Celebrating Animal-People Protecting the Environment

There are over 200,000 species of insects and animal friends who drive the pollination of plants and trees, sustaining entire classes of trees and plants. It is widely agreed that without pollinators all of Earth’s ecosystems and inhabitants would not survive! Some of the brilliant pollinators include bees, butterflies, moths, beetles and even the humble fly. Bird-folk such as the graceful hummingbird flyers, brush-tongued parrot-people, sunbird beauties and more, carry pollen from flower to flower and tree to tree. Bat-people communities also help with this, as do other animal-folk including honey possum friends, and the black and white ruffed lemur-people who are considered to be the world’s largest pollinators. Pollinators globally benefit the economy to the sum of US$500 billion per year.

Primate-folk communities are widely known to disperse seeds from the fruits they eat. They also fertilize the soil helping to prevent erosion in the rainforests. More examples of animal- people’s important roles are squirrel-individuals, for example, who harvest and then bury nuts and seeds for future meals. The squirrel-folk don’t always remember where they buried the goodies, thus many of these forgotten morsels grow into trees.

Also, boar-families have been described as “champions” when it comes to dispersing seeds. As they make their way through forests, their stiff, bristly fur catches the seeds and helps to scatter them wherever they roam.

Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has spoken about the incredible way whale-individuals help to decrease carbon dioxide levels in our oceans. “‘Economists from the United States analyzed research about whales role in capturing carbon. Described in IMF’s ‘Finance & Development’ publication, they explained that a whale can sequester an estimated 33 tons of carbon during his or her lifetime, while in comparison, a tree absorbs up to 22 kilograms per year. The carbon is stored in the whale’s body and stays out of the atmosphere for hundreds of years, even after he or she passes away.’[…] ‘In addition, the whales life activities promote the growth of phytoplankton.’ Repeat: ‘The whales produce phytoplankton, which provides at least 50% of atmospheric oxygen and captures 40% of global carbon annually.’ […] During their lifetime. All the whale-people, are like that. And that is their mission. […]”

A study co-authored by 15 scientists and published in the journal Nature Climate Change explains that nine groups of animal-people capture an extraordinary amount of carbon dioxide. The authors state that protecting or restoring their combined populations could result in capturing an extra 6.41 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year. These include the marine fish communities, whale-, shark- and sea otter-people, and the tremendous grey wolf-, wildebeest-, musk oxen-, African forest elephant-, and American bison-folk.