What is the Global Ecology?
‘Eco friendly’ (also called ‘green’) comes from ‘ecologically friendly’, or not harmful to the global ecology.
The global ecology is the ‘web of life’, where everything has its part to play and everything depends upon everything else in the ecology system.
Ecological systems or ecosystems are areas such as grasslands, forests, deserts, coral reefs etc.
It’s all About Balance
When the global ecology is healthy, a large number of species is present (biodiversity).
There needs to be a balance between the inhabitants and the resources available to them. The plants, animals and micro-organisms have connections between each other and their environment, and these connections ensure survival. Because everything is inter-related, if one inhabitant changes the balance, the whole ‘web of life’ changes drastically.
Who Upsets the Balance?
It’s not always humans who upset the balance, but humans have had a more significant influence on the global ecology than any other animal.
For example, rabbits were introduced by the new settlers into Australia in the late 1700’s to provide food and sport for hunting. Mild winters allowed them to breed all year and so they, well, bred like rabbits. Their effect on the Australian ecology has been devastating – they have caused massive species loss, as well as erosion (because they eat native plants and leave the soil exposed), which takes hundreds of years to regenerate.
When cattle farming was introduced in Botswana, Africa, miles of cattle fences were erected. This stopped wild animals from following their normal migration routes each year. Unable to move to grazing and water with the seasons, they suffered.
Factory farming, now operational in many developed countries, was originally hailed as the way to feed our growing population. But now we realise that factory farming’s ethos of producing as much meat at the least possible cost is providing us with less-than-optimum quality protein. Factory farming also passes on health issues to farm workers, to us as consumers, and to the animals, and sometimes there is great animal cruelty involved.
What about the Industrial Revolution?
Have you read Sherlock Holmes or a Dickens novel, or seen an adaptation on TV or film? Remember the phrase a ‘pea-souper’ for a day in London particularly full of smog and fog and dirt? It was caused partly by geographic and climatic conditions, but also by the pollution spewing out from factories. Today all over the world, some cities are more heavily polluted than others.
Our communications networks seem to be confusing birds who can’t find their normal migration routes. Our cheaply manufactured plastic goods, short-lived or disposable, litter the ground and the oceans, and are eaten by fish, birds and animals who often die horrible deaths as a result.
Our Choices
We all want nice houses, with running water and all the mod cons and lots of stuff. And they too have an impact – there was an ecosystem in the field or forest where our houses now stand.
Am I saying we shouldn’t want houses and food? Of course not!
I do believe though that we need to be aware of the choices we make and their effect on the global ecology.
Whatever we do, even the smallest things, has an impact. That’s good, and it’s bad.
It’s bad because the more we want, and the more resources we consume, the more we destroy ecologies around the world. Even if you’ve never moved outside your own country or state, you buy goods that are produced far away, so resources are used, pollution is created and transportation is used to get that product to your home.
It’s good because as soon as you start – or continue – to live a more eco friendly life, you have a positive impact too. As an individual, you are the one who controls most of your choices. So what you choose to buy and eat, how you choose a vacation, even how you choose to vote can have an impact on global ecology.
And I find that empowering!
It’s Why I’m Here!
This website is dedicated to showing you easy ways to make small changes, to make better choices. Better choices for you, your health, and the health of the global ecology.
It’s humans who have changed the global ecology – it needs to be humans who make a difference to improve things too.
P.S. If you want to know exactly how to choose the right stuff, sign up for EcoFriendlyLink’s complimentary Resource Guide with 101 easy ways to be green, on the top right of this website.
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Photo credits
pea soup = nicklinthemachine.com
