Speech On Biophilia

Every item consumed is derived from some sort of natural resource, whether it’s mined, grown or hunted. As the major consumers continue to live a “comfortable” lifestyle, the world’s ecosystem are beginning to be degraded. This is evident in the depletion of forests around the world. Every year, the loss of forests around the world equates to the size of Panama. (Douglas) Without forests, life on earth is simply impossible, we won’t have any

The boundaries between maintenance and the expansion of humanity should be known clearly by everyone, because nature is so unpredictable yet fragile that we should not be continuing to develop and expand blindly. One individual who shares such sentiment is Michael Pollan, in his book “The Idea of a Garden” he talked about a massive tornado which devastated a familiar forest of pines in New England. In the aftermath of this natural disaster, there was a debate about how they were going to clean up such a mess. Two solutions were provided, the first was to let nature as it is and not bother to replace anything that was lost. The second solution was make a huge overhaul, and cut down everything in the forest in order to plant new trees, as a result their descendants can enjoy the radiance that once was. The common theme was that

In the book The Future of Life, author Edward O. Wilson highlights the ineffective nature of the debates between the two side of environmentalism. He achieves this by pointing out parallels and similarities of the language between two sides in the satirical piece.

A man named Robert Laughlin once said, "The Earth is very old and has suffered grievously: volcanic explosions, floods, meteor impacts, mountain formation and yet all manner of other abuses greater than anything people could inflict. Yet, the Earth is still here. It's a survivor." Laughlin clearly believes in this quote that the Earth can take care of itself. The Earth has been through worse disasters than just pollution, and extinction of species and plants. Roderick Nash, an environmentalist and activist, says otherwise.

I care deeply about the planet Earth, the home humans originate from, so it pains me to watch “modern” society devastate natural life across the board. I feel personally connected to the issue of how we use our land. Having lived in the Lee County area since birth, I have noticed just in our own little part of the world how much “development” can change things. There used to be so much more plant life: trees, grasses, flowers and a myriad of other greenery. What was once considered “empty” lots, by some, have been adapted to suit human desires be it additional roads, restaurants, shopping malls, and a continuing spread of “chain” corporate industries. Beyond human structures, huge amounts of land also are cultivated for industrial farming

Wilson uses his writing skills to rather accurately portray both environmentalists and anti-environmentalists. Clearly, political arguments are never going to come to an end. Each person in the world will continue to have their own opinions. Which is exactly what Wilson was trying to prove here. Nobody is going to change their opinion for the sake to annihilate arguments, humans are simply too prideful. Arguments between opposing parties are useless and a waste of time. The only thing to come of these quarrels is bitterness and anger. It’s unproductive to waste one’s time on something that cannot and will not change. As frustrating as that is, that is the reality, and it is about time that we as people to follow Wilson’s beliefs and agree to

Coming from an uncultivated society, such as the one that brought farming and ranching to the settlement of North America, humans have retained some sensitivity to environmental issues as they derived their livelihood directly from the land. But with the advance to an urban or metropolitan society, there has been a major disconnect between humanity and nature. Today’s urban society is provided with mowed parks, paved playgrounds, plush automobiles to move the public around on asphalt roads, housing with automatically regulated heat and cooling, and supermarkets with shopping carts and baskets, in which people can gather their food supplies from orderly shelves and freezers. Aldo Leopold’s “land ethic” term suggests that humans stop treating the land as a mere object or a resource, like how the world does today. For Leopold, land is not merely soil, like the public would think of today; land is a fountain of energy, flowing through a circuit of soils, plants, and animals.

The Earth itself is being neglected and abused by thoughtlessness and waste products of American Feed corporations. There is so much pollution that the atmosphere and Earth are being destroyed. This is a world hit by environmental disasters, the severity of which can only be read between the lines. There can only be synthesized clouds now that the atmosphere will not allow actual clouds to form and is not able to support natural weather patterns. This is a world where living creatures can no longer reproduce without assistance. And this is a world where startling

Since man has evolved from apes, humans have only seen the land for its material value. More specifically, people who are driven by greed and self interest, have consistently taken advantage of the Earth’s limited resources.This relationship is illustrated in familiar pieces of text such as, “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose and “On Indian Removal”by former President Andrew Jackson. This topic has extended to more recent articles like, “Is Gentrification a Human Rights Violation?”. Despite overwhelming scientific studies demonstrating the toll that man has reaped on the environment, humans continue to take advantage of and exploit the land for their own economic benefits which has developed a parasitic relationship.

     This should act as a rude awakening to us. The planet could be considered a large Easter Island. We have a potentially non-sustainable eco system. If we are not careful, we could go the same way as the inhabitants of the island. It is possible for us to use up everything so there is nothing left for our children to use. If we look at our progression over the last 300 years that we have inhabited North America, we will notice that we have removed many natural resources. Trees in the Northwest, plains in the Midwest, the marshes of Florida, all of which have been devastated by humans in the past centuries. Our great grandparents did not notice the destruction, nor will I ever be

This is the primary focus behind environmentalist movements of our time. Environmentalists try to take action in an effort to “save our planet.” But what if our planet doesn’t actually have to be saved? What if you were told that the Earth is actually going to flourish once we are gone? And all the efforts taken now to “preserve the Earth” were actually selfish deeds to ensure the survival of humans on this planet? Several post-apocalyptic works such as the novel The World Without Us by Alan Weisman and the CBS Television Series The 100 directed by Jason Rosenburg, describe the Earth as a beautiful prosperous sight after we are gone. In the book The World Without Us, Alan Weisman describes this flourishing natural world after the existence of human kind. He also describes the beautiful dominance that nature has always had on our world. The 100 provides amazing images of the planet 100 years after a nuclear disaster. With the acceptance of these thriving worlds described, our efforts should be focus on the survival of our own species so that we can continue to flourish. In order to ensure the continued survival of our species we must change our ways completely, preserve our resources and lessen the use of pollutants so that nature doesn’t prematurely over power our society.

What is happening to the Earth? Our home is becoming a barren mass of sorrow. Most people in America are blind to what is going on. Could it be that every individual is just turning a cheek the other way. America is faced with an extremely serious problem, and if it is not acted upon there will be nothing left on Earth. Hopefully it will still be able to thrive after the numerous accounts of human destruction. Deforestation in America is a huge problem with devastating affects to humans. The root causes of this travesty are mainly the ongoing need to increase America's economic growth, and the idea of frontierism. These two aspects of deforestation tie together well. Together they help define the thought process that Americans have

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss depicts a world ravaged by deforestation and suffering from other environmental crises. In the town of Thneedville, an aspiring capitalist begins to sell his new product and as a result of booming business, the cornerstone of his business pays the price. The trees, the only natural resource used in production, are harvested to the point of extinction. The lack of trees leads to soil erosion, air pollution, and species extinction. While this is a children’s tale and Dr. Seuss’s illustration may be quite extreme, it is a reality for future generations of our planet. Human involvement in ecosystems by clearing land for urban development, logging, and agriculture have all exacerbated the rate of decline in the region’s natural systems. The deforestation of rainforests for the cultivation of palm oil is causing the possible extinction of orangutans and exacerbating air quality issues in Indonesia.

The connection between humans and nature is very weak. Due to future advancement we are basically losing our grip on reality, which brings up the point of destruction to nature that we are not aware of. At one point in time nature was the most beautiful thing you could ever witness. Now people exploit it for money. They are selling land, resources, even water for a profit. They don’t think twice or blink an eye at the damage they cause. The disconnect is so huge the debate of protecting the earth is treated as a forbidden topic. “Second, environmental injustices critics challenge the mainstream environmental idea of what environmental problems are in the first place. They say its focused on the beautiful outdoors, it has anti-urban bias, it isn’t engaged enough with artificial human environments like neighborhoods and workplaces” (Purdy 4) That just baffles me how you can turn the place we call home and the wellness of it to a political debate when all we should want to do is preserve it.

Biophilia is the innate need that humans have to continuously connect with nature and the environment. This concept became popular in 1984 by an American biologist Edward O Wilson in his book “Biophilia” and elaborated in greater detail by the “Godfather of Biophilia” Yale University’s Dr. Stephen Kellert who came up with 9 values that reflects this human reliance on the natural world.