Earth In Crisis: Dogged Tenacity

Honoring Two Women Who Are Working  To Stop Destruction Of Our Only Home

By Tracey MacDermott

For the GPHN

It is predicted that within 50 years fully one-third of the plants and animals that inhabit the globe will be extinct. These rates of extinction accelerate in years when we suffered hotter temperatures.

Last year — 2021 — recorded the sixth hottest year on record. Scientists are calling the time we are living in as the sixth mass extinction event. The last one happened 65 million years ago.

There is no doubt that human activity is responsible for this trend in our planet’s history. One of the drivers to species loss is the destruction of habitat. Both our land and water need preservation and protection, quickly.

This month, coinciding with Women’s History Month, I’d like to highlight the work and dogged tenacity of two women who have dedicated their lives to creating solutions to head off the destruction of our only home.

Our own congresswoman, Rep. Diana DeGette, sits on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the Committee on Natural Resources. These are critical assignments, held by Colorado’s most senior member of Congress — where seniority is critical.

To highlight just one example of DeGette’s longstanding commitment to the environment, last September the House approved her bill to protect 1.3 million acres of public land, including 660,000 acres in Colorado.  The Protecting America’s Wilderness (PAW) act would also add protections in California and Washington.

Key factors of this bill address many issues. It provides protections so that future generations will experience unique landscapes, improves recreational areas for underserved communities, generates economic boosts to surrounding areas, protects tribal areas, and help keep our rivers running with clean water. The legislation, as noted on DeGette’s website, would ensure that Colorado’s High Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site, known as HAATS, is able to continue its mission uninterrupted.

The PAW act passed the House, but, unfortunately, was stripped late last year when it got to the Senate. DeGette is undeterred, and has vowed to continue the fight. She, along with environmental scientists, knows that in order to save open spaces, threatened species and help avert climate catastrophe, it is imperative that we must do more.

DeGette’s legislation not only protects land but also scenic rivers — which eventually lead to our oceans, and are also in need of efforts for protection and cleanup.

That leads us to oceanographer Sylvia Earle, the founder of Mission Blue and whose life work is protecting ocean habitat.

Earle refers to the oceans as the blue heart of the planet. Her work has led to creating Hope Spots to create marine protections. Currently, she has created 140 of these spaces, from the Great Barrier Reef to areas of the East and West coasts of the United States.

The Hope Spots are chosen based on criteria which includes the following: areas of abundance or diversity of species, areas of rare, threatened or endemic species, sites with potential to reverse damage from negative human impacts, presence of natural processes such as major migration corridors, significant historical cultural or spiritual values and economic importance to the community.

Our oceans have been exploited through commercial fishing. Half of our coral reefs have disappeared or are in decline, and hundreds of “dead zones” have occurred through runoff.

The oceans play a vital role in weather patterns, and also help regulate the Earth’s climate by taking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Yet our oceans have absorbed most of human-caused global warming, as well as our plastic trash.

Our oceans are warming faster than previously understood. This warming leads to rising sea levels, heavier downpours, stronger hurricanes and dying coral reefs. Currently, approximately 7 percent of the oceans are protected, compared to 12 percent of land. For both land and oceans, it is estimated that we need to protect at minimum 30 percent in order to provide benefits to humanity and help solve the climate crisis.

Your actions and voices are also important. Please continue to support the efforts of leaders like Rep. DeGette and Dr. Earle. The work being done by these two women is critical to help head off catastrophe.

Tracey MacDermott is an at-large member of the board of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc., and immediate past chair. She was trained as a Climate Reality Leader in 2017, and is currently the Statewide Co-Chair of the Climate Reality Project for the 100% Committed Campaign.