In September 2002, an environmental article in Time Magazine reviewed a number of environmental challenges our planet faces. Even though this article is becoming dated, I think it is a great starting point for students wanting to study environmental science. I encourage each of you to read the article and familiarize yourselves with the issues discussed. For this assignment, write a response about the article:
1. Why does the article imply that humans cannot destroy the Earth? Do you agree or disagree and why?
2. What are the major categories of hazards discussed in the article?
3. Choose one of these areas and give 3 suggestions on how we might solve or at least elevate the severity of the problem.
4. How could you change your lifestyle to help alleviate the problem?
Resources:
Challenges We Face, Time 2002 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1003114,0
Monday, August 13, 2007
Challenges We Face
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11 comments:
The article says that humans could not destroy Earth because if we tried "the planet will simply shake us off", like it did with the dinosaurs. I agree with this statement since we live here, and if we pollute the Earth and burn off the atmosphere, we will die but the planet will still be here.
The major categories of hazards in the article are population and health, food, water, energy and climate, and biodiversity.
Even though the planet is 70% water, there is only 2.5% of fresh water, and hardly any of that is readily available. Even though fresh water isn't plentiful, people are still using about 50 quarts of water a day, which is using up our supply of fresh water quickly. In order to slow this rate of consumption, we should create more efficient ways of irrigating are crops, improve the way of getting water to the people so less water is lost on the way, and we could improve the ways of the recycling water, so less water is lost in the process.
There are many ways people could adjust their lifestyle in order to reduce the amount of water they consume. We could take shorter showers, wash our cars and water our lawns less, and shut off the water when we are not using it, like while shaving or brushing our teeth.
This article proclaims that the earth does not need saving. We as humans are the ones in need of rescuing. People need a certain type of weather and atmosphere to survive, otherwise �the planet will simply shake us off, as it�s shaken off countless species before us�. These statements are extremely believable because there are numerous records of other species� extinctions due to improper conditions. If we do not do something to counteract the changes occurring in our environment then we will reach the same fate. The whole planet will not be destroyed, just our life on it.
In this article, the categories of major concern that are discussed are:
--Population and Health
--Food
--Water
--Energy and Climate
--Biodiversity
One hazard discussed in this article, energy and climate, is a growing concern worldwide. The greenhouse effect and the �Asian brown cloud� are hot topics of discussion. It seems as though the air pollution caused by the produced energy is out of control and beyond repair. However, there are simple ways to alleviate the problem. Reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned by increasing the efficiency and production of hybrid cars would cut down on the greenhouse gasses being admitted into the atmosphere. Also, micro-hydroelectric plants help to produce power by diverting water from local sources without using complex dams. Many politicians are now suggesting that we stop encouraging the production of oil and place our interest in other, cleaner energy sources such as wind power or solar panels.
There are many simple ways of slightly altering our lifestyle to help alleviate the problem. For example, I could use carpooling whenever traveling to places with friends. Also, changing the light bulbs in my house to the new energy saving bulbs creates a big difference from a small act. It is possible to save up to 75% on energy costs by using energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of the regular incandescent light bulbs. Even just adjusting the temperature of the thermostat to be a few degrees warmer in the summer and cooler in the winter can make an impact on the problems with energy and climate on earth.
The article implies that we as humans cannot destroy Earth to clarify what we are talking about when we say we need to save the Earth and that we are destroying the Earth. I agree with this statement because I don't believe that we have the physical capability to "destroy" Earth as a whole. As stated in the article we can merely harm the conditions (temperature, pollution, etc.) to the point where it is unsuitable for living organisms. At that point all life would just die off of until there is no more life at all and then with no more life Earth would return to its normal state suitable for life.
There are 5 major categories of hazards that are discussed in this article: population and health, food, water, energy and climate, and biodiversity.
Biodiversity is a growing problem that is greatly affecting our environment. One solutions to help solve these problems are to create more protected wildlife parks and reserves to cut down on the clearing of natural habitats where many different species and such live. If we don’t do this then as stated in the article “half of all species could disappear by the end of this century.” Another option is to cut down on the use of gasoline in cars and use other more fuel efficient methods of transportation that way the pollutants don't harm the environment any more. The carbon monoxide that comes out of the cars gets in the air and makes the air dirty and not ideal for living things to breathe. Or another possibility is to create more laws protecting certain endangered species which would prevent any more extinctions.
As a single individual it is hard to make much of difference in the environment but I could cut down on my fuel consumption by carpooling more often, or use other means of public transportation.
With the earth being covered 70% by water, you would think that as a population we would have plenty of water to survive and live off of, but of that water, only 2.5% is actually fresh water. And since salt water is not very useful to us, we really can only use that 2.5%. So unless we take steps, like U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anna said, we most likely will be facing extreme water shortages in the future.
To start solving these water problems, we must start from the major source of our water use, agriculture. With more efficient water usages for our farming we can begin to preserve this precious resource. WASH, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, is a new program created to help the effort to preserve global water. The U.N. has signed onto the program along with 28 governments and nongovernmental programs. WASH will provide these governments with the knowledge of water services and hygiene training in hopes to preserve our fresh water supply.
The earth as we live in today is slowly declining because of countless harmful things we put into it. However, we cannot physically destroy the earth. It will always be there, we just have to keep it clean. I completley agree with what the author says. Even though the planet is always there, human life might not be. The globe can easily "shake us off" as it did to a other species before us. We already exceed the amount of resources that the planet can replace by an estimated 20%. Having said that, the globe will not become something of the past, but humans might.
The five catagories of hazzards dicussed in the article are as follows: food, population and health, water, energy and climate and biodiversity.
Water, a neccesity in life, is definetly not a shortage on this earth with 70% of the planet being covered by it. The problem is that 2.5% of it is fresh water and 1.1 billion people across the globe do not have access to clean, fresh water. There are 3 very simple ways to at least help the reoccuring problem begin to go away. One of them is improving water-delivery systems since some of the precious water is lost in delivery. All you need for this is safer carrying methods which can be fixed in no time. Also. we could cut down on the water used for irrigation by using more efficient ways. For example, "planting of drought" and "salt-tolerant crop" gives us more options that require less water than the usual ways. Another way of fixing this already huge problem is by investing in desalinization. Yes, not all countries can afford it but as long as some have it, that 67.5% remaining water will soon help us. The one major problem is the cost.
The aid has already started with the popular WASH system, which is used by 28 governments. What we can do to help is simple. I know we learned these back in elementry school but conserving water by not turning on the faucet while brushing you teeth will always help. As a matter of fact, flushing a toilet uses an average of seven gallons per trip. If we do not flush unnecessary things down, we could easily save a lot of water right there.
The article wants us to understand that the earth as we like it is much more fragile than the actual globe. I agree with the article. The earth has been evolving for billions of years, but we have only been around for a few thousand and recording information for a fraction of that time. As the article said we are fighting an uphill battle to preserve a small time period of the earth's changing climate.
The major categories of hazards discussed are: Population and health, food, water, energy and climate, and biodiversity.
To help reduce the effects of water shortage farmers should implement more efficient watering systems such as drip irragation, water delivery systems should be updated or fixed so they don't leak, and the government should at least make and enforce regulations dealing with water consumption.
A couple simple things that you can do to help eliminate water shortages are: water your lawns at night so less water evaporates before being absorbed, turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth, and don't let the water run while waiting for your shower to heat up
The earth has been alive much longer the humans. The earth has built, destroyed, renewed itself many times and humans have not been the reason. Many people are saying that we are causing global warming. I do not agree, yes we are causing lots of pollution in our air, water, and in our soil, but that is only hurting ourselves and our resources. Yes the humans can speed up the harming of our environment, but we will never truly be able to destroy our earth.
The hazards discussed in the article are population and health, food, water, energy and climate, and biodiversity.
In high-class Marietta, Georgia, in a suburb right outside of a city with expensive shops, restaurants and residential areas, it is hard for many to imagine a life without food. People will go one day with just a snack in the middle and claim they are “starving” by dinner. What many do not realize is that about a third of the world is starving, or in danger of starvation. Of those most do not have the resources, money, or time to find nutritious food. Yes, there are pictures online that are accessible to the public to see pictures of these malnourished children, adults, and animals, but one can never realize how serious these conditions are until they see them face to face. But, with the busy schedules most people have, it is “impossible” to find time to visit and help these third-world countries.
I went to Mexico two summers ago to help build houses for some of the less fortunate. When I was there and when I came back I really felt like a helped people and I felt better about myself. But, my job seemed to stop there. Yes I shared with other people the great experiences I had, but I think that in my life I should do more to help. I should not leave food on my plate when I finished, and I should help by donating money to companies and missionaries that help others. It is not as hard as it seems to bring some food to a local homeless shelter. I think we can all do our part to help.
The article comments on how difficult the decision is on how to fix this problem. Some say that genetically modified crops will solve the problem, maybe because the scientists can put different nutrients into the plants to make less food go a longer way in the health of these people: however, environmentalists think that altering these plants will end up harming a lot more people and soils then helping. I have not decided which side I I am on in this case, but I am glad that someone chose a side and went with it. The National Agricultural Research Organization of Uganda decided that they would try one idea by making corn, sweet potatoes, and other crops that are “drought-tolerant, disease-defeating and vitamin-fortified.” Like I said, I have not truly decided which side I am on, but I am curious how these plants are doing, and hopefully if they are successful, more countries will join. I think that the three ways of helping this problem is spreading out the wealth, going to help these countries, and realizing that some are not as fortunate as us. The world does not have unlimited resources. We need to disperse our resources out as evenly as possible to make sure that we keep our earth safe and healthy. Obviously, world hunger will never be completely eliminated, but hopefully with scientific and intellectual advances will help decrease our statistics.
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