UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE NUEVO LEÓN

FACULTAD DE INGENIERÍA MECÁNICA Y ELÉCTRICA

CULTURA INGLESA

Activity: The Guardian view on extinction: time to rebel

Nombre: Valeria Lujano Jasso

Matricula: 1577861
Dia: Jueves Hora: N1

Salón: 6-303
M.A. Tobías Issac Guzmán Mátar

San Nicolás de los Garza N.L a 9 de mayo de 2019

The Guardian view on extinction: time to rebel

We humans pride ourselves on our ability to look beyond immediate concerns

and think on a grander scale. While other creatures preen for mates, hunt prey
or build homes, only humans ponder the nature of time, explore our place in the
universe or are troubled by the question of what wiped out the dinosaurs. Yet we
are often poor at focusing on and understanding the things which really matter. A
new mass extinction is under way, and this time we are mostly responsible. The
new UN Global Assessment Report warns that a million plant and animal
species are at risk of being wiped out.

Most of us find it impossible to visualize such a large number. Focusing on

individual cases is only partially helpful. Plenty of tears are shed for charismatic
megafauna such as rhinos when they are driven to the brink. Fewer know or care
that two in five amphibian species are under threat. Phytoplankton drifting in the
ocean are barely noticed at all, but absorb carbon dioxide as well as being eaten
by zooplankton, which in turn are eaten by larger creatures, in turn eaten by
ourselves.

It took only a century for humans to discover the dodo and drive it to extinction.
But annihilation is now too speedy and commonplace for us to even recognize
each species: we are sending creatures to their deaths before we know what they
are. In many more cases species will survive, but in far tinier numbers. The
biomass of wild animals has fallen by 82%; hedgehog populations in the British
countryside halved in the last half-century.

In contrast, our own population soars, and so does its consumption. Climate
change is one of the major causes of this catastrophe, bleaching corals and
damaging habitats. Any sensible strategy must consider them together, as an
environmental emergency. But there are also specific challenges to wildlife,
including the replacement of forests by fields of cows; overfishing; the impact of
pesticides and fertilizers; the pollution of air and water and soil; and the spread
of plastics through our oceans and food chains.

Government leaders must press this issue by raising it personally instead of

leaving it to ministers; Emmanuel Macron has pledged to do so when he hosts
the G7 summit this year. They should start now: next autumn, countries will meet
in China for a UN conference on biodiversity, setting new targets. There has been
shamefully slow progress towards the existing ones, drawn up in Japan in 2010,
though there have been some successes. The US never even ratified the
convention on biological diversity, hindering its chances of gaining traction. The
best hope of progress there is perhaps through a version of a Green New Deal
incorporating biodiversity.
There are already signs of a shift in thinking. A new OECD report makes a bold
call for taxes on wildlife-degrading companies, and the diversion of finance to
biodiversity-boosting projects rather than damaging ones; fossil fuel companies
and agribusiness continue to receive vast subsidies. Many believe a more radical
rethinking of our economic model is needed.

Real change will require a depth of imagination, ambition and sheer determination
which humans have historically struggled to muster. Yet if we cannot summon
the required concern for a million species, we could at least focus on one: our
own. We may not be charmed by Earth’s 5.5 million insect species, but we need
them to pollinate crops, disperse seeds and break down waste to enrich the soil.
Through ignorance, greed, laziness and simple lack of attention we are wiping
out the very creatures upon whom we ourselves depend.

Analysis
This article talks about what we all know but mostly we do not make conscience.
The extinction of animals derives from the contamination of humans, is a subject
that contains a lot of information. The size of the species extinction that is taking
place is enormous, and as expected human beings are the culprits of this
happening. The article mentions that the United Nations Global Assessment
report warns that more than one million species of plants and animals are at risk.

It mentions us about the different marine assemblages that exist as the

phytoplankton that is derived in the ocean and is almost not noticed, but still fulfills
its function and absorbs carbon dioxide in addition to being consumed by
zooplankton, which in turn It is consumed by larger creatures, in turn, ourselves.
There is the possibility of keeping species of plants and animals but in small
numbers. Climate change is one of the main causes of this catastrophe, the
discoloration of corals and harmful habitats.

Government leaders must already put in place programs to raise awareness and
use another plan that works, and not leave this issue in the hands of the ministers.
Soon there will be a meeting at the UN to talk about biodiversity, but he mentions
that progress can be slow. We must give more importance to the issue of the
extinction of animals, little by little we have been finishing with the animals that
we have.

Personal opinion
I think that the extinction of animals is something very serious that affects us all,
because we are all part of a chain and if any of its elements are missing it will be
unbalanced, in addition all the animals exist for a reason, have a purpose and are
part of nature. From my point of view, we are all guilty that the animals are
becoming extinct, for several reasons.

Because we pollute too much which causes climate change that some animals
sometimes can’t resist. Also, because we kill, they and the worst are that
sometimes for fun and because we invaded and destroyed their habitat, which I
think is very bad.

We must try to contaminate as little as possible, separate or classify garbage into

organic, inorganic, sanitary and special waste, we must also stop burning the
garbage and using many aerosol products, so we will be avoiding a bit the global
warming that causes climate changes. In addition, we must stop invading and
destroying the animals' habitats, stop killing them and hunting them, especially
the females and respecting the lifetime

Conclusion:
Being able to know what the reasons for animal extinction can are make us create
long-term solutions for animal species do not cease to exist and that creates a
natural imbalance in which chaos is created giving a butterfly effect in The
Biodiversity.

Although there are people working on possible solutions, the work does not just
fall entirely on them, which means that we also have that responsibility that we
must try not to forget this important responsibility and to demand in some way the
right to governments for the protection of this one.

In conclusion the good of this world and its biodiversity rests with us so that it
continues to exist so that the next future generations will inherit them and have
that human responsibility for the care of their planet, the planet and biodiversity
of all.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/07/the-guardian-view-on-
extinction-time-to-rebel