Humans environmental choices could spell the end

docx

School

Brigham Young University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

220

Subject

English

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by DeanIron8170

Ordyna 1 Braydon Ordyna Professor Kimber Shepard Writing 150 30 March 2023 Humans’ environmental choices could spell the end Humans are just the worst. For the course of history, there has hardly been a period of time in which a specific species has been so dominant over the ecosystem and had such a dramatic influence on the environment. The human population within the last few thousand years has grown to a population that is massive. They have developed many different tools and technology to further their species. Humans, for a very long time, didn’t realize the impact that they had on their surroundings through their choices. At first it didn’t matter that much since the population hadn’t grown to such substantial amounts that we can find today. The size of the footprint that is left, all depends on the size of the foot. Humans are such interesting creatures that seem to want to find greater ease in their lives. They feel inclined to work towards having to do less work. Humans developed the wheel to make work easier. Humans developed from scavengers into cultivators. They developed irrigation to better their food yield. They then domesticated specific animal breeds to form a process of agriculture. Fertilizers were developed and progress was made. Little did humans know that every advancement that they were making was slowly and exponentially influencing the surrounding environment, but more importantly, the oceans and all the animals within it. The ocean is home to over 240,000 species of animals and plants that greatly influence our environment and help to maintain a stable ecosystem. You certainly can name a few of those; whales, dolphins, crabs, seaweed, etc. Maybe you can get a little more specific with it; humpback

Ordyna 2 whale, bottlenose dolphin, and king crabs. Allow me to tell you now of some species that were successful at one point but have now gone extinct or are on the verge of extinction. You have arctic right whales which are critically endangered, Yangtze River dolphins which haven’t been seen by scientists for over two decades, and so many other species are on the verge of just disappearing. But why should you care? Isn’t this just something that the brilliant scientist Charles Darwin thought up? Natural selection in its rightful place. Wrong. There are consequences to the actions taken by humans, and we are beginning to see it more clearly every single day. If reparations are not expressed by humans soon, they will soon find that the balance and livability of the planet that they call home will be nonexistent. So, what can be done? What can slow and hopefully reverse the damage caused? That is what I hope to express in the remainder of my work. I don’t seek to extend ultimatums, but I do want to make suggestions for how the planet can thrive without the stressors that humans have placed on it. It is possible and it can be done, but it will take some time and a lot of effort. Humans have had a huge negative impact on the planet that has affected the biodiversity of many species of plants and animals, especially within the oceans. It can be fixed with collective effort; otherwise, it may be better for the planet to not have humans at all. When we look at humans as a species, we find a lot of curious things. Science has shown that there are many different “kinds” of humans that have existed. Some of the more prominent ones are Homo erectus, Homo Habilis, Australopithecus afarensis, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens. Each one of these species has had a share of the impact on their surrounding environment. All of them started as foragers and hunters, even the ancestors to modern-day humans. Humans’ ancestors, however, started to make further improvements to their lifestyles. They switched from a Nomadic lifestyle to a more sedentary one. They planted crops and

Ordyna 3 developed tools. Very simple. Very happy. Very advantageous. [Sentence Fragments] These humans were taking the steps that would define the rest of their history. Further advancements would be made down the line to the point where agriculture was a normal commodity. The wheel came later and quickly became a staple tool and a defining moment in human development. Fast forward a few thousand years and we have motor vehicles, airplanes, boats and tractors; we see things like televisions, phones, medicines, and sliced bread. With each new advancement comes new negative impacts. How humans have used these tools isn’t intentionally bad—at least in most circumstances—for the environment. These tools are the reason for why the human population is what it is today. In an article written by Ilona Klein, a Professor at Brigham Young University, she says, “Human explosion has created enormous stress on our planet, for its resources are limited. Today, there are more and more people to feed; we create more waste and disposables; urbanization divorces us evermore from our food chain; there are the problems of deforestation, bee colony collapse, climate change… Mankind has permanently affected all aspects of life on earth, human and non-human.”(Klein 115) The effects of this “human explosion” are shown everywhere since humans now thrive everywhere. One place that we can view these effects is in the oceans. Earlier I had mentioned a few of the modern advancements that have been made. One such advancement was the boat. Boats are useful for many different things, fishing, transportation, and for trading goods. Boats developed from small ancient canoes all the way up to massive cargo and cruise liners. Modern boats serve great purposes including industrial fishing. The fishing industry brings in about one hundred and sixty billion pounds of marine catch per year. That is insane. The ocean is a vast resource that’s home to over 240,000 different

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Ordyna 4 species of plants and animals. This is a lot of food for humans and other animals; however, this resource isn’t infinite by any means. By removing certain key organisms from the oceans ecosystem, major stressors are induced amongst every other species. If humans hoard all of the main food item of a particular species, then that species will die off eventually. Some may make the argument that this is just natural selection running its course. Though that may be a little bit true, it doesn’t fit the entire picture. Charles Darwin defined the law of natural selection for a creatures’ ability to reproduce. Those organisms that have traits and characteristics that are valuable and increase the potential for survival in an environment are “naturally selected.” Natural selection does not refer to some apex predator that dominates all others, although that does have a little bit to do with it. As stated in the book Biology, “Darwin… reasoned that offspring with inherited characteristics which allow them to best compete for limited resources will survive and have more offspring than those individuals with variations that are less able to compete.” (Avissar et al. 18.1) The fitness of an organism is dependent on the genes that it has to survive in its environment. Even so, just because someone can do something, doesn’t mean that it should be done. The development of boats isn’t inherently bad but using them to pull mass amounts of vital food out of their natural place is wrong. This form of oceanic stress can be reduced though. One way that I have come up with to reduce this stress is by limiting access to seafood and other aquatic food to only those who have caught it themselves. I know this would destroy an entire industry, but there is more to what I am saying. I am suggesting that wild caught fish can be limited to the people that catch them, but there is such a thing as farming. This is referred to as “aquaculture.” The need for fish as a food item has only grown as explained in the article Sustainable fish farming-- “As the global wild fish

Ordyna 5 catch peaked in the 1990s, aquaculture—or fish farming—has grown rapidly to meet world fish demand, more than doubling production between 2000 and 2012.”(Waite et al.) Seafood would still be available, but how we recover that food in the first place would be different. The natural ecology of the ocean would return, and we would see healthier populations in the ocean. We would establish a much larger industry that can contribute sustainable seafood resources. That is all just the tip of the iceberg though. In humans’ discoveries, one struck a chord that rippled through an era of rapid development. The discovery of fossil fuels caused a surge in the productivity of humans. “Energy composition has inevitably changed since (the Industrial Revolution), which in turn has changed the ecological balance of the world.”(Pata UK et al.) Fossil fuels have been a dominant source of energy for humanity for some time now and the consequences are beginning to show around the globe, but especially in the oceans. The burning of fossil fuels causes the carbon bonds formed in the fuel to break and react with the oxygen in the air.[Participle] This process creates and releases carbon dioxide into the air. This higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the air causes an increased amount to be mixed in and absorbed by the ocean. This causes a disruption in the normal pH levels in the water. This shift in pH impacts what sort of organisms can live where. “At a pH level of 7.8, there’s an abrupt shift from colorful coral ecosystems to domination by seagrasses and algae. That’s the pH level that oceans are predicted to reach by 2100.”(Ogden 325) Again we see that humans are influencing the natural order of the diversity in the ocean. Humans had good intentions, but poor outcomes. Carbon dioxide also contributes to the warming of the planet. This gas has a special property that allows it to reflect heat back to the Earth. As the concentration of this gas increases, the warmer the planet will get; the warmer the ocean will get.[Semicolon] Imagine sitting in your

Ordyna 6 house at your perfect temperature, then suddenly it gets just five degrees hotter. Five degrees may not seem like a lot, but it really does make a difference in your house. We are seeing this temperature difference and higher in the ocean. Josie Garthwaite of Stanford University stated in her article, “The results suggest that ocean biodiversity increases exponentially with sea surface temperature up to about 20-25 C (68-77 F). Beyond that threshold, biodiversity drops off due to the limits of aerobic metabolism: As temperatures rise, water’s oxygen content falls, while animals’ need for oxygen grows.” The increasing temperature in addition to the acidification of the ocean due to humanities use of fossil fuels has proven cataclysmic to the natural ecosystems found in the ocean. What can be done? Well, fossil fuels are a limited resource so we won’t be able to use them forever, but that’s just another reason for why investments into other sources of energy should be made. Solar power, wind power, and waterpower have all proven useful. The transition to this type of energy in full would require tons of effort, but the lasting effects would be worth the work. In an article describing why renewable energy is so important it says, “In many parts of the world, renewables represent the lowest-cost source of new power generation technology, and costs continue to decline.”( Secretariat) Not only is renewable energy a good thing for the environment, but it is also on its way to becoming a more economical alternative. Changes in the global temperature aren’t anything new. Modern day techniques in science have discovered many interesting patterns about the temperature of the globe and the impacts it has had on the environment. I’m sure that you have heard of periods referred to as “ice ages.” These periods are lengths of time when the overall temperature of the planet is far below normal; when most the world is covered in ice. These times of cold don’t end suddenly but rather take a long time for the world to warm up again. In our present time, we are seeing some of these

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Ordyna 7 warming temperatures. This is natural as we have seen in the past, however, the rate at which the temperature is changing, is mind boggling. Tropical species of fish are being impacted because the temperatures of the water are already higher in these areas. “A higher exposure of marine life to novel oceanic warming by 2100 C.E. in Earth's most specious oceanic regions threatens wide-scale biodiversity loss, not only because the sheer number of species is greater in these areas, but also because ecological communities in these regions are least able to respond to large relative shifts in rates of warming. This is because species in tropical regions—where 93% of hotspots of marine species richness are found, based on area—have small geographic ranges, high ecological specialization, limited dispersal capacity, and narrow thermal safety margins.” (Brown et al.) These species can’t move from where they are or else they’ll get eaten, they’ll starve, or they will just reach the maximum threshold for those new environments to support. These species are in a box that is slowly shrinking around them, suffocating them.[Trope] Their only option is to stay put and eventually die off. Temperature plays a vital role in the wellbeing of the ocean. There are many factors that can influence the ocean, but temperature is a big one. One scholarly article said, “Temperature is recognized to have the largest effect on biological systems as a factor in climate change in the vast majority of scenarios. The amount of warming that marine animals can survive in experiments varies across the globe. In general, species from environments with little temperature variation (the tropics and the polar regions) appear to have little capacity and are stenothermal, whereas those from more variable environments appear more resilient.” (Peck 1) The loss of life will begin in the tropics and will eventually make its way to some of the colder regions. We are seeing this happen today. Fish in the tropics are slowly disappearing and the

Ordyna 8 arctics are starting to see warming as well. Things must change if we want to reverse this global crisis. We still don’t know everything though. The issue at hand could be a lot less worrisome than science is making it out to be or it could be a lot worse! In an article published by Eugenio Rastelli and his science partners he says, “Biodiversity loss and climate change simultaneously threaten marine ecosystems, yet their interactions remain largely unknown. Ocean acidification severely affects a wide variety of marine organisms and recent studies have predicted major impacts at the pH conditions expected for 2100.” (Rastelli 1) Research is being done to get a clearer picture of the damage so that we can understand more fully what the future may hold. The amount of effort being put forth to try and reverse this devastating future event is miniscule relative to what it should be. The ocean is in trouble and efforts are being made, but not nearly to the scale that it should be. When the topic of humans comes up, we can’t help but question what it even means to be a human in the first place. Does being human include complete annihilation of your surroundings? Some may say that to be human you must love and be loved. To be a human you must innovate and learn. To be a human you must thrive and adapt to your surroundings. You must make great accomplishments. Humans are complex organisms that perform and behave in a range of different ways. They seek opportunities to improve their lives and make advancements through their own intuition. They started as simple foragers living like simple animals. They developed tools and other forms of industry until they became what they are today. Through all this advancement, humans have impacted the environment in massive ways. Why can’t humans take a step back from all the advancements they are making to better themselves and start developing techniques and technology that betters their surroundings? Many of humankind’s

Ordyna 9 innovation has come from being inspired by what nature has developed. When humans constantly destroy their surroundings, they are inadvertently destroying that inspiration for future innovation. They are destroying the possibility of a greater future. Humans use of resources has been inefficient for quite a long time, and it needs to change soon. The use of fossil fuels is acidifying the oceans, a major source of life; a place where life began to be. We can see patterns of periods of time when water temperatures have increased and decreased, but we have never seen such a dramatic increase as we are seeing today. The patterns of temperature change and the rate for that change has been steady enough to allow organisms to adapt. Humans have caused a vector towards eradication. Humans hold in their hands the future. The balance of life lies in the choices made now. There will come a point in time when there is no going back to how life once was. Nature will continue its course. Humans have a future no doubt, but when and if that future ends is entirely up to them. How much do they want it? Do they care? Should they continue down this path of improvidence, nature may make the decision itself. The Earth may soon find that it is better without humans… and the humans may have to go.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Ordyna 10 Works Cited Avissar, Yael, et al. Biology. OpenStax, 2016, https://openstax.org/books/biology/pages/1- introduction. Brown, S. C., et al. "Faster Ocean Warming Threatens Richest Areas of Marine Biodiversity." Global change biology , vol. 28, no. 19, 2022, pp. 5849- NaN, https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/edsbyu.cmedm.35795987. Klein, Ilona. "The Humanities: Our Human Journey.", -01-01, 2018, https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/sa.facpub.4794. Ogden, Lesley E. "Marine Life on Acid : Predicting Future Biodiversity in our Changing Oceans." BioScience , vol. 63, no. 5, 2013, pp. 322-328. Pata, U. K., S. Erdogan, and O. Ozkan. "Is Reducing Fossil Fuel Intensity Important for Environmental Management and Ensuring Ecological Efficiency in China?" Journal of environmental management , vol. 329, 2023, pp. 117080- NaN, https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/edsbyu.cmedm.36566725. Peck, L. S. "Responding to Warming in Polar Oceans: A Commentary on Molina Et Al. (2022)." Global change biology , vol. 29, no. 1, 2023, pp. 5- NaN, https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/edsbyu.cmedm.36196663. Rastelli, E., et al. "A High Biodiversity Mitigates the Impact of Ocean Acidification on Hard- Bottom Ecosystems." Scientific reports , vol. 10, no. 1, 2020, pp. 2948- NaN, https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/edsbyu.cmedm.32076065. Secretariat, REN21. Why is Renewable Energy Important? , 2019, https://www.ren21.net/why-is- renewable-energy-important/.

Ordyna 11 Garthwaite, Josie. University, Stanford. Biodiversity Loss in Warming Oceans. , 2021, https://news.stanford.edu/2021/05/07/biodiversity-loss-warming-oceans/. Waite, Richard, and Michael P. (WorldFish). "Sustainable Fish Farming: 5 Strategies to Get Aquaculture Growth Right.", 2014, https://www.wri.org/insights/sustainable-fish-farming-5- strategies-get-aquaculture-growth-right.