For many people, the word “biodiversity” conjures up visions of rainforests teeming with insect life or the flashy endangered Bengal tiger, but the truth is that biodiversity is much more important than any one species. As David Attenborough, a well-known  British naturalist said in his “Life” documentary series, “It is that range of biodiversity that we must care for – the whole thing – rather than just one or two stars.”

Declining biodiversity is an issue that few Americans pay attention to. According to gallup.com, “the fifth consecutive year, more Americans are interested in protecting economic growth than in protecting the environment when the two goals are at odds.” In the article “More Americans Still Prioritize Economy over Environment,” poll results from 2013 showed that 48% of participants prioritized economic growth while only 43% valued the environment.

The situation in Europe isn’t much better, according to an analytical report conducted in 2007 by the Gallup Organization. Though 43% say that loss of biodiversity is a very serious problem, only 35% actually know what biodiversity is.

The simple definition of biodiversity is the variety of life on earth.

No matter where you look, from the lush rainforests of South America to the dirt in your backyard, biodiversity is present. However, scientists estimate that biodiversity is disappearing. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, a website devoted to preserving endangered species “we’re now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day.”

This is due to a variety of factors, from asteroids, to disease, to invasive species. However, the Center for Biological Diversity says that “99 percent of currently threatened species are at risk from human activities, primarily those driving habitat loss, introduction of exotic species, and global warming.”

Lack of biodiversity is such a huge world issue, not so much because of the individual species that are being lost but because of how interdependent different species are upon one another. This interdependence means that the loss of even one, seemingly insignificant species can have far reaching effects on the ecosystem and throughout the world.

Another, more directly relevant application of biodiversity is the world of farming. In this day and age, most large-scale production farms are moving more and more towards genetic uniformity. However, this method has significant risks because a single disease could wipe out the whole crop. The greater loss of biodiversity, the closer the world comes to this catastrophe.

The World Wide Fund for Nature comments on this necessity. It says on its website that “Farmers and crop breeders, for example, need large gene pools from which to produce disease resistant and high-yielding seeds to counter famine and feed the expanding world population.”

Though these risks are hypothetical and have a minimal effect on everyday life, other effects of biodiversity are more directly related to the general population. The Convention of Biodiversity, an international program devoted to sustaining biodiveristy, recognizes these effects as well.

The Convention of Biodiversity says, “at least 40% of the world’s economy and 80%of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources. In addition, the richer the diversity of life, the greater the opportunity for medical discoveries, economic development, and adaptive responses to such new challenges as climate change.”

This statistic is largely based on the fact that almost everything we need comes from the earth. According to an article on globalissues.org by Anup Shah, a healthy biodiversity provides “food, breeding stocks, population reservoirs, wood products, medicinal resources and pharmaceutical drugs,” among other things that humans rely on. Shah comments that “the cost of replacing these (if possible) would be extremely expensive” and urges the world to move toward sustainability.

What does this sustainability entail? One option is the government REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) program. According to Shah’s article, “It would cost from US$ 17.2 – 33 billion per year,” but “the estimated benefit in reduced climate change is US$ 3.2 trillion” not to mention halving deforestation by 2030.

There are other, more accessible ways to help sustain biodiversity. The first step, as always, is to increase awareness and try to reduce our carbon footprints. Though there is a lot of work to do, but Williston is off to a good start with the Green Cup Challenge.