The Sixth Extinction
The most remarkable transitions in evolutionary and geological history are marked by both the blossoming and decimation of life. The living creatures who inhabit this earth, and their fossils represent both the wondrous and tragic embodiments of the natural world.
Titanic ruptures throughout planet earth’s geological timeframe have been characterised by great extinctions over millions of years; from the epic finale of the reign of the dinosaur; to the ‘Great Dying’ of the Permian period, planet earth has consistently witnessed the tumultuous evolution of life on earth.
We are now entering a new epoch in the history of planet earth. The rapidity of species extinction and the consequences of global warming are impacting the earth at an unparalleled scale and rate. The great evolutionary events and wipeouts in the earth’s historical record which have taken place over millions of years are now rivalled by the current chapter; the reign of humanity, which has succeeded in extinguishing wildlife on earth in mere centuries.
Thus, in the context of evolutionary history, humanity has produced almost instantaneous planetary-scale disruption, quite possibly leaving us in the middle of one of the greatest mass extinctions in the history of life on earth. Having recognized that humans have become a planet altering species with immense and increasing influence on the earth, it is now vitally important to moderate and eventually reverse the harmful trends that we have inflicted upon our planet.
Our world is filled with innovative technologies, global media communication mediums and transportation that enables us to traverse the globe in mere seconds. Our society is more socially connected than ever before. Yet, with all the advances in the world, our society still lives within a paradigm where animals are endangered, whole species are disappearing, and our environmental habitats and heritage are being destroyed.
CHANGING THE STATUS QUO
The pressing need to change this paradigm led Natalie Kyriacou to form My Green World. My Green World is an Australian-based wildlife and environmental conservation organisation dedicated to developing innovative and educational platforms that enhance the efforts of global wildlife and environmental activism. Understanding the importance of empowering people from all over the world to take action on matters of global concern, My Green World aims to bridge the gap between online activism and real-world environmental and wildlife issues.
The threat of overpopulation, the prevalence of disease, and the unmitigated effects of climate change, forest and soil degradation, ocean acidification, pollution and exhaustion of natural resources are bringing us closer toward a frighteningly bleak future, one that we have an important role in determining.
MY GREEN WORLD - CHANGING THE GAME
My Green World promotes collaboration and mobilization and has partnered with 16 charities across the world that share the desire to raise their international profile and enable a collaborative solution to the growing negative human impact on the world. Spanning across continents, My Green World offers a unique solution to the ennui that is plaguing environmental and wildlife projects.
My Green World is bringing the world closer to the seemingly distant issues of wildlife and environmental destruction by creating unique online games which have a real-world impact.
The organisation has developed ‘World of the Wild’, a mobile game application that gamifies the concept of saving animals. The app allows users to select an animal or piece of habitat from the wild that is in dire need, and subsequently nurture it back to health in their own personalised rehabilitation and habitat-building centre. Each animal and habitat within the game represents a real-life charity, and the game provides users with information regarding each particular species and information pertaining to the charity that represents that species, with the option of donating and/or visiting the charity’s website.‘World of the Wild’ is an interactive platform, where users can share information and resources and build a rich online network of wildlife and environmental activists.
A unique game, My Green World’s ‘World of the Wild’ will empower the global community, simultaneously transforming online culture and restoring the natural world. This game truly is a change to the status quo; utilising online activism to achieve tangible results in conservation. My Green World recognises that real-life impacts occur when the intersections of games, charities, and people are able to create tangible value for matters of global concern. Thus, the organisation is encouraging anybody to play an active role in repairing the world’s ecosystems and helping earth’s natural beings re-establish themselves in the wild, all from the comfort of their own home.