The following is from the environmental themed advice column EarthTalk®, by the Editors of the non-profit publication E/The Environmental Magazine, that we be regularly feature here on CL’s Green Community.
Dear EarthTalk: When we talk about “endangered species” we usually think of animal species, but someone recently told me that there was a worldwide crisis pertaining to the extinction of plants. Can you enlighten? — Max Blanchard, East Islip, NY
We may not realize it, but the health of the plant kingdom is crucial to the health of the planet and the animal life (which includes humans) it supports. “Through photosynthesis, plants provide the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat and are thus the foundation of most life on Earth,” reports the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based nonprofit dedicated to securing the future for endangered plants and animals throughout the world.
“Unlike animals, plants can’t readily move as their habitat is destroyed, making them particularly vulnerable to extinction,” says the Center. Habitat destruction—just one of the threats plants face—can lead to an “extinction debt” whereby even some plants that are plentiful now could disappear over time by being unable to disperse to new habitat patches. And global warming is already starting to exacerbate such problems. “With plants making up the backbone of ecosystems and the base of the food chain,” says the group, “that’s very bad news for all species, which depend on plants for food, shelter and survival.”
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2010.