Mount Rainier the most well known landmark of the state of Washington. Suggested reading: Focus on Islam, Christianity and Environment
The U.N. Reports That 1 Million Species Could Go Extinct. It Shows How Hard It Will Be to Heal the Planet
Source: Time
There’s an awful lot of awful in the just-released summary of a new U.N. report on biodiversity and ecosystem. There’s the tenfold increase in plastic pollution since 1980, for example. There’s the 400 million tons of heavy metals, toxic sludge and fertilizer runoff poured into the world’s water each year too. There’s the doubling of greenhouse gas emissions since 1980; the growth of industrial fishing, now sprawling across 55% of the world’s oceans, the 85% loss of the wetlands since the dawn of the industrial era, and the 70% increase in invasive species in 21 countries.
And then, finally, and perhaps most worrying are the extinctions. According to the conclusions of the 455 experts and contributing authors from 50 countries who drafted the report for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), up to 1 million species of plants and animals are now threatened with extinction, some within decades, including 40% of all amphibians, 33% of marine mammals, and another 33% of shark, shark relatives and reef-forming corals.
Categories: Africa, Americas, Asia, Environment, Europe and Australia, The Muslim Times
In verse 46 of Surah Fatir, Ch 35, of the Holy Quran, there’s this intriguing sentence: “And if Allah were TO PUNISH PEOPLE for what they DO, He WOULD NOT LEAVE A LIVING CREATURE ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH;…” (my capitalisation). And today Science is raising the alarm that if other creatures disappear, we’ll also disappear! All praise be to God! One more evidence confirming that the Holy Quran is indeed the Truth, and the Word of the Creator of the universe.
But, more importantly, when the report is read in conjunction with the above verse, it is clear that to avert extinction, people must adopt such ways and do such actions as attract God’s favour. Whatever else might be tried, ignoring this Divine warning, would be totally ineffectual.