Climate change is a major controversy for some. For others, it is obvious and without need for debate. Climate change is a major threat, but it isn’t the biggest threat. Biodiversity and Nitrogen Cycle disruptions are worse threats, but it’s possible they’re being ignored because their effects are even less obvious. A shift in climate, a change in the weather, is something people can see and feel. Regardless, climate change is something deniers debate. Biodiversity and the Nitrogen Cycle aren’t as obviously part of people’s lives, yet their situations are far worse. Biodiversity, the loss of species through extinction, isn’t obvious except upon reflection. Fewer bugs hitting windshields, fewer fish to catch, less food for whales, fewer whales, aren’t reminders because we don’t notice their absence until someone tells stories about how it was, or some researchers quantifies the decline. Species at threat seem distant, even though humans are a species, too. Nitrogen fixing is even more esoteric, but is critical to agriculture and therefore our food supply. Humans don’t always work on the biggest threat first. The worry is that we’ll fix things like plastic pollution, eventually get to limiting atmospheric pollution, but take so much time doing it that other dangers become unstoppable crises in the meantime. There’s a lot of work to do, and doing it in sequence may take too long.
“Why Plastic Pollution Shouldn’t Distract From Other Environmental Challenges” – World Economic Forum
Pretending Not To Panic 