| Term Paper Title | Are Major Changes Needed To Avert A Global Environmental Crisis? |
| # of Words | 2912 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 11.65 |
Are Major Changes Needed to Avert a Global Environmental Crisis?
The World Community, The Economy and The Environment
ARE MAJOR CHANGES NEEDED TO AVERT A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS?
Introduction
Everything that is around us, every single living organism on the face of earth, and every other factor such as water, soil, climate, light, and oxygen make up the global environment. Organisms and their environment constantly interact, and both are changed by this interaction. For example, when predators feed themselves, they limit the number of their prey in a specific area. Very often, a population’s carrying capacity is reached because of the lack of needed resources. Like all other living beings, humans have changed their environment significantly. Not just significantly, but they have done it worse than any other species in the history of mankind. The results of the destructive behavior of people are in many cases visible, like the urban air and water pollution, the deforestation of rain forests, the drying up of almost three quarters of the Aral Sea - once the world’s fourth largest freshwater lake, and sometimes the results are less visible but yet very dangerous for the environment, like the global warming and the ozone depletion. It has all led to irreversible changes in the climate patterns, which result with a change in the distribution of species of animals on the planet. While environmentalists are fighting to reduce the impact of human activity on the earth’s ecosystems, the scientists are working to understand the long-term consequences and the possible solutions to the problems that might occur in the following years.
Brief Related Facts for the Future
According to the Global Environment Outlook (GEO), which is a part of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), over 70 percent of the land surface on our planet might be affected by the impacts of roads, mining, cities and other infrastructure developments in the following 30 years if immediate action is not taken. By 2032, more than half of the world’s population could be living in so called water-stressed areas. Regarding the forests and the biodiversity, the rapid expansion of infrastructure would most likely lead to destruction, fragmentation and disturbance of the environment and wildlife. The marine and coastal areas would be loaded with nitrogen, an indicator of land-based pollution, and as far as the atmosphere is concerned, emissions of carbon dioxide from the fossil fuels burnt would reach 16 billion tones a year by 2032. These facts are a part of GEO’s so called Market First scenario. It is a perception of the future driven by market forces, and it shows us what would happen if we don’t start thinking about saving our environment. The opposite scenario presented to us by the Global Environment Outlook is the Sustainability First scenario. It shows what would be the case if we start worrying about our planet, and start changing values and lifestyles, firm policies, etc. For example, under this scenario most water-stressed regions would remain constant or even decrease because of the efficient management of water resources. Or regarding the forests and biodiversity, by 2032 the situation would start stabilizing. Finally, the atmosphere would be less polluted. There still would be emissions of carbon dioxide, but they would be decreased radically to 8 billion tones annually by 2032. I think that everybody that takes a look at these figures would definitely choose the Sustainability First scenario. This way, our future and the future of the global environment would be unquestionably safer. (Global Environment Outlook, 2003)
Are Major Changes Needed to Avert Global Environmental Crisis?
This is the question that many scientists and environmentalists have been asking themselves over time. The answer is rather difficult to be found because of the many different opinions. The arguments are that the natural resources of planet earth are limited, and we should by all means try hard to find the solutio...Read entire document
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