Environmental Issue
There
are numerous environmental issues facing our world today. Many of these
problems will have to be solved in the future in order for Earth to sustain the
ever increasing amount of life on the planet. Deforestation is one of the
problems that will have to be addressed.
Deforestation occurs when the
forests of Earth are destroyed or cleared, usually on a large scale. This
happens for numerous reasons, but one of the most prevalent is the growth of
the human population, causing a need for more land for development.
Deforestation would contribute to a need for Nash’s idea of Island Civilization
from his essay Island Civilization: A
Vision for Human Occupancy of Earth.
In his proposal, Nash spoke of Island
Civilization as being “and island on a wild Earth.” (379) The rate and
occurrence of deforestation would be lowered immensely if Nash’s plan was
enacted. Forests provide much of the diversity we experience on Earth today,
and there are many species that wouldn’t be able to adapt to another
environment. If there were small islands of humanity the surrounding world
would be allowed to grow and evolve, fostering large and diverse forests all
over the world. The human population would never expand, so the forest would
never have to be disturbed, cleared, or eliminated; preserving many species for
future generations.
Different places can be affected by
deforestation. In some places, there is minimal forest space, or minimal human
activity. Other issues would be more important in these areas. The points of
concern vary as one moves from place to place. Island Civilization was designed
to address the majority of the problems nature will be facing in the future as
we move into the Fourth Millennium.
Specifically, rain forests are
facing serious threats today. Rain forests all over the world are being cleared
at astounding rates. The Lacandona jungle in Mexico is one rain forest facing
massive destruction every day. According to an article published in the New
York Times written in 1990 by Larry Rother, a section of forest that would
amount to the size of Connecticut has been lost since 1970. If this article was
published over twenty years ago, one can only imagine the destruction the
Lacandona jungle has faced since then.
Deforestation is a problem that could
have an impact on many species of Earth, including humans. It does contribute
to a need for Island Civilization; however something should be done to ensure that
humans will even make it that far into the future.
I completely agree with Alexis that deforestation is a huge factor to the environmental issues that our planet is having to face. The forests that are being cut down were once the home of many living creatures. Humans are causing deforestation for our own benefit and are not realizing that we are hurting ourselves in the process. By eliminating a mass amount of trees and plants, we are cutting back the production of oxygen that we need to survive. We as humans are only thinking about the present and what we can do to benefit ourselves right at that moment instead of thinking about the future and how we are actually destroying our planet. I agree with Alexis that deforestation is an issue that we need to face because the Earth might not survive to the fourth millenium. As Alexis was saying, an island civilization could be an answer to the problem of deforestation. The forests would have an infinite amount of land to grow and prosper. An island civilization would be the perfect environment for plants and forests to come back and make up for the constant deforestation.
ReplyDeleteAlexis, your blog post was very well written and I think you chose a smart environmental issue that people need to know about. your blog post was very well written and you connected Nashs' Island CIvilization and the issue of deforestation very smoothly. It was very clear and easy to follow.
In my blog post I wrote about the environmental issue of water pollution. Like deforestation, the issue of water pollution affects many regions around the world and humans are one of the main reasons why the water is polluted. Deforestation would be eliminated by an island civilization. Water pollution would also no longer be an issue if we lived in an island civilization because we would be living along side of our environment. We would have to think about drinking the clean water that our earth produces and how toxins in the water would affect us. Like deforestation, water pollution is happening because we are only thinking about the present and not what the consequences are in the future. Overall, water pollution and deforestation are two very significant issues that have a negative affect on the environment and would be why there is a need for an island civilization.
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