The Earth’s systems deliver crucial services to humankind for example food security, protection against extreme weather events, medicines, recreation and it adds to the foundation of human culture. Together these services have been estimated to be worth over 21-72 trillion USD every year – comparable to the World Gross National Income of 58 trillion USD in 2008 (United Nations Environment Project 2010). But all these are being destroyed at a very high speed and some of the things that are killing our planet are; the water crisis, the climate crisis, ocean warming, fisheries depletion, the energy crisis among others (Caroline Sylger Jones). 

Yet rarely will we see any mention of this in news reports. They may report profits and jobs created by corporations that profit from practices that destroy the Earth’s living systems but ignore the foundation of our well-being, which is a planet that all living things, including human beings, depend on. When the time comes when all Earth’s resources are depleted, people will not be able to spend their money to buy food, there will be no medicines and they will not be able to spend money on tourism and this means that their money will have no value. This is why we must realize how important protecting our planet is because it’s our life support system, we depend on it for clean air, water, shelter and yet again most people have not acknowledged the value of protecting our planet. We think that with money we can survive any disaster but think about the following  scenario: you survived a shipwreck and found yourself on a desert island and you are the only living thing in sight. You have loads of cash in your pocket, but your island has no food, drinkable water or shelter from the burning sun and despite your wealth, you will starve to death.

We must wake up and act now by putting the planet and the people above profit because, “MONEY WILL BE USELESS ON A DEAD PLANET”

Sources:     

International Convention Center Occupation. © Shayne Robinson
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