The Beauty and Importance of Wild Plants and Animals

Ladybugs (ladybird beetles) on a chard leaf

Nature is amazing. Just look at a small piece of lawn that wasn’t treated with any chemicals. You’ll see many plants growing, different grasses, all shapes of leaves, and possibly even some small flowers. Perhaps you’ll see an ant or a worm, and, if you’re lucky, even a bee or a butterfly. When there are many different plants and animals in a place, we can say that it is rich in diversity.

Ladybugs are vital to the health of their ecosystems.

I had a childhood experience that made me appreciate diversity in nature throughout my life. In the early 1960s, on my way to kindergarten in Basel, Switzerland, I walked along a hedge of beech shrubs that was populated with many ladybugs. I let them crawl on my hands, admired their beauty, and felt their tiny legs on my fingers and arms. Sometimes they left some yellow marks on my skin, which I didn’t mind in the least. They seemed to be content on my hands, but sooner or later they flew away.

I clearly remember that there were four kinds of ladybugs:

  •  Small red ones with two black dots;
  •  Small red ones with four black dots;
  •  Small black ones with two red dots;
  •  And large red ones with many black dots.

All of these ladybugs were abundant. They became my friends. That’s how I remember them.

I had to draw these ladybugs, because they all vanished several decades ago and there are no pictures of them on the Internet. It’s likely that many disappeared because of the spraying of pesticides. The pesticides may have killed some of them directly and others indirectly, by eliminating their main food source, aphids. Then about 15 years ago, an Asian ladybug settled in Switzerland, which may have pushed out the last remaining native ladybugs.

I’m sad that I lost my friends. But the problem is much bigger. The disappearance of animals and plants has more serious consequences than just personal loss.

Each plant and animal species is part of the web of life and contributes to the proper working of an ecosystem. Most people know how important bees are for pollinating plants. We need them to pollinate our apple trees and tomato plants and many other food plants. So bees are important for the business of the farmer, and, of course, for everyone, since we all need to eat. 

In recent years, all over the world, there are fewer and fewer insects, including butterflies and bees. All of these insects also help pollinate wild plants and trees that provide food for other animals, such as birds. When the insects are gone or are less abundant, other animals and plants will also disappear. In France, for example, scientists discovered that out of 100 birds that lived there a few decades ago, only 30 remain today.

An ecosystem, such as a forest or a lawn, is much healthier when it has many different species of plants and animals. For example, it can cope much better with a bad drought. Different plant species use different nutrients from the soil and some even provide nutrients for the others. Clover, for example, is a nitrogen fixer and therefore helps other plants such as grass grow. So when there is a bad drought or other problem, a diverse community of plants is much more resilient, which means much stronger under difficult conditions.
 

How Can We Help?

We can use these virtues to support nature:

Courage: Courage helps us to face the problem of the rapid decline of animals and plants. Only when we recognize the problem can we help to fix it.

Understanding: Both science and the Bahá’í teachings tell us that all living things are interconnected.  Human beings are interconnected with plants, animals, and other human beings around the world. We depend on all other living things for our life.

Justice: Isn’t it a matter of fairness or justice that we allow other creatures to live on this planet? It’s only fair that you will be able to live in a world with nature that’s as beautiful and diverse as what your parents and grandparents could experience. And future generations deserve the same opportunity.

There is a lot that we can do as individuals, families, and communities to enjoy the diversity in nature and to help it thrive. Try these ideas:

  • Be kind to animals and protect their lives. Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, wrote that we “should show kindness to animals.”
     
  • Grow many different kinds of wildflowers to provide food and habitat for butterflies, bees, and other insects, such as ladybugs. The monarch butterfly, for example, only lays eggs on milkweed.
     
  • Appreciate diversity in lawns, such as the beauty of clover and dandelions.
     
  • Be an advocate for plants and animals. As an advocate, you can tell other people about the unique role of each plant and animal and about the beauty and importance of diversity.
     
  • Ask adults not to spray chemicals in their garden or lawn, to help preserve diversity in nature. You can tell them that this is healthier for people, too—especially for kids.
     
  • Try to avoid buying too many new things, because manufacturing stuff places a burden on nature by causing pollution and climate change. You can be careful with things so that they last for a long time. You can also try to borrow things or buy them used, if possible.
     
  • Carry around your own reusable water bottle to avoid buying plastic bottles. Plastic pollution has become a very serious threat to wildlife.
     
  • Go outside with your family and have fun enjoying nature. Perhaps you’d like to go on a treasure hunt: How many different plant and animal species can you count in a specific location? The location could be a city park, a community garden, a lawn, a forest, or a local pond.

Cherishing and protecting the diversity of plants and animals can be a source of joy for all of us. In addition, nature’s diversity is very important for the lives and health of all human beings on Earth.

 

 

Christine Muller is a music teacher and enjoys teaching piano to students of all ages, especially young children. But due to the urgency of the environmental crisis, she spends most of her time serving as faculty for the Wilmette Institute courses “Climate Change” and “Sustainable Development” and as secretary of the Bahá’í-inspired International Environment Forum.

 

Ladybug photos by BruceBlock, Avalon_Studio

STEM260 DrScotti49 Climate Change62 Animals145 Science181 Environment165 Saving Earth119 STEM Station29 Science and Religion23 STEAM43 STEAMS66 Ecosystems8