Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Author Paul Ehrlich devised the famous equation for evaluating human impact on the environment as a function of three variables: (1) population, (2) affluence, and (3) technology (UWBR, 2004). Much more recently, William Rees, of the Fisheries
Center at the University of British Columbia introduced a method for quantifying the specific natural resource demand represented by each person, expressing the results as an ecological "footprint" (UWBR, 2004). Combined with the fact that by the turn of the 21st
Century, the global human population reached 6 billion, the implications for the future of the planetary ecological systems and biosphere are extremely ominous to say the least.
According to experts like Rees, developed countries like the United States and Canada already account for an extremely disproportionate (collective) ecological footprint, to the extent that the entire natural capacity of the Earth would already be exceeded by 20% were all its inhabitants consuming its resources at the rate of North Americans (UWBR, 2004). Furthermore, the mere rate of resource consumption represents only a relatively small part of the overall equation. Human industrial activity contributes to the depletion, destruction, erosion, and other dramatic changes to the ecological environment that are detrimental to nonhuman species whose continued health depends on ecological balance, as well as to future generations of human beings who will depend on its resources as well.
Already, we are...
In the last century, human consumption of fossil fuels is far outpacing sustainable capacity, but its depletion represents only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the future of this planet. Many experts firmly believe that human activity is the main cause of global warming, whose myriad effects include everything from the endangerment of animal species in habitats that supported them for thousands of years to weather changes that may reshape coastlines worldwide and even threaten the future existence of entire continents themselves.
References
Castilla, J.C. (1999) Coastal Marine Communities: Trends and Perspectives from Human-Exclusion Experiments. Retrieved, November 2, 2007, at http://66.102.1.104/scholar?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=cache:ed1L7vUsG7sJ:ib.berkeley.edu/labs/power/classes/IB250/Castilla_1999.pdf+human+population+growt h+community+interaction+ecology
Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin, Inc. Population Growth: Impacts on the Environment. (2007) Retrieved, November 2, 2007, at http://www.cwac.net/population/index.html
University of Wisconsin Board of Regents (2004) Assessing Immigration, Population & Environment. Retrieved, November 2, 2007, at http://whyfiles.org/200immigration_pop/2.html
Yet, in the world today there is an even greater fuel shortage, that can create an even greater human catastrophe, as trees create the oxygen that makes it possible to breath. A the urgent need to develop more climate-friendly energy technologies is becoming keenly appreciated worldwide. Renewable energy technologies are receiving heightened attention, and modern biomass-based energy -- the use of wood, crop residues and dung as fuel -- is
The modern separation from the means of production does not negate the fact that nearly everything we need to sustain us is provided by the earth, either by natural or artificial means. The earth gives us all the materials we need and many we desire and in turn she is changed. She becomes less able with each passing day and each lost natural acre to continue to provide. Though the
Urbanization Earth also witnessed a phenomenon of urbanization or shifting of population toward cities. The increase in the number of cities has been associated with that of repeated ecological disaster. Rapid regional deforestation, the depletion of ground-water aquifers, accelerated soil erosion, plant genetic simplification, periodic outbreaks of disease among pest species and domesticated animals, large-scale human malnutrition, and the development and spread of epidemics are some of the results we have
"And Sarah said unto Abraham: Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing" (Genesis 16:2, quoted by Thomlinson). But a more scientific approach has been forwarded and it aimed to find solutions. For instance, in the case of couples where the man is sterile, the woman could choose to be artificially inseminated; or in the cases when the woman is sterile, the man could inseminate a surrogate mother.
It deals with inbuilt societal problems that cannot simply be dealt with due to the fact that they are so internalized. They therefore require a restructuring of societal systems -- that is, a transition and this can be done -- according to Rotman and Loorbach (2008) - by looking into the social structure of the problem Transition management has already come a long way. As Rotman and Loorbach D (2008)
The developed countries hence experience higher survivorship for most age groups resulting in a balanced and healthy reproductive structure. The age distribution needs to complement or mirror the high survivorship ratio as the extinction of even one age group is very much possible with a single unforeseen natural event (Begon et al. 2006). To illustrate the importance of a balanced age structure, consider this example. A huge carnival targeted for