Essay on Environmental issues and how we can change the fate of our society to avoid collapse
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Jorge Vasquez-Salas 54222831 World Sustainability: How Important is Leaving a Good World to Our Children What is the purpose of life? For many, this question has a philosophical or religious answer, but in a scientific context the ultimate goal of life is to reproduce so that genes are preserved. All living creatures on Earth reproduce instinctively in order to preserve the specie. Humans are not different; we have children so that the can remember us and ensure our specie keeps moving forward, but humans have evolved so much that reproduction is no longer a necessity but an option. Technology has allowed us to survive easily, thus reproduction is no longer vital for our survival. This may be the reason behind our negligence; we feel like our survival is assured that we do not pay attention or care for the world we are leaving behind to future generations. Over the centuries humans have acted selfishly, slowly killing the planet and only thinking about what is best for themselves and ignoring the wellness of future generations. We are
Transcript
Jorge Vasquez-Salas54222831
World Sustainability: How Important is Leaving a Good World to Our Children
What is the purpose of life? For many, this question has a philosophical or religious
answer, but in a scientific context the ultimate goal of life is to reproduce so that genes are
preserved. All living creatures on Earth reproduce instinctively in order to preserve the
specie. Humans are not different; we have children so that the can remember us and ensure
our specie keeps moving forward, but humans have evolved so much that reproduction is
no longer a necessity but an option. Technology has allowed us to survive easily, thus
reproduction is no longer vital for our survival. This may be the reason behind our
negligence; we feel like our survival is assured that we do not pay attention or care for the
world we are leaving behind to future generations. Over the centuries humans have acted
selfishly, slowly killing the planet and only thinking about what is best for themselves and
ignoring the wellness of future generations. We are getting close to a point of no return
where if we don’t start acting for our planet there won’t be future generations. Thus there is
one question left to answer: Is it time we start acting?
Where should we begin?
Gathering data is an important step to understand what our problems are. Organizing that
information is also vital for us to understand trends and options to solve said problems.
This information should be made available to authorities and the public so we can act on it.
This step was already done by the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and
Development (WCED). WCED published the book Our Common Future, whose targets
were nations in the search for a sustainable development path. It placed environmental
concerns on top of the political agenda, stating that these should be made a priority. The
Brundtland Commission's mandate was to:
“1. Re-examine the critical issues of environment and development and to formulate, concrete, and
realistic action proposals to deal with them;
2. Strengthen international cooperation on environment and development and to assess and propose
new forms of cooperation that can break out of existing patterns and influence policies and events in
the direction of needed change; and
3. Raise the level of understanding and commitment to action on the part of individuals, voluntary
organizations, businesses, institutes, and governments” (1987: 347). “The Commission focused its
attention in the areas of population, food security, the loss of species and genetic resources, energy,
industry, and human settlements - realizing that all of these are connected and cannot be treated in
isolation one from another” (WCED).
Point number 3 in this mandate is ground breaking; it asks nations to recognize that most
problems are connected and cannot be isolated. The preservation of the environment is key
to tackle most of these problems; climate change is the leading factor that creates most
social problems around the world, especially in under-developed countries.
How is climate change changing the world?
According to Bruce Lourif, the biggest problem regarding climate change is denial. People
do their business as usual and pretend nothing is wrong in the world, when in reality
humans have been changing the fate of our planet in the past centuries. It is estimated that
by 2100 the average global temperature will raise by 4.3°C, and according to scientists,
anything above 2°C would mean serious trouble not only to humans, but to all living
species on Earth. Climate change deniers claim there is not clear evidence of global
warming, but “since 1974, more than 20% of the Polar Ice caps has melted away” (Lourif),
and according to NASA, previous estimates on sea level rising are off as “Sea levels are
rising faster than they were 50 years ago, and it's very likely to get worse in the future” (NatGeo).
Sea level rising will affect the global economy because, as NASA stated on its newest report, “of
the world's ten largest cities, eight are located on coasts. Over the next century and beyond, rising
seas will threaten Tokyo, New York, Shanghai, Mumbai, and other megacities.”
One example of the effect of sea leave rising will be in Florida, where “more than half the valuable
land will be under water in 50 years” (Lourif).
MAPS AND GRAPHICS BY RYAN MORRIS, ALEXANDER STEGMAIER, AND JOHN TOMANIO. SOURCES: CLIMATE CENTRAL; U.S. ARMY CORPS OF
ENGINEERS; NOAA
But Florida isn’t the only place in danger by sea level rising. The whole world is prone to losing massive
amounts of land if all the ice melts, which would have a negative impact on the economy.
THIS IS WHAT THE WORLD WOULD LOOK LIKE IF ALL THE ICE IN THE WORLD MELTED. WE ARE ALL HAVE THE SAME
PROBLEM.
Sea level rising isn’t the only problem created by climate changed. The Earth is warming
up due to human carbon emissions (Lourif). Droughts around the world are becoming more
frequent and stronger, affecting millions who depend on rain water for food production, for
example. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
“The September average temperature across global land surfaces was 1.16°C (2.09°F) above the
20th century average, also the highest for September on record. Large regions of Earth's land
surfaces were much warmer than average, according to the Land & Ocean Temperature Percentiles
map above. Record warmth was observed across northeastern Africa stretching into the Middle East,
part of southeastern Asia, most of the northern half of South America, and parts of central and
eastern North America.”
Which makes 2015 the hottest year ever recorded. California is feeling these effects the
most as it is suffering the worst drought in its history. This drought is causing great damage
to the economy as California is the leading agriculture producer in the United States.
According to a study by the University of California, Davis, “the drought in California will
cost the state's economy $2.7 billion this year and nearly 21,000 jobs as the four-
year drought continues.”
Another devastating effect of climate change is the extinction of species in the planet.
According to scientists we are at the brink of a sixth mass extinction, and this time it is
fueled by climate change. According to Todd Palmer “biologists found that the Earth is
losing mammal species 20 to 100 times the rate of the past. Extinctions are happening so
fast, they could rival the event that killed the dinosaurs in as little as 250 years”, and this is
not a common trend, it is clear that human activity is responsible for this (Palmer). As
Sarah Kaplan states in a Washington Post article: “species these days are not living under
normal conditions... Forests are vanishing. Animals are hunted for their tusks and teeth and
fur. Toxins are leaching into streams and lakes and the ground beneath us. The global
climate is changing, and habitats around the world are changing with it”. That is not all
though; humans are also overconsuming some animals to the point of extinction such as
fish. We are fishing more than what the population can replace through natural
reproduction. Fishing is the main source of food for millions and if we continue this
uncontrollable fishing millions will run out of food. As World Wildlife (WWF) states on its
website, the result of overfishing…
“ not only affect the balance of life in the oceans, but also the social and economic well-being of the
coastal communities who depend on fish for their way of life. Billions of people rely on fish for
protein, and fishing is the principal livelihood for millions of people around the world. For centuries,
our seas and oceans have been considered a limitless bounty of food. However, increasing fishing
efforts over the last 50 years as well as unsustainable fishing practices are pushing many fish stocks
to the point of collapse.”
The Atlantic fishery collapse is the example of the worst management of ecosystem; we let
the fish industry to take all it wanted for its benefit without having consequences (Lourif).
Why won’t people act?
As we seen previously, nations and the public have all this information. We know what
climate changed is doing to our world. We know why there is poverty in the world. We
know how over consumerism is destroying ecosystems and the economy, so why have we
done so little to address all these problems?
In his video, Bruce Lourif explains several reasons why society does not act to solve global
problems even after knowing so much about these. Some of these reasons include:
Our friends or cultural group aren’t taking action/ don’t believe Doing so contradicts a fundamental belief or value It will cost too much It will be inconvenient It won’t affect us personally It won’t happen for a long time The solution isn’t clear
What should we do?
As the last point made by Lourif states, the solution to our problems isn’t always clear but
we have to do something soon if we want to leave a sustainable world to our children.
Technology has caused our downfall but it can also save us from destruction. Today, we are
producing new technologies at a faster rate and these could help us turn our path back in the
right way.
One problem our children will face in the future is water shortage; we are currently
suffering this problem around the world and it does not show signs of stopping; in the
contrary it seems it will get worse. In the United States, 36 states are expecting water
shortages in the next decades even without drought. Populations keep growing at a faster
rate, increasing the pressure of water allocation. Some parts of the world are already
suffering water shortage as over 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water (GAO),
but how can we use technology to tackle this problem? There are many projects currently in
development such as The Sahara Project, which “proposes to use restorative practices to
establish vegetation in arid areas and reverse the trend of desertification. This process of
restorative growth will be catalyzed by combining already existing and proven
environmental technologies” (SHP). The project aims to grow forest where there is desert
using nothing but solar power to desalinate salt water. This distilled water is used to grow
plants, and the desalinization process itself releases CO2 which can be used to make the
plants grow faster. This project does not only tackle water shortage but also food
production which will also be a problem. Another project is the Rain Maker, founded by
Manoj Bhargava, founder of 5-hour energy shot. This device is capable of turning salt
water into potable water using almost no energy as it recycles it in the distillation process.
This device could be mass produced, get mounted in ships and let them go offshore,
collecting sea water and turning it into drinking water. These two projects are edge cutting
and have the potential to satisfy our water needs around the world, we just have to make
ensure our governments fund them instead of allowing companies to privatize water.
Another important problem we need to address in order to ensure a safe and sustainable
world for future generations is the energy crisis. Billions of people do not have access to
energy and live in the dark. According to a The Washington Post article, 2 out of 10 people
do not have access to electricity in Asia (622 million out of 3.6 billion people), in sub-
Sahara 7 out of 10 (622.6 million) do not have access to electricity, and in Middle East that
number is 17.1 million. This is not the only problem regarding energy though; developed
countries rely on fossil fuels to produce energy which puts carbon emissions in the
atmosphere driving climate change. The U.S alone put 6,673 million metric tons (14.7
trillion pounds) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 2013 (EPA) and it is increasing
every year. Other countries such as China emitted 9,679.30 million metric tons, the
European Union 4,663.41 mmt, Russia 2,291.57 mmt, etc., totaling 42,669.72 million
metric tons worldwide (World Resources Institute). There are works to reduce carbon in the
atmosphere, such as the work done by Stuart Licht. His team developed a system that sucks
carbon out of the air and uses it to create carbon fibers which have many uses in many areas
such as aerospace engineering, automobile and other industries. This process not only
cleans our environment, but also uses the carbon in a useful manner.
To meet our energy demands there is more work being done. Manoj Bhargava’s foundation
is currently working on a process to extract energy from the center of our planet. It is
creating graphene cables (a form of pure carbon 100 times stronger that steel), allowing
heat to be conducted to the surface of the Earth to run turbines and generate electricity –
without burning anything.
Too good to be true?
As we explored in this paper, we have the information we need to act and the technology to
change our fate, so what can we do to make sure we leave a sustainable world to future
generations?
For one we need to educate people so that they are aware of the problems and demand their
government to take action. As Loruif stated on his video, in order to achieve sustainability
we need to have a balance between ecology, society and economy. We currently only focus
on the economy part so we don’t act because it’d mean money loss. Economy should come
last because we cannot have one when society is unstable and the environment cannot
support us. If we want to leave a sustainable world for our children we need to learn to live
without having money as a priority; we need to understand that there are things far more
important and learn to love our planet so we take care of it.
Works Cited
Caballos, Gerardo, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anthony D. Barnosky, Andres Garcia, Robert M.
Pringle, and Tood M. Palmer. "Accelerated Modern Human–induced Species
Losses: Entering the Sixth Mass Extinction." Science Advances, n.d. Web. 24 Nov.
