Our Impact On The Environment

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The Tragedy of the Commons has been used to explain how human interference has resulted in negative outcomes for the natural environment. Those who maintain resources by a community controlled basis seem to care much more about who else uses them. The people are worried about how much of the resource they will be able to benefit from and how much they can have which makes them more concerned about the possibility of someone else overusing the limited resource (diamond, et al, 2007). One person won’t want another person to have open and uncontrolled access to the same resource that they want. A major cause of the “Tragedy” is due to a lack of information. Several people who use the common resource may not know where it originally came from and may assume that it is limitless. Another cause is that people may fear that the shared resource is being overused and may become depleted, leaving everyone fearful followed by everyone trying to get what might be left, resulting in even more damage.

Fossil fuels are a non-renewable source of energy, which include oil, coal, and natural gas (Ecomi, 2008). When all the fossil fuels in the Earth are used up, they cannot be replaced. They are produced out of decomposed plants and animals that date back more than six-hundred million years (Bloch, 2009). Currently, fossil fuels are being used very quickly. Almost every modern living function depends on the use of fossil fuels. Without it, the world would have many reparations. People don’t realize how much they are wasting and how much damage it really is doing to the atmosphere and what it could do to us in the future. It is a huge energy source, and almost fifty percent of power generation plants of the USA use coal as their main source of...

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....6) Tragedy of the Commons.

Retrieved Feb. 6, 2011 from http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/tragedyofthecommons.htm

Mukherjee, B. (2010) Fossil Fuels Pros and Cons. Retrieved Feb.5, 2011 from

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fossil-fuels-pros-and-cons.html

Greenhalgh, R. (2002) Fossil fuel and its impact on the environment. Retrieved Feb. 6, 2011

from http://www.essortment.com/all/fossilfuelimpa_rhxu.htm

Ecopedia. (2008) Fossil Fuels. Retrieved Feb. 8, 2011 from

http://www.ecomii.com/ecopedia/fossil-fuels

Young, C. (2005, April 15) The Environment and Science: Social Impact and Interaction.

Retrieved Feb. 7, 2011. 151-153

Bloch, M. (2009, July 14) Fossil Fuel Fast Facts. Retrieved Feb 7, 2011 from

http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/333/1/Fossil-Fuel-Fast-Facts.html

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