You are enjoying the day and found the SAT prep and lsat change on your computer monitor. A thought suddenly came into your mind. “What if the world didn’t make it through? Would I still be here staring at my computer screen?”

The question would sound peculiar for others but it carries a slight pinch on our minds. Yes. What if Mother Nature did gave up?

Life on Earth

There is no universal agreement known to take the stand and define the meaning of life. Experts in the field of science generally accept the truth that the manifestation of life is characterized by organization, metabolism, growth, response to stimuli and reproduction.

The properties that are very common to terrestrial organisms (plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea and bacteria) are as follows: they are cellular, are carbon+water based with complicated construction, have metabolism, capable of growing, can respond to perceived stimuli and reproduce.

The outer shell of the Earth – which includes land, surface rocks, water, air and the atmosphere wherein life occurs- is called the biosphere. It is where all living things and relationships are integrated, including their interaction with rocks (lithosphere), water (hydrosphere) and air (atmosphere).

Over 9/12 of the Earth’s total biomass (life) consists of plant life, on which organisms largely depend on for existence. As of date, about 2 million species of plant and animal life had been identified, while a booming 50 million species are discovered to be in existence.

Earth and Ecosystem

Earth’s ecosystem is subdivided into two components: abiotic and biotic that function in an interrelated manner.Dynamic modification may be brought about by variations of these factors. Soil, atmosphere, radiation from the sun, water and living organisms are just some of the important components.

Every living organism interacts with every other element in their local environment. Eugene Odum, a founder of ecology stated:

“Any unit that includes all of the organisms (ie: the “community”) in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system is an ecosystem.”

Species within the ecosystem connect and depend upon one another in the food chain, as well as trade of energy and matter among themselves and with their environment.

Meanwhile, microsystem, is a smaller unit. Example, is a stone and the life governing under it.

The Issue of Nature Conservation

Unfortunately, despite the collected efforts put into conservation by concerned individuals, their struggle are easily undermined by those who don’t mind. This occurs, for example, from wide ranged illegal poaching, excessive habitat destruction to manipulation of laws designed to protect nature by ‘powerful’ individuals and big companies.

Globalization is criticized for playing played a major role on ignoring sustainable processes pertaining environmental concerns. For the past years, NGOs, critics and victims of mass environmental destruction blame large companies for being the main culprit.

In the attempt to address the problem, sustainable development alternatives were implemented to ease the environmental dilemma. For example, projects have been passed to promote the protection of apes instead of hunting them down. This encourages the hunters to protect the apes. In return, they could get incentives for what they did.

International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) notes that extinction threatens certain species. In addition:

* 75% of agricultural crops has been devastated
* 75% of the world’s aquatic resources are fully destroyed
* Up to 70% of the world’s species may be at risk if the global temperature rises to or more than 3.5