One of the pie slices that make a large impact on the biodiversity of the world is land system change. Land-system change is measured in the percent of forested area compared to the original forested area. The boundary for the amount of forested area that the world needs before we begin to experience issues is 75%, approximately 85% of the tropical biome, 50% of the temperate biome needs to be covered for the world to function properly with minimal issues in relation to land system use. Currently we are at 62% of the earth’s potential forested areas surviving. ("Earth Has Crossed Several ‘Planetary Boundaries,’ Thresholds of Human-Induced Environmental Changes", 2016) We are 13% under the amount of forest cover we need for the earth to be able …show more content…
Another part of land system change is how the land is being used and misused. One way that we are misusing the earth is though mining. Mining in Australia is one of the countries’ largest industries and is a large contributor to the economy. Australia is one of the leading suppliers of many minerals such as; gold, aluminum, bauxite, opal, iron, copper, zinc and coal along with many others. (Mining in Australia) In Western Tasmania there is a river called The King River, and because of the Mt. Lyell Mining for copper, it has become one of the most polluted rivers in Australia. Not only did it have to deal with 100 years of direct pollution from the mining being done on Mt. Lyell, but it is also expected to continue to be affected for 600 years after the closing of the mine, more and more copper and sulfuric acid enter river and surrounding areas everyday (Fergusson 238). Along the King River there are ‘trailing beaches’ that contain both …show more content…
The companies do not try to find a sustainable way to get rid of the waste they just decide to let it leak into the ground and pollute everything in its path. Leaving the government to pay to have the problem solved (Lloyd, M. V., G. B., Doherty, M. D., Jeffree, R. A., John, J., Majer, J. D., . . . Nichols, O. G. 5-6) Instead of trying to save some time in the long run and make sure that the mine wasn’t going to affect the biodiversity and environment in the long run they just did whatever they wanted how they wanted. Because of the severity of the pollution in the King River there is no way for neither the Tasmanian nor the Australian governments to be able to put up the resources needed to clean the river. They are relying on the river to purify itself over time. (Fergusson 239) Just because a mine is closed doesn’t mean that the runoff issue is solved because when it rains the rain runoff bring more of the pollution down to the river basins. To fix the problem we need to either finish extracting all of the metals from the mine site or neutralize the acid at the source. (EPA Tasmania) Tasmania as a community isn’t letting the trailing issue go. They are still actively trying to find a solution in 2014 and the mine closed in 1970.
As the international community focuses on climate change as the great crisis of our era, it is ignoring another looming problem: the global crisis in land use. Seed Magazine
As long as humans have lived in forested areas, they have cut down trees for lumber and/or to clear space for agricultural purposes. However, this practice has resulted in the destruction and near extinction of our national forests. Today, fewer than five percent of our country's original forests remain (Thirteen) and the U.S. Forest Service continues to allow more than 136,000 square miles to be logged each year (Byrant). Even more alarming, is the fact that only twenty percent of the current public forest lands are permanently protected by law, leaving nearly eighty percent to be consumed by chainsaws and bulldozers (Heritage...).
When Aldiss explained about the condition of the Badlands, “Ancient bomb craters and soil erosion joined hands here; man’s talent for war, coupled with his inability to manage forested land, had produced thousands of square miles of temperate purgatory, where nothing moved but dust.” (257) For the overpopulated humans, they all needed land to live in, so deforestation was a major issue. War also made deforestation worse, with bomb craters destroying thousands of square miles of forested land. Today, many trees are being logged to create land for people. The more overpopulated our planet is, the more land we need to deforest and reduce the world’s forests.
Can the world really set aside half of the Earth’s land to preserve both wild and plant life? The protection of wildlife is a significant importance to the quality of life, with the loss of species – there may be severe consequences. Wilson’s concern is many species being destroyed before scientists have a chance to identify them. “Humanity is losing the race between the scientific study of global diversity and the obliteration of countless still-unknown species” (Wilson, 2016). This is where I see a positive light in Wilson’s
“The Earth is 4.6 billion years old. Scaling to 46 years, human have been here 4 hours, the industrial revolution began 1 minute ago, and in that time, we’ve destroyed more than half the world’s forests.” - Unknown. One major environmental problem in our world is deforestation - what is that, you ask? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, deforestation is the action or process of clearing of forests. Some consequences of this include a large contribution to global warming and climate change (about 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year), loss of biodiversity especially in tropical rainforests, and the extinction of many known or yet to be discovered species. But, through some Debt-for-Nature Swaps, leaving forests
On average millions of hectares of forests are destroyed each year resulting in severe consequences that will affect not only our lifestyle, but also all the animals with which we share our planet. Many species of animals and plants will become extinct and if we continue with the destruction of our forests, earth will be unable to sustain life.
The graph shows the results that were expected from the land use questionnaire. In the tables, the trend in the graphs show the total’s and average’s over 147 years.
Pollution comes in many forms. In the ocean we dump a variety of substances, including human wastes, chemicals from fertilizers, oil, and trash such as plastic which all contribute to the growing issue of our ocean pollution. In addition to, our usable waters are finite. More than 97.5 percent of the water on this planet is undrinkable salt water; the remaining 2.5 percent has two-thirds of the usable fresh water locked up in glaciers, snow, and permafrost. Of the one-third of freshwater that is available for human use, 20 percent is used for industrial use. (“Water Pollution”) “In effect, water pollution reduces the volume of water available for use by human and other populations.” (Robin Clarke, Jannet King) Knowing that there are approximately 7.2 billion people and growing on this planet with only 0.83 percent of available for our use wouldn’t you want to do everything possible to help put an end to water pollution? (worldometers)
The Human Impact on Rainforests Human Impact on Rainforest is it a necessity? Rainforest are the beautiful gift of Mother Nature. It consists of the most magnificent species and plants in the world. 4.2% of the world’s animals live in the rainforest. This statistic it self shows how bad it would be to destroy such essential part of the worlds biodiversity.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
...and consume. The earth isn’t getting any bigger or more abundant- so it’s up to us to take care of it.
Our planet is suffering from severe pollution, which ranges from contaminated air, water and soil as well. Humans are doing nothing to reduce the amount of pollution that is harming our earth. To understand how pollution works first you must understand that there are different types of pollution. The most common types of pollution and the ones that I will be focusing on which are the ones doing the most harm to our planet are air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination and littering. In order to help out and reduce pollution in our planet people need to be more aware of what these problems are and about the severe damages that they are causing our planet. Before industrialization really jumped into place and had an effect on large cities, nature had its own way of cleaning up its own air and itself. Wind scattered gases, rain washed many substances and the rest dissolved into the ground; while plants absorbed carbon dioxide and made it into oxygen. With big cities growing more every time and with more towns that were becoming more industrialized a lot of more waste began to be released into the environment and the atmosphere and soon this was more than enough for nature to handle. In order to stop and reduce pollution people need to understand the damage that it is causing our environment and our planet as well. People need to be more aware of how they can help out and do their part in reducing these problems that are causing our planet to die slowly with people not even noticing it.
One of the reasons for loss in biodiversity is alteration of habitats. A habitat is the natural environment in which a species of living organism lives. If the habitat of a species is changed, it will cause the species to die or migrate to other places where it can find its natural habitat. There are many ways in which the habitat of plants and animals can be altered. One of them is land use changes. Since the beginning of human life, human beings have been changing land use for farming. Large areas of forests have been cleared by humans to increase the area of farming to satisfy their growing needs. Many biodiversity-rich landscape characteristics have been lost due to intensive farming (Young, Richards, Fischer, Halada, Kull, Kuzniar, Tartes, Uzunov & Watt, 2007). For example, traditional farming was replaced by private farms in Europe after the First World War causing an immense change in land use patterns. Another major proble...
(4) Its impact on land value, land markets and credit opportunities. On the other hand, land use planning, promoting sustainable natural resource use and environmental management are generally part of the mandate of local governments.
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.