LatinaLista — Remember a time when people didn’t believe global warming was real? Our nation’s leaders at the time, because of their misplaced loyalties, sided with big industries whom we now blame for the acceleration of global warming.
With more of the ice caps melting, we are realizing too late that there’s no way to take back bad decisions and make up for lost time when it comes to the fragile health of the planet.
Now, this nation is faced with yet another problem that threatens the health of an entire ecosystem but, again, the leaders in Washington fail to grasp its importance.
It’s a simple word that means so much — biodiversity.
Biodiversity, a geographical area that is home to a variety of animal and plant species, is important to the maintenance of every ecosystem. It’s importance is never fully appreciated until it’s too late.
Along the Texas-Mexico border there used to lie the nation’s richest region when it comes to biodiversity. Yet, because of the insistence of the federal government to erect a wall between Mexico and the United States, the biodiversity in the region is quickly vanishing.
Krista Schyler, with the International League of Conservation Photographers, decided to preserve for posterity this vanishing biodiversity in a video that focuses on what will be lost as the wall nears completion.
The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has said the Obama administration will continue building the border wall, at least the final 70 miles of currently budgeted construction.
This video focuses on what that final 70 miles consists of, much of it wildlife preserves and private property which will be taken by the federal government. Much of the construction is in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, one of the most biodiverse places in the United States. About 95 percent of this ecosystem has already been lost to human development.
Now the last 5 percent is facing the US border wall.
