Where is my home? The trees that me and my family were at, where is it gone? I see the twigs from the nest strewn around; will I not get to see my babies again? I had just gone out for some worms, or anything that my little ones could gobble down easily. It isn’t like before, food is scarce. I know it was a little longer flight than usual but can such a strong, sturdy tree be razed to the ground within the time that I took to get back to them?
Where is my home? There’s nothing I can go back to. They have hunted down my herd in the name of pelts. What do they need our fur and skins for? They have enough clothes. Don’t they see that we are in greater need of it. I have not seen the fur, horns, tusks and all that they shoot us down for, being used anywhere. Where or what use could that be to them? They hunt us down and wreck our homes and then make us the bad guys-the scary ones, with names such as man-eaters, marauding tuskers or savage beasts.
What has happened to my home? The big blue sea, the ocean full of life, is now filled with trash, plastic waste or oil spills. Do we need to be vaquitas* or such critically endangered species to be left alone, to be saved? Or be totoabas** that get noticed because their illegal fishing is the cause of the death of an endangered species.
It takes one to start, one to make a change. If you think that you alone cannot make a difference, you are wrong; it does- one person’s trash, disposed irresponsibly, can get into the ocean and impact helpless creatures. Either impair or end lives. More of it can wipe out entire species.
Every dripping tap or leak stopped, every person being aware of the resources he is using, affects the ecosystem.
It is so easy to reach out for an extra tissue, to not worry about unwanted electricity being used or if water is being used more than necessary. Think about the price someone else pays for your convenience.
There’s a saying- ‘people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’; it applies in a more literal way here.
The stones we throw are cracking our fragile planet, irreversibly. How long are we going to ignore the glass cracks?
Earth is our home, not only our home – we need to coexist; it’s our only home.
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*Vaquitas – are the smallest of porpoises and are currently at the top of the endangered list, as there are only about 10 of them left in the world, as known to man.
**Totoabas- are fish popular for their gills. There are many illegal fishing nets being set up for their high demand. These nets, especially gillnets, are the main cause of vaquitas’ deaths.
