How a DVD player reduces fish stock

I have deferred buying a DVD player for the past two years for fear of not getting enough of my favorite food: fish. Let me explain, borrowing an idea from UK Labour MP Barry Gardiner. The demand for DVD players, cell phones and computers has led to widespread mining of the metal coltan, or columbite-tantalite, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That in turn has led to a drastic drop in the numbers of mountain gorillas and elephants because wide swathes of forests have been cleared for mining coltan. Deforestation has released huge amounts of carbon dioxide stored in trees and plants into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. Global warming threatens to raise the sea level, killing marine life that includes my favorite food.

No form of life on Earth stands on its own instead it is supported by, and in turn supports, other living things. If we lose one species, we lose a vital part of an ecosystem; we lose not only a plant or an insect, but also the service it provides to mankind.

This is what biodiversity in the broader sense is all about, and what better day to harp on the subject than the UN World Biodiversity Day. It's a pity the subject rarely figures even in discussions on climate change.