Big Fish, Little Pond

Tonight I saw the Imax Movie, "Deep Sea" with my family. The breathtaking cinematography and wonderfully informative storyline culminated in a powerful message detailing how the intricate balance of our oceans has been offset by overfishing. By upsetting this chain, humans are damaging the ecosystems that we ultimatley rely on. I started thinking about how our own personal ecosystems need balance. At any time, we can be both predator or prey. As humans, we are the "big fish" and do not have many natural predators. Rather, As prey, we have become victims of ourselves with most deaths caused by accients, cancers, and "lifestyle" diseases such as heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes. The difference, however, is that being prey of this sort does not serve the ecosystem in which we live. It's a lose, lose situation. We overconsume natural resources, oversish, do not farm sustainably or locally, pollute our air, homes and bodies with chemicals and raise excessive livestock for consumption which contributes more harmful gases to global warming than all the sources of transportation in the world combined. Just as overfishing of the largest sea creatures is dessimating our marine ecosystms, overconsuming is dessimating our planetary ecosystem. It is killing us and killing our planet. We all could benefit from seeing ourselves in the larger picture, becoming educated on the issues, and committing to take whatever action we can to sustain our fragile ecosystems.