Between melting ice caps and frequent wildfires the planet isn’t doing great right now. Here are some ways you can help. 1. Plant Trees. Reforestation is the most cost-effective way to prevent global warming. Online platforms like Treedom specialize in allowing users to plant trees in tropical rainforests for a fee. 2. Change Your Transportation Habits. 82% of emissions from transportation come from cars, so any reduction in car usage can make a big impact. Ridesharing, cycling, walking, or even just accelerating and braking more gently are all habits that help the environment. 3. Lower Your Heating Bill. Lowering your heating bill is good for your wallet but also for the environment. Heating systems are the single biggest energy expense in the home so try to keep the heating off as much as possible. Improving insulation and the airtightness of your home is a great way to avoid heat escaping from your home.
Gov. Pete Ricketts has taken a shot at the Biden administration's climate, conservation and environmental agenda, pledging that Nebraska will "stand up against federal government overreach to protect our family farms and our way of life."
In a statement released to the news media, Ricketts said "Nebraskans should be on the lookout in their communities for attempts by federal agencies and their partners to regulate land and water use."
"From canceling the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline to rejoining the Paris Agreement, the Biden administration has taken a number of actions that harm our national security, energy independence and working American families," the governor said.
Biden's recent executive order "blocks significant amounts of oil and gas development and outlines far-reaching plans to lock away staggering portions of our nation's land and natural resources," Ricketts said.
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"Federal interventions that purport to aim at conservation or that regulate land and natural resource uses are only likely to hurt agriculture and to hinder growth in our economy," he said.
Biden signed an executive order Jan. 27 dealing with "the climate crisis at home and abroad."
"We will work together to stop new federal overreach," Ricketts said.Â
"We are already seeing big changes in how the federal government is approaching energy, climate and conservation issues," he said.
BIGGEST THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY
10 of the biggest threats to biodiversity, and why you should care
Climate change
Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organizations around the world have issued public statements backing this position, NASA reports. As a result of this climate change, oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, ice sheets are shrinking, sea levels are rising and glaciers are melting. All of this affects the species of the world, including humans.
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Overfishing
Your love of halibut is decimating it. In 2003, a scientific report estimated that industrial fishing reduced the number of large ocean fish to just 10 percent of their pre-industrial population, National Geographic reports. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered species, 1,414 species of fish, or 5 percent of the world's known species, are at risk for extinction.
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Agriculture
To keep up with projected demand, farming output will need to double in the next few decades, Stanford University reports. This could be devastating for the environment as a whole and biodiversity in particular. Pesticides can damage the soil and water, and the loss of habitat adversely affects species. In addition, the agricultural sector around the world consumes about 70 percent of the planet's accessible freshwater, WWF reports.
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Habitat loss
Where subdivisions are built, where trees are clear-cut, where farmland spreads, where ranchers seek grass for their herds to graze on and where mining operations begin, biodiversity can suffer. Forests cover 31 percent of the land area on our planet, providing oxygen and protection and more. Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on the benefits forests offer, WWF reports.
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Overpopulation
The world's population is more than 7.3 billion. The United Nations predicts it could reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, and more than 11 billion by 2100. The needs of all these people will continue to affect other species on the planet as people fight for natural resources and room to live. The strain also will be felt among those people who don't have the means to acquire the resources they need to survive.
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Poaching
Many nations are fighting a losing battle against poachers. The world’s last male northern white rhinoceros died this year. The rhino is a victim of the greed of poachers who harvest the animal’s horn, which can fetch up to $100,000 for about 2.2 pounds, making it worth more than its weight in gold, The Atlantic reports. The horn is mistakenly believed by some to have medicinal qualities and virility enhancers. A comprehensive survey found that 100,000 elephants (pictured) were poached across Africa between 2010 and 2012 -- mostly for their tusks -- and many other animals also have been decimated by hunters. The pangolin is the world’s most poached animal because its scales are used in traditional medicine and fashion. Scientists think that more than 1 million pangolins have been poached in the past decade, according to National Geographic.
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Pollution
Ocean litter, pesticides, fertilizer, acid rain, air pollutants, noise and light pollution, oil spills, chemicals — they all harm our soil, water and air, choking life around the world. It is estimated that more than one million seabirds and 100,000 sea mammals are killed by pollution every year. People also are at serious risk. Environmental health experts estimated that 9 million premature deaths worldwide were linked to pollution in 2015, with the majority of deaths coming from air pollution, Time magazine reported.
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Invasive species
An invasive species can be any kind of living organism — including the lion fish (pictured), or even an organism’s seeds or eggs — that is not native to an ecosystem and causes harm. Approximately 42 percent of threatened or endangered species are at risk due to invasive species, the National Wildlife Federation says.
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Tourism
You may think you’re doing a magnanimous thing by visiting a developing nation and helping the local economy. But there’s a dark side to tourism. Tourists are tromping on plant life in ecologically sensitive areas, they’re leaving behind plastic and other garbage on beaches and they’re a drain on the natural resources of an area.
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Conflict
War can affect species in many ways, including through the carbon footprint of an advancing army, chemical weapons, the destruction of land, hunting and the displacement of people and animals. Lowland gorillas (pictured), for instance, have been adversely affected by civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There were nearly 17,000 eastern lowland gorillas in the mid-1990s, but scientists estimate that the population has dropped by more than 50 percent since then, The World Wildlife Fund reports.
Andrey Gudkov/Dreamstime/TNS
Reach the writer at 402-473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com .
On Twitter @LJSdon
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