As you already know, between now and the 12th June is volunteer week, and as The Great Projects are committed to sending volunteers abroad to work with endangered animals, we are certainly celebrating! We are so proud of all our volunteers, but unfortunately, there is still much more that can be done, so we thought we would express why we feel the world needs more volunteers.
The first reason that stands out against the rest, is that extinction is a real thing and it really does happen. We know this of course through history and through our own actions in recent times. We know the dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid, a natural disaster, and it is believed that climate change was one of the leading reasons that the woolly mammoth became extinct, yet another natural disaster. A blog by Huffpost explains 11 animals that are now extinct however, due to humans.
(you can read more here).
The most recent occurred in 2011 when it was declared that the West African black rhino was extinct. This was due to poaching and an increased demand for rhino horn. We need more volunteers to spread awareness that there are NO medical benefits in rhino horns, and they therefore do not need to be slaughtered for this purpose.
Do you wish that you had the opportunity to witness a great woolly mammoth, as it uses its keen ivory tusks to brush snowflakes aside to gain access to food? Children of future generations will be wishing they had the opportunity to see the fascinating West African black rhino, but will only encounter it within their imaginations enriched by what they have found in books. The West African black rhino, will never walk this earth again because of what WE have done to them, and that is something that all humans need to address.
The world needs more volunteers to spread awareness of the importance endangered species behold within their ecosystems. The food chain works only if all the links are in place, as energy is transferred via each link, so therefore if one of those links ceases to exist, the entire system would collapse and the world would be shackled, including humans too.
For example, the Bengal tiger is endangered, with around 2,500 left in the wild and these apex predators are carnivores. The carnivores feed on herbivores, who feed on grass and plants. With declining tiger populations, herbivore numbers will increase, which means more grass and plants are being grazed upon. The more herbivores there are grazing, the quality of the land declines, and it becomes dry and desolate. Guess what that means for us? Less oxygen! Trees and other flora emit oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, our very own air filters! People often bypass this fact, or simply do not connect the dots. We need to save the animals for their sake, but also for ours too.
Humans are a very greedy and selfish species, and it seems that we have a habit of exploiting entities that are less powerful than ourselves for our own benefit. However, we do not necessarily need the products of this exploitation. There are cruelty-free cosmetics, compelling evidence that proves there are no medical benefits in ivory, we can use faux fur, and consume the meat of livestock that are bred to live their lives on free range farms. In the meantime, whilst others around the world are making these small changes, we need more volunteers to aid the detrimental damage to the environment and its inhabitants that's already been done.
We need more volunteers abroad to spread awareness to the locals in these countries about the importance of the ecosystems within which they coexist. In first world countries, we have access to the internet where we can find an abundance of information about how we can help the world and what small changes we can make to sort the problems we are currently facing. However, the people in these countries have no access to such appliances or the resources to learn how to correctly deal with the animals they encounter on their farms or finding other means to make money instead of chopping down trees. Volunteering with The Great Projects, you will have the opportunity on many of the projects to help educate locals, track animals to avoid human-animal conflict, and teach the children about the importance of preserving and protecting the environment, as they are the future generation of caregivers for the world.
Some may wonder, why is it our responsibility? How is it possible to reverse all the damage already done? Well, wildlife conservation is not about reversing damage or fixing a broken world, it is about changing the present, to create a sustainable future to ensure that more critical damage is not done. You can reverse the changes of loss of habitat, as on some of our projects you will help aid reforestation, by planting trees in protected areas of conservation.
Wildlife conservation is the concern of humans because we are at the top of the food chain. If the ecosystem upon which we balance crumbles beneath us, we fall hard with absolutely nothing to lessen the blow. We are the most intelligent species on the planet, but ironically, as we slowly destroy the ecosystems and the different fauna and flora within them, we are slowly destroying ourselves too.
The state of the world in 2017 is not pleasant. There is a terror threat blanketing many countries as radicalisation poisons religion, and the environment is in a state of crisis. The world needs more volunteers, not just to stop the fascinating animals life has blessed our planet with from becoming extinct and preserving precious habitat and landscapes, but also to inject some much-needed kindness back into the world. It is more than possible for humans to love each other as we show our affections to loved ones on a daily basis, so it is dumbfounding how such a powerfully kind species has the ability to wreak such havoc on the world.
The world needs more volunteers because it is declining, and the kindness, generosity and selflessness that is expressed through volunteering, is the one reminder that the world can turn itself around because the power to do so is within us all.
