbon issues Salt Spring got a glimpse of a lower-carbon future on the weekend through a...

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Weather

Salt Spring Island
overcast clouds
4.7 ° C
6.8 °
2.8 °
99 %
2.1kmh
100 %
Thu
6 °
Fri
6 °
Sat
8 °
Sun
9 °
Mon
9 °