Vital Vocab: Biodiversity

This is such a beautiful word, and one everyone should make themselves familiar with.  Ozone depletion, climate change, rising sea levels... these are old buzz words.  "Biodiversity" is the next big thing.

Basically this word refers to the variety of species in an area.  You can have areas with low biodiversity, such as your apartment (a moth, two spiders, your roommate's cat, and the mold on that really old orange) or high biodiversity areas, such as the rainforests of Ecuador, where a mere five acres of jungle can hold over a hundred species of bats (compare that to Northern California, where there are twenty-three bat species over fifty million acres).  The planet as a whole has biodiversity encompassing many millions.

But, as you have probably heard, species all over the world are going extinct.  And it's not just tigers and polar bears.  Over 40% of all species on earth are currently at risk of extinction.  It's also not just in distant areas of the world; in the state of California (one of the world's twenty-five biodiversity hotspots) about 29% of species are at risk.  This is a problem that's devastating the environment right in our own back yards.  The natural rate of extinction throughout most of the planet's history has been one per century; today, between one and one hundred species go extinct each day.  That's between one hundred and one thousand times the natural rate, and it actually puts us right in the middle of the sixth mass extinction in the history of earth.  We're going the way of the dinosaurs, man!  But of course this all begs the question: why should we care?

Well, believe it or not, the earth is run by living things.  You can't grow plants in soil devoid of bacteria.  You can't pollinate crops without bees, bats, butterflies, and birds.  You can't have fish in the seas without plankton for them to eat.  And dead bodies don't just disappear, you know.  They need bacteria, fungi, bugs, and carrion eaters to get rid of 'em.  As all these creatures start to disappear, the natural functions of our world decline, and these are all functions that we as humans rely on to survive.  We have to protect our biodiversity in order to keep our lands and waters alive.

Besides, who knows what amazing uses all these creatures could have for us in future?  Ever heard of biopharmaceuticals?

And the Winner Is...

The $300 award for Sustainable Community Member of the Semester Fall 2012 has been given to:

Yael Ofer

   When reading Yael's application, it was obvious to us that we found someone who really stands out.  Her commitment to sustainability is, well, prize-worthy!  Here's a quick rundown of the details that blew us away:

• Organized voter registration drives in high school, where she was also president of the civil rights club;
• Cleaned beaches and reconstructed homes after Hurricane Ike;
• Was involved in inspiring student-led campaigns as an undergrad at UC Santa Cruz;
• Conducted primate ecology research in the Costa Rican rainforest;
• Has campaigned since Fall '11 for the implementation of The Green Initiative Fund here at SFSU;
• Works daily on a personal scale to reduce her own impact, and the impacts of the people around her.

   Yael is truly an engine of change, at our school and in the world.  She advocates reforming our school's health programs in the direction of sustainability, and alternative transportation, particularly for her fellow students.  She moves forward with her education with a passionate commitment to catalyzing the spread of a globally sustainable medical paradigm.  It's plain that she's going to continue making changes in the world. Congratulations, Yael!