Thomas Friedman, a famous author, wrote an editorial a few weeks ago and made me aware of some disappearing names. What do I mean by “disappearing names”? The Oxford Junior Dictionary, which focuses on seven- year-old children, is excluding words which the editors feel are no longer necessary. The words include otter, dandelion, nectar, chestnut, and cauliflower. They are being replaced by words such as voice-mail, blog, broadband, and cut and paste.
At the same time as the Oxford Junior Dictionary is cutting words out of the dictionary we are losing species at an alarming rate. In fact, the rate is about 1,000 times faster than if humans were not around. I just read that African elephant numbers went down by 30% from 2007 to 2014. I also know we are losing beautiful ocean coral and animals such as snow leopards, tigers, and the Vaquita porpoise.
When we lose animals, forests and our natural world, we lose a part of ourselves. We need nature in all of its forms in order to survive. Cures to many illnesses are found in the amphibian class. Oceans provide us with oxygen and a place to cool off and swim. Plus, they shelter precious dolphins and seals.
We burn forests to plant palm trees for palm oil. By doing so, we are rendering orangutans extinct and polluting our air.
A grandmother I know told me she has cried because she is afraid her grandchildren will never see and touch wild frogs. It is time to cry. I don’t want zoos to be the only place where we can see animals. Losing wild animals is like losing words. They signal the loss of our own species and diversity.
I don’t like words disappearing from the dictionary and I certainly don’t like seeing animals become extinct. What can you do besides write to the dictionary editors? You can make sure your children learn to appreciate our wild animals. And you can make sure to protect both, before it is too late.
This past week I had the honor to be the object of a child’s wonder and delight. I remember, I was sitting outside having lunch with a colleague. It was a beautiful, sunny day with a clear blue sky and the temperature was about 75 degrees. A group of four to five-year old children had just gone swimming and they passed our table. I saw them and asked, “how was your swim?”. A little Asian girl with big brown eyes looked straight at me and said, “Great!”. She then blurted, “Wow, you work there!”. I was not quite sure how she had figured out where I was working but I was not surprised.
As you know, I love animals. They are precious and bring out the best in all of us. Here is a link to one of my favorite websites and some swan photos. 
April 20th marked the six year anniversary of the BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Sadly, it was the largest man-made oil spill in history. 3 million barrels of oil were dumped into the water and caused the death of 11 men and countless animals. Again, I have never heard of a solar spill. It is time to end our use of fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. And it is time to end offshore drilling.