Families are fleeing for safety, fighting against their own species, humanity for their own lives, battling nature against its tsunami's, earthquakes and tornadoes. People scurrying around in despair trying to find safety and shelter, unaware that it's too late, the damage man-kind has caused is irreversible. The world could end during our lifetime,immeasurable, but could because of the human race. Our harm to our wondrous Earth could lead in the extinction of it."The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies."
-Al Gore
The Earth is an amazing planet, filled with all sorts of life- animals, plants, and of course, humans! The world enables us to explore, learn, laugh, experience, love and most importantly, live. Without the Earth, we as humans would not be here- to live, we need approximately 17,280 breaths of air a day. Humans live off of the Earth's flora and fauna, but are we giving back to the wondrous world that provides us life?
Currently, environmental issues are circling around the globe, those that are effecting the biodiversity of our ecosystems. Biodiversity refers to the variety of living organisms on the earth. According to the scientists of the Ecological Society of America, an ecosystem is any geographic area, including the living organisms that live there and the nonliving parts of the physical environment. Have humans been positively or negatively affecting the biodiversity of ecosystems?
As the Iroquois believed, humans are stewards of the Earth. A steward is one appointed to supervise the provision and distribution of food and drink in an institution. According to many scientists, we are the most invasive, powerful and intelligent species to roam the Earth. As a result of this, it is our duty to protect the world and all that lives on it- plants, animals, insects, and other organisms. However, from our daily behavior, we've caused the Earth catastrophe.
Unfortunately, we have been negatively affecting our ecosystems and its biodiversity. Since 2003, 11000 organisms are now said to face extinction! The dodo bird, dinosaurs, the Tasmanian wolf, the Irish deer, the saber tooth tiger,the quagga and hundreds more species are extinct, could humans be the next?
Quagga:half zebra, half horse. Extincted since 1883. Irish Deer: the largest deer to ever live. Extincted about 7700 years ago.
Dodo bird: a flightless bird. Extincted since the late 17th century.
The issue of humans' intervention of the Earth's ecosystems from urban civilization has negatively affected the Earth. The pollution humankind has caused is irreversible. From our car emissions to factories. Although unbelievable, 60% of air pollution caused by American families is from the goods and services they buy. Due to the fact that harmful pollutants such as fossil fuels are burned to create them. Not only does it harm our health but the Earth's health. The Earth's ozone layer, atmosphere and ecosystems are crumbling from acid rain, smog, bio magnification, carbon dioxide and green house gas emissions. In association to the Earth, we are negatively effected by our actions too, causing us hundreds of illnesses including cancers, respiratory diseases, skin irritations, hearing loss, birth defects, and death.
I believe that humans are not acting the way God and the aboriginals wanted us too. From our selfish behaviour,: cutting down trees- they provide us oxygen to live; intoxicating our lakes and bodies of water- they provide us water to drink; hunting innocent animals for recreation- our lives depend on them;and so many more reckless activites we humans participate in. Just today, I saw landscapers and construction workers destroying land, once used for agriculture to create a retail space,which is far less beneficial to us than agriculture. As the most powerful and intelligent species,we humans have the potential to become stewards to the Earth, but as for now, we are not living up to it.
"I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?" - Robert Redford
In our lives, we often regret decisions we make. For instance, "I should've read that book," or "I should've gone to work today." As the Earth's environment crumbles, we'll think, " We should've done something about it." It's time for us humans to look outside the box, to look outside of our society, and to do something to fix our environment. An act as simple as using reusable containers, closing the lights when you leave a room, buying less-packaged goods, recycling and reusing, and definitely spreading the movement to "go green," will benificially affect the world.
Unfortunately, most humans don't look at the bigger picture of the world. We often get caught up in our modern society and the lifestyle its embedded into each and every one of us. As a result of this, we are not taking care of our Earth and it's organisms to the best of our capability. It is crucial that we act and change our ways, like animals adapt to their different environments because humans are not stewards of the world. However, we most definitely can be.
"We generate our own environment. We get exactly what we deserve. How can we resent a life we've created ourselves? Who's to blame, who's to credit but us? Who can change it, anytime we wish, but us?" -Richard Bach
The world is in our hands.
Works Cited
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/52144423.htmlThe world is in our hands.
Works Cited
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_breathes_does_a_person_take_each_day
http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/Whatisbiodiversity.html
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/MAB/whatisbio.cfm#whatisbio
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6057270_ITM
http://www.cleanerandgreener.org/programs/schools/pollution.htm
