Why Earth's Climate is Changing
‘The uneasiness of modern man arises from a rupture between himself and nature that leaves him homeless within the universe...’
William Barrett
Introduction
Over the past years most individuals have become acutely aware that the intensity of human and economic development enjoyed over the 20th century cannot be sustained. Material consumption and ever increasing populations are already stressing the earth’s ecosystems. How much more the earth can take remains a very heated issue. Here a look at the facts sheds some very dark light. In 1950, there were 2.5 billion people, while today there are 5.8 billion. There may well be 10 billion people on earth before the middle of the next century. Even more significant, on an ecological level, is the rise in per capita energy and material consumption which, in the last 40 years, has soared faster than the human population. “An irresistible economy seems to be on a collision course with an immovable ecosphere.” Based on these facts alone, there is grave reason for concern.
Taken further, it is even more frightening to note that, while man has affected the environment throughout his stay on earth, the impact has been most intense in the relatively short industrial era. Since the industrial revolution, and over the past century in particular, man’s ecological footprint on the earth has quickly grown from that of a child to one of a giant. True, this period is heralded as an economic success story, which it certainly has been. However, many argue that it seems increasingly likely that the path to man’s success will soon slope downward to his demise. The climate is changing, and so must we.
This paper will look at the coin of climate change, where on the one side the human impact on the earth will be shown, and on the other, the impact of earth on man. Such a study is inevitably somewhat polemical, as it is still open to debate what the precise effects of man have and will be on climate change, and also what climate change will mean to man. It will also be quite general in analysis, as a paper of this scope can allow no more. What will be made clear, nevertheless, is that the relationship between man and earth is clearly changing. More specifically, man is outgrowing the earth. If the relationship is to continue—ind...
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...in 1940, to defeat the last threat against human hope.” This strain of reasoning provides a welcome contrast to the depressing observation noted by Barrett at the opening of this study. And it is true, there is nothing to suggest that we are firmly locked into a future that is condemned. For the first time in history, it may well be possible for a balance to be found between man and nature.
Bibliography
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Original figure: Bulliet et al. « The Earth and Its Peoples » . Houghton Mifflin Company. 2005.
Bulliet, Richard W. et al. The Earth and Its People: A Global History. 2nd ed. New York: Houghten Mifflin.
In recent decades, the contentious issues surrounding climate change and the corresponding effects it likely exerts upon contemporary civilization has developed to become one of the most pressing areas of concern afflicting humanity (Armstrong, 1). Currently, climate change has started to demonstrate its potentially calamitous consequences upon human subsistence practices, and has even begun to alter the very environments that entire societies reside in, theoretically endangering them in both instances (Armstrong, 1). Though the hindrances inherent in climate change are potentially devastating to the preservation of modern society, the problem of climate change itself is not one that is exclusive to the contemporary era. Rather, the harmful
Retrieved October 11, 2011. www.gerrymarten.com/human-ecology/tableofcontents.html Retrieved October 12, 2011. www.equip.org/ Retrieved October 11, 2011. www.environmentmagazine.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/Se. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
Over the course of recent history, much concern has been raised over the industrial revolution and the potential climate changes that it might be causing. It has been stated by global warming theorist that C02 emissions caused by human technologies are causing the world to warm, which will cause negative climate changes. The Earth may be experiencing a global warming trend and climate change; however, the process of climate change is outside of human control because human activity can barely account for any of the C02 level increases. Attempts to reduce human C02 emissions is needlessly expensive, and will have a negligible role in preventing or slowing any climatic changes such as global warming or an impending ice age. People must be prepared to adapt to the climatic changes that occur, because it is unlikely that human intervention will postpone them or limit the impact of their arrival.
There is no hesitation when it comes to whether humans impact the global environment. However, it is questioned in whether human’s ecological footprint is either negatively or positively impacting. In clear perspective, humans share from both sides and their ecological footprint is noted towards whether it will benefit or harm the environment around them. Topics such as overpopulation, pollution, biomagnification, and deforestation are all human impacted and can harm the environment, but some include benefits into helping the world around us with solutions to their problems.
The external conflict of nature against man never becomes resolved, as nature ends the man and his goals. For example, the severe cold weather prevented the man fro...
Adams, W. M. (1999). Sustainability. In P. Cloke., P. Crang & M. Goodwin (Eds.), Introducing human geographies (pp. 125-130). London: Arnold.
We often think about whether the problems we face every day are a result of our own intrinsic nature, or rather the environment we currently live in today. The founding fathers in a way, were asking the question. Karl Marx focused his attention to how capitalism alienated humanity by making work a mere means individual existence, while Max Weber centered his focus at how excessive rationalism suppressed freedom, and intuition. Emile Durkheim managed this phenomenon to temporary pathologies. Their evaluations of modernity are connected to their beliefs of human nature.
Our world is always changing, so is our climate. Some changes are apparent, others not so much. Climate change is an important issue of concern in the twenty-first century. Environment, if it changes at all, evolves so slowly that the difference cannot be seen in a human lifetime (Wearth, 2014). Mostly all scientists predicted that it would take thousands of years for the planet to warm up due to emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels called greenhouse gases. But in the past 200 years, things began to change. The rate and the amount of warming that is happening on this planet are unprecedented. Wearth says, “People did not grasp the prodigious fact that both population and industrialization were exploding in a pattern of exponential
Withgott, J., & Brennan, S. (2011). Environment: the science behind the stories (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.
The first part of this essay discusses what the human species has done to deal with the problem of climate change. While some improvements have been made, the problem has not been addressed aggressively enough to stop the damage. What is amazing about this is the denial of so many people that problems exist. If they do realize the risks, they are simply not taking actions to contain the damage.
Human Impact on the Environment Introduction = == == == ==
Sustainability Revolution: Earth, the planet we call home, is a complex system made of interdependent parts and pieces of life that are constantly changing. Earth’s planetary system has maintained a balance of dynamic equilibrium—it has been sustainable— since its beginnings about 4.5 billion years ago. This balance, however, has been progressively disrupted by us—humans— especially during the last few decades. Mother Nature has provided us with natural resources and the habitat for all species to sustain life on our planet. Since the industrial revolution, we have maintained a belief that these resources are infinite, and that economic growth and our attempts to improve our standards of living can continue forever. All forms of human economic