Discuss critically religious and secular ethical arguments about environmental issues (35) In his book, 'The End of Nature', Bill McKibben highlights the fact that we are destroying the natural environment at an increasing rate, for our own short-term gain. Since the day that man created agriculture, and industrialisation to follow, the imbalance between man and nature has been growing. This has been accompanied by a massive population increase, tripling in the twentieth century alone. Human pressure on nature has never been so great. Such pressure has resulted in 'environmental issues', ranging from global warming and eutrophication, to the depletion of natural resources and an increase in the number of landfill sites.
As a result of this, plants and animals are forced to adapt to significant changes that threaten their way of life. As explained by Suzuki in the article, every year at least twenty thousand species disappear forever and the rate of extinction is speeding up largely due to human activity. Many living things are now paying the price for all the man made pollution that has been created as a result of global warming. Furthermore we as a community do nothing to stop global warming and feel no sense of responsibility or duty to care for the overall well being of our world. Big businesses are releasing harmful chemicals into the atmosphere and oceans.
In order for us, the consumers, to get all of our fancy products and up-to-date technologies, a process that we turn a blind eye to takes place. At the source of the process, there is natural resource exploitation. “We chop down the trees, blow up mountains to get the metals inside, use up all the water, and wipe out all the animals.” As consumers, we are running out of resources because we have too much stuff! In the past three decades alone, one third of the planet’s natural resource space has been consumed. We are undermining the planets very ability for people to live here.
The world has recently faced us with disease and natural disasters that are proving to be some of the most vicious predators known to human existence today. Unquestionably, disease and illness has been one of the killers of humans since the beginning of time. Waves of disease and sicknesses have taken over vast parts of land and have claimed the lives of millions of human beings. These “microscopic life forms” (Par. 9), as Ehrenreich calls them, are as deadly as beastly predators.
Firstly, the Everglades are an important ecosystem which reduces flooding and replenish aquifers but human actions are having a huge impact on the landscape. The rapid urban and agricultural development in the area has decreased the size of the wetlands dramatically which affects the organisms found there. This is especially important as it is home to several endangered species. Not only that, but invasive species that threaten existing wildlife by preying on or competing with them. According to Everglades.org, they’ve “contributed to nearly 70 percent of extinctions in the United States” and are the “primary cause of species endangerment.” The water itself is a major cause of decline to the area, firstly because of poor water management leading to water levels being too low or too high at the wrong times has caused a decline in many species.
A Modern Modest Proposal In our world today, we have an ongoing problem with pollution. In the past decades, the pollution caused by our human race has continued to show an impact on our Earth. Every day our beloved planet is getting hurt more and more and this is making it harder for life to be sustained here. Soon, planet Earth could cease to exist and human life as well as all living species could become extinct. I propose that we eat all of the pollution waste, causing all of the waste to disappear from the Earth (logical appeal).
Environmental health Unit 38 P1 Explain how human activity can damages the environment For years now we have been warned about human activity destroying our planet and environment. Some of the things that humans are affecting are Climate Change, Depletion of Ozone Layer, Pollution, Deforestation and Extinction of Species. Overcrowding, urbanisation and population growth Overcrowding can affect our planet more than some people think, Overcrowding means more people this means we use more natural resources this means the earth in the end isn’t going to have enough resources to support the growing population. Remember every person on the planet takes up space which could be used for farmland, and forests. People excrete wastes and litter that flow into water systems, and animal habitats, this is slowly polluting water and killing wildlife.
The loss of biodiversity around the world has become acknowledged as a growing issue globally. in 2006, the IUCN Red List contained 40,177 species, 16,119 of them threatened with extinction. Of the groups for which every species has been assesssed globally, 12% of all birds are classified as threatened, 23% of mamamls, 33% of amphibians, approximately 42% of turtles and tortoises, 25% of conifers, and 53% of cycads. Therefore it is important to conserve them in order to continue a diverse life on Earth, and this is the main aim by conservationists; to decrease the destructions and decline to those habitats. However, there is an argument to their conservation, they have a high economic value which may be seen as an issue to some people, mainly conservationists, as they may feel that by using those economics values different species provide us, it could lead to their extinctions.
It would interfere with millions of migratory birds that feed on its tundra plains. It would kill plants and animals that are native to the Beaufort Sea area and the environment would take two decades to recover. If there were a major oil spill, it would decades for the ecosystem to recover, since so many organisms would be contaminated and eventually die. Remember the 1989 catastrophe when the Exxon Valdez spilled 35 million gallons into Prince William Sound? The
This is significant, because if one species of animals departs, it causes the food cycle to be rearranged endangering the lives of multiple living organisms. They provide one of Canada’s largest negative impacts on the environment, releasing poisonous carbon dioxide emissions which are getting out of control. If these greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced it can result in the melting of polar ice caps in the Arctic. These oil sands are not only poising the air which we inhale, but also numerous waterways, food supplies, and if this process continues, possibly endangering the extinction of species. Green House Gas emissions are relatively caused by exponential increases in carbon molecules within the Earth’s atmosphere.