For my Environmental Outreach Report I learned about the impact of human’s on the environment in industrialized nations like the United States. The lecture I went to was entitled, “If Sustainability is the solution, what is the problem?” In the lecture we learned that humans must lessen the damage they put on the earth if they want it to be habitable for future generations. We also learned that the evidence that humans are harming the environment is the loss of biodiversity, air pollution, and the change in cold environments. Scientific research has proven that all of these issues on planet earth is due to human environmental impact.
An example of evidence that human impact on the environment has been harmful that I learned in this lecture
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An example of human impact that harms human biodiversity we learned about was global warming. Humans have contributed to climate change by polluting the earth by sending harmful gasses to the atmosphere. The destruction of the atmosphere has led to many changes in the climate that is harming animals. An example of this that we learned about in the loss of much of the ice in the Arctic. The warming of ice has harmed, maybe no other wildlife worse than polar bears. Polar Bears have had their habitats completely altered due to Arctic ice melting due to changes in the climate, “Warmer temperatures are thinning ice sheets off Arctic coastlines, shrinking the bears ' hunting grounds and hampering breeding. Roughly 15,000 of the world 's …show more content…
The highest concentration of air pollution in China is a perfect example of this issue. Since the industrial revolution the spreading of harmful gasses like CO2 into the atmosphere has caused high amount of air pollution, and China is one of the biggest offenders. Initially China was unconcerned about the gases they were emitting into the atmosphere, they believed that taking initiative on this issue would hinder their economic innovations. This is the main reason China didn’t agree to join the Kyoto Protocol in the early 2000’s, which was a treaty between most industrialized nations agreeing to lower their greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. Not agreeing to lower their emissions has caused China to be polluted to the high heavens. In many parts of the country all that can be seen is smoke in the air due to mass air pollution. Due to the astounding air pollution in the country, the Chinese government has made air pollution a national concern, “China is prioritizing pollution monitoring as it starts to implement its new environmental protection law” (Yang, 493).Currently China is trying to compromise on lowering their emissions in the current climate change protocol in Paris. The changes in the air are clear evidence of human impact on the environment, and China’s change in their position on this issue further proves the point. Clearly the world
Humans can not be the only thing that is hurting the Earth. When you really think about it, Earth goes through a lot of natural disasters, which cannot be controlled. According to an activist, Tim Haering, “Tsunamis, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, disease nature kills more than we kill each other.” Earth throws in all of these natural ...
One of China’s best successes has in turn been one of its biggest downfalls. One of the main problems is China’s greatest success which has been its phenomenal economic growth. This is one of the main drivers of the current environmental problems that the country faces. Factories dump pollutants into the air and water. It is difficult to see the Chinese government making the significant sacrifices required to improve their environment if it means slowing down their economic growth.
Unfortunately, the previous material is rendered completely ineffectual to many people due to the fact that there seems to be no surface global impact on humans. This is not true. The mistreatment of animals and the destruction of their habitats are global issues because the mass extinction of the earth's species will eventually cause our own downfall. Each creature on Earth serves a specific purpose or function and, as these creatures are unable to perform these functions due to extinction, the lack of biodiversity will eventually reach and exterminate the entire human population.
Humans are the cause of environmental damaging things like acid rain and global warming. People also damage other species by killing them till extinction or causing things like oil spills that cause them to die. Why destroy the only place the human species lives on, instead people can spend their time restoring the planet and making it better, they can learn to coexist with other species instead of learning how to be the dominant and overpowering species.
During the 1600s, the Dutch were the only ones trading with Japan. Not only did they trade goods, but they also spread ideas, including machines that would allow an industrial revolution to occur. While Britain and Japan were major contributors, the biggest contributor, and still today, is China. China’s industrial revolution didn’t occur till much later, starting in the 1960s. Before this, they had very steady production of goods and a fair amount of innovations. Many of their inventions mirrored European technology, such as the water wheel. People didn’t realize how big of an issue this was at the time. Big manufacturers only cared about making money. To them, the pollution was only a minor inconvenience. Only when it would become a big problem is when they started to care. And the signs that it was becoming a big problem were very apparent. Dumping of waste into rivers cause constant outbreaks of cholera and typhoid. These disease weren;t only caused by water but also by the air. All of the smog got into people’s lung, giving way to lung cancer. The smog also created acid rain, which is a very dangerous precipitation that can cause buildings to
Mankind simply has failed to do what he was entitled to do which was to be a steward of the earth. Man has developed a way of life that is completely not sustainable. The amount resources man uses completely depicts that future generations will not have any and there is a possibility that there might not be a generation after all if we continue to do so. Ishmael instantly became one of the most influential books on my mentality that I have ever read because it gave me a different outlook on the way that we live life. Society tells us that it right and just and there is nothing to worry about when we need to. It is time that we take on our roles to enforce sustainability. This generation is the only hope that we have because past generations have failed as well. We are one step closer to the end of it. I would recommend that anyone looking to practice to enforce sustainability read Ishmael because it is a must. We can either work to enforce sustainability or we have another option that firmly many do not agree with. We can believe in Elon Musk the greatest entrepreneur of our time. Elon firmly believes in sustainability, but damn knows for a fact that humans will never practice sustainable ways of life. Before the amount of resources run out, it is good time to go to Mars.
Overall, humans impact the global environment in multitudinous ways whether positive or negative. While creating issues such as overpopulation, pollution, biomagnification, and deforestation they also intrude into many other factors such as environmental, social, political, and economic. Problems caused by society itself are leading up to solutions to fix these environmental problems and may also just benefit the world as a whole.
Just like Klein states, “Protecting and valuing the earth’s ingenious systems of reproducing life and the fertility of all of its inhabitants, may lie at the center of the shift in worldview that must take place if we are to move beyond extractivism” (424). Indeed to build a better world, we must go beyond the capitalism, however, unlike the divestment movement around other countries, it is challenging for people in China to take action to against the air pollution due to the fact that those heavy industries and businesses have Chinese government in their back to support
... This has resulted in increased pollution due to livestock releasing methane gas into the air. And due to demand for electrical goods from western countries, it has helped China to produce a capitalist economy. This has enabled China’s citizens to have a prosperous lifestyle, which has increased pollution due to the increase in energy use and waste production. Furthermore, although the Chinese government and its citizens are trying to tackle their environmental problems, it seems to be too little too late.
In theory some parts of the world might benefit, from a human point of view, due to global warming. However, at current rates of warming, local ecosystems will collapse and any objective measure of global benefits versus suffering would show much more suffering than benefits gained.
== = = Human beings are dependent on the Earth's diversity of species for our survival. Wild species play a vital role in the maintenance of the planets ecological functions, yet everyday on the planet 40-100 species become extinct.
Although more people are aware of the impacts we have on our environment, there are still people that choose to ignore scientific evidence, or do not fully understand the consequences. Further education and research are critical components in an effort to become more sustainable. Fortunately, younger generations are learning about the need to address environmental issues so that changes can be made to ensure our way of life is sustainable.
Countries such as China and Japan need to enforce more powerful regulations on the amount of carbon emissions that they produce. China put in regulations just this last year and Japan postponed plans for a national regulations on carbon emissions, bowing to powerful business groups that warned of job losses as they compete against overseas rivals facing fewer emissions regulations. It’s not a good sign that large corporations can control how a nation regulates its environmental safety laws. China is finally planning to regulate their carbon emissions. This is long over due concerting that China ranks as the world’s number one carbon dioxide emitter, thanks in part to the massive amounts of coal the country burns. China currently builds a new coal-fired power plant at a rate of about one every week to ten days. The country’s coal burning levels are nearly on par with the rest of the world combined.
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.
We all belong to the same world and all of us have the same responsibilities towards the world and its environment. This fact might be hard to digest, but if we continue to pollute the Earth at the current rate, all of the world’s ocean waters will become one-hundred-thirty percent acidic. This means that the ocean will be unable to sustain most of its marine life and only a few creatures will be able to survive in the water. A big population of people think that they do not or have few responsibilities towards the environment. People think that the governor of a country should take steps to help the environment. They leave it to scientists since they have the technology to prevent pollution, or that is what most people think. There are more responsibilities to the world each individual has than most of realize. The amount of negligence and ignorance of humans towards the Earth is taking a heavy toll.