A new landmark UN report on a thorough planetary health check by hundreds of scientists paints a distressing picture of our planet. Over a million species are in grave danger due to the selfish nature of human beings who are depleting its finite resources. The scientific evidence is overwhelming. Coral reefs are at risk and insect species may vanish even as the earth itself is losing its fertility and crop productivity. The ecosystem is being threatened by mankind's insatiable greed. We seem unable to understand the gravity of the problem even when it's explained in plain terms of staggering economic losses like loss of pollinators, putting $577 billion of crop output at risk. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IBPES) has explained explicitly the dangers in stark terms.

Despite the earth itself being at risk due to mankind's profligacy, there are deniers who have excelled at questioning global warming that may cause violent climate change. Over centuries, man has destroyed other species like megafauna, but four years of Donald Trump's scepticism on this may help cause irreparable loss to the environment we live in and the ecosystem that supports life. The human race has been expanding by leaps and bounds after crossing the seven billion mark, and we still have done little about it except by the natural process of diminishing resources, forcing people to have fewer children. Increasing the human population leaves less habitat for flora and fauna. Scientists advise a change in certain agricultural and forest management practices, and getting a grip on atmospheric and water pollution. The least we can do is try contain the losses from now to avoid a dystopian nightmare of a future for coming generations.