The world needs to wake up- our oceans are so dirty they may never get clean, our air is so polluted that it not only affects our health, but the health of animals. We need to take action to save every species on that list, the threatened and endangered. Giraffes are now a part of the ever growing list containing hundreds of other species that are endangered. They're joining bengal tigers, northern white rhinos, asian elephants, and countless more. These animals have been around for hundreds of years, yet as we start to develop more and more, they start to vanish. The more forests we plow for big factories, the more desert land we corrupt for unimportant uses, we're taking away their homes. Once they're gone, we can never go back, and I for one, do not want to live in a world where giraffes, tigers, rhinos, turtles, bees, and polar bears are extinct.

Let's pretend for a minute on the smaller scale that bees did go extinct. Not only would the food chain be altered, but bees pollinate our food. Without bees, we would be at a loss for growing tomatoes, zucchini, corn, apples, and so much more. Now, on a bigger scale giraffes bring balance to the food chain, eating plants and not meat. Without giraffes, tigers and lions would be hunting other animals and soon go extinct as well. A chain reaction will be started, and once too many animals are gone, it won't be able to stop, ultimately leading to our demise. In the long run, cutting down trees to build a factory or killing a rhino, will have no long-term reward. It will be our fault if these creatures go extinct. We will all be guilty knowing we could have done more to preserve them in more than just a picture or memory. But it's not too late- not yet at least. We can still take action. We all MUST take action. It will take more than me writing this article, although it's a start. It will take more than one person starting to not use plastic straws. It will take all of us if we want to preserve the wonder that animals bring to our world, but it all starts with a decision you make, right now. Ultimately we are why so many species are going extinct, and we are the only ones who can stop it.