Flooding There are many natural hazards in the environment, but some of them are not as "natural" as they would appear. In other words, some of the environmental hazards in the environment have been created or enhanced by what human beings have done. Flooding is one of those issues, as humans have dammed up streams, moved rivers, and created their own lakes. They have also removed trees and graded land to reduce slopes and provide places on which to build. Then, those areas flood because the natural barriers that kept them from flooding have been removed. This is becoming a serious problem as the population of the world increases. Addressed here will be how this problem came about and the roles that humans have played in the flooding of areas of the U.S. And the world. Then, a stand will be taken as to the researcher's stance on the topic. The researcher's thoughts on the issue will be provided, along with the evidence that backs up the researcher's opinion and a discussion of why that stance was taken. From that point, the summary will restate the issue and stance, and then summarize the evidence that was collected in addressing said issue.

Topic Analysis

Many natural disasters could be avoided if humans had not changed their landscape so much in the name of progress (Stroeve, 2007). Now that the changes have already taken place, however, other changes have to be made in an effort to keep problems at bay and rectify some of the issues that have been created. There are two main areas where flooding and human intervention are concerned, and these are the damming and diverting of rivers and streams, and the grading of land and removing of trees that were a natural barrier to flooding in the past (Keim, 2008). Planting new trees will not stop the problems that are occurring currently, and changing and rerouting streams does not always solve the problem. There may be issues with climate change, but some of the issues that are faced are not related to the climate...

That is something to consider when looking into flooding, since some of it is caused by the excessive rains and severe storms that are being seen in some parts of the country and the world. There is speculation that some of those rains are due to changes in patterns in the world's climate, and that those pattern changes have been brought on by what man has done to the environment with vehicle emissions and other types of pollution. There is no conclusive proof, however, and many differing opinions (Lenton, et al., 2008).
When human beings pollute or damage the environment, there are many areas which are affected (Hansen, 2000). Flooding is just one of those areas. Of course, changing river channels and deforestation concerns are not the only problems that cause flooding. Neither is climate change and the excessive rains that may or may not be part of it in some areas of the country and the world. Another cause of flooding is the fact that there are so many people on the planet and they are building their homes and towns closer to water sources (Wentz, 2007). When they build near the ocean or near a lake or river, they have higher chances of flooding and they are more likely to have problems that relate to water-rise issues. Not all homes in these areas will flood, and many of them do not flood often, but the risk is higher and this is a choice that has been made by man, as opposed to something that has been created by nature (Ballu, 2011). It is understandable that living close to water is important, but there are limits as to how close to water one should live and what kind of risk one should take with life and property. Some people feel the risk of flood is too great to live in certain areas.

Stand/Stance

For this researcher, the belief is that there are many manmade problems in this world that are causing issues such as flooding. Overall, mankind is destroying the environment with pollution and by attempting to change the environment to fit what he or she wants instead of working around the environment that was already in…