Is Extinction Near?

There's an article in the Internet entitled 'Shocking' Report Warns of Extinction, it tackles the current report of expert panel of scientists that warns of a mass extinction unlike anything human history has ever seen. It may sound prophecy especially for those who don't believe in the global warming and even those who believe it but just close their eyes to protect their own interest. For sure many global warming deniers will contend these findings because they don't want their lavish lifestyle to be affected.

According to the report the mass extinction will likely to happen on marine animals. In the Philippines it appears that it already happening because recently there are series of fish kills that have happened in two Philippines provinces, Batangas and Pangasinan. According to the news the reason behind the fish kills is because of the lack of oxygen. Coincidentally this is one of the factors that will cause the future mass extinction mentioned in the said report. The other two are warming and acidification. They warn that the combination of these three will inevitably cause a mass marine extinction if there is no action taken to prevent it.

Sadly, this fish kills and previous calamities didn't serve as an eye opener to us specially the government. As of this time, no new country wide policy that has been implemented to stop this from happening again. Government official did not even include water pollution as one of possible reason for this fish kills. According to them the reason for this fish kills is over population of fish. Though, over population can cause decrease of oxygen, they should also look for other factors that may also contribute to the depletion of oxygen. Clearing of land can lead to erosion of soil into the river. Trees and plants prevent soil erosion but since they are being cut, erosion continues unimpeded. Some farmers, used large amounts of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides to maximize their harvest and profits, but these can be washed into the waterways by the rain. This can also happened to leaks of oil and antifreeze from a car on a driveway. Excessive amounts of sediment in waterways can block sunlight, preventing aquatic plants from photosynthesizing, and can suffocate fish by clogging their gills. When organic matter increases in a pond, the number of decomposers will increase. These decomposers grow rapidly and use a great deal of oxygen during their growth. This leads to a depletion of oxygen as the decomposition process occurs.

Everyone should look deeper on the cause of recent fish kills in the Philippines . We should look on every possible reason so that a correct solution will be implemented otherwise this extinction will not be far from happening.