The Butterfly Effect

 "Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect."

~ Chief Seattle, 1854

This Weidemeyer's Admiral butterfly perches on
some foliage at Pine Valley Ranch in Pine, Colorado

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Earth Day and The Butterfly Effect

"The Butterfly Effect is a metaphor that encapsulates the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory; namely that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system."

In other words, small changes within a complex system lead to unpredictable results.

I use this metaphor for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day because of the very unpredictable nature of the not-so-small changes we are creating on the planet and its inhabitants and how far reaching and serious the consequences of our actions are.
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Extinctions


There is already more than enough evidence to support human action as being the cause of  extinction of many of the earth's species so far. Just a few examples: the Passenger Pigeon, hunted to extinction over the course of a few decades; The Bali Tiger, declared extinct in 1937 due to hunting and habitat loss; and the Golden Toad of Costa Rica, which hasn't been seen since 1989.




Butterflies Are Free. . . to Disappear


Back to butterflies. . . One example that we are in real trouble is happening on local and global scales: the decline of butterfly populations.


Habitat loss and climate change are having a serious impact on Europe’s butterflies, beetles and dragonflies. (See also Global Warming Puts Butterflies at Threat.)

And in Australia climate change is directly responsible for behavioral changes in butterflies.


"Many flowering plants are so closely linked to butterflies (and vice versa) that one cannot survive without the other. When you think about the natural interdependence network that could collapse due to the extinction of one important species, it starts to get a little scary.

For the first time, a causal link has been established between climate change and the timing of a natural event – the emergence of the common brown butterfly."

According to David Attenborough, Britain's leading conservationist, "Butterflies are sensitive indicators," Sir David said. "They decline when habitats are destroyed and when man harms the environment. We have known about butterfly losses in Britain for over 50 years. Now there is mounting evidence that it is a global problem."   

 Attenborough aghast at global decline of butterfly population

 

The butterflies, like the canary in the coal mine, are a but a warning.

 

"There is little doubt left in the minds of professional biologists that Earth is currently faced with a mounting loss of species that threatens to rival the five great mass extinctions of the geological past. As long ago as 1993, Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that Earth is currently losing something on the order of 30,000 species per year — which breaks down to the even more daunting statistic of some three species per hour. Some biologists have begun to feel that this biodiversity crisis — this 'Sixth Extinction' — is even more severe, and more imminent, than Wilson had supposed."


And


"There is little doubt that humans are the direct cause of ecosystem stress and species destruction in the modern world through such activities as:

• transformation of the landscape
• over-exploitation of species
• pollution
• the introduction of alien species"

Unpredictable Consequences?


The Butterfly Effect may indeed suggest unpredictable results as far as exactly what consequences disappearing species will have on our planet but one thing is very predictable: If we continue on our current path of environmental destruction, countless more species will disappear from the face of the earth. Perhaps even our own.


Can we afford to wait another 40 years before we, as a planet, take stronger action?

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Read More About Extinctions Here:

Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions

For more on Earth Day 2010 and what you can do to be
part of the solution instead of part of the problem, visit the

Official Earth Day 2010 web site.

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