The evolving challenges of sustainability between ancient and modern civilisations.
A healthy natural environment is indispensible to the wellbeing of humans everywhere in the world. From the provisioning adequate food, clean water and air, to regulating diseases, ecosystem services and human health depend on conditions of the natural environment.
Links between the natural environment and human livelihood are complex. Human resource and land use are structured by limits of the environment. Environmental determinism has in the past been a prominent theory when exploring the relationship between humans and the environment. The concept is that the evolution and development of humans, culture and society is a direct response to the
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An example of where this has occurred is in the civilisation that once inhabited Easter Island. The history of the island has become a symbol of human induced ecological and subsequent cultural collapse. It was home to the ancient civilisation, of Polynesian decent and is most well known for the hundreds of Moai stone statues that were erected across the island by the ancient civilisation (Diamond, 2006) . It is known that the society on Easter Island was a complex society but at the time that Europeans discovered the island, the population had crashed and was almost decimated (de la Croix and Dottori, 2008). Ecological collapse is often regarded as the predominant factor, which caused the societal collapse.
The limits set by Easter Islands geography presented challenges to early human settlers. The climate is cool, windy and dry compared to other pacific islands. The cooler waters resulted in a reduced availability of fish and shellfish, one of the main dietary staples for other civilisations in the pacific at that time(Diamond, 2006). The accessibility to fresh water was also difficult. The porous volcanic soils caused the water to percolate quickly. There is only one fresh water stream on the island and few fresh water springs, offshore and ponds in volcanic craters (Diamond, 2006). Its geographical isolation in the south pacific, 3200km from the coast of Chile and 2000km from the nearest of the other south pacific island, the Pitcairn
Before diving into the essay, much content on environmental vocabulary, language, and theory is needed to understand the scope and magnitude of the thesis. Firstly, the phrase ‘natural world’, for all contexts and purposes of this essay, the phrase will mean the world outside of human’s domain. Secondly, the difference between the tiers of nature, environmental, and ecological realms. Nature will mean once
“Many current discussions about sustainability focus on the ways in which human activity...can be maintained in the future without exhausting all of our current resources… there has been a close correlation between the growth of human society and environmental degradation - as communities grow, the environment often declines” (603).
Environmental health is concerned with the natural and built environment. The built environment includes buildings, parks, water and energy infrastructure, and transportation systems. The natural environment includes vegetation, air, water, climate, radiation, and heat.
The environment can have a positive impact on a person’s health. However, in order for that to happen we have to put ourselves in a place where we can get those positive responses. Sternberg explains that everyone needs to heal. Our senses allow us to heal, so nature plays a very important role in our life. We have to go somewhere that feels welcoming to us, somewhere where we can find peace, such as walking through gardens.
As a transitive verb of sustainability, the word ‘sustain’ was first known be used in the 13th century and origin from Latin means to hold up (sus- means up, tenēre means to hold) (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, n. d.). Sustainability has first been quoted in 1953, and is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary (2017) as ‘the quality of being sustainable at a certain rate or level.’ Fleiszer et al. (2015) argue that sustainability has been identified using varied terminology. For example, continuous, ongoing, steady, constant, prolonged, persistent are terms associated with sustainability (Oxford English dictionary, 2017). The distinction between continuous and sustainability is that continuous is focused on the action carry out the innovation activity; whereas sustainability is noted to focus on maintain the causal route of the improvement of patient outcomes gained from the innovation.
As I mentioned before our environment has a great effect on our nature. For example a theory claimed that, the first humans
The environment impacts human beings negatively and positively in many aspects. The environment provides humans many things from things like water, air, nutrients, water cycling for agriculture and disease prevention or recreation. These things are give to humans for free, so why do not we value the environment. The environment provides us with many things which we need to survive on day to day basis, which is one of the reason why I value another environment. The second reason being the instrumental value, meaning that being in and seeing nature bring people satisfaction. To me being nature helps me keep my mental wellness positive if there are any issues or negative problems, which I am unable to resolve. Being in nature gives me that satisfaction and promotes me to solve them. Second being the intrinsic value that nature can stand alone. I believe this because humans came to earth, environment existed before. The environment could sustain and preserve it self before, it is due to human’s activities that is destroying the environment.
Environmental conditions influence cultural practices and social structures because the environment is considered a static feature and culture determines observable features in communities according to cultural determinism (Moran 2008, 31). Environmental deterministic theories were based on homeostasis according to the theorist's ethnocentricity in Greco-Roman ages (28). In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, climate was associated with physical and moral character (30). The nineteenth and twentieth centuries narrowed the explanations of environmental determinism to specific factors in the environment. Friedrich Ratzel stated humans and animals react to the environment alike and Ellsworth Huntington felt humans always take the path of the least effort (30). Moran wrote these theorists made generalizations and attempted to prove the generalizations with "unclear methodology and an inadequate sample" (31).
Nature as w e know it means different things to different people. To an economist, natural is often seen as a resource to be transformed and put in readiness for human use. An alternative view is that humans are stewards who should care for natural things as well as making use of nature’s bounty. Another view is that nature of animism, which sees nature as a living thing, something to be respected and not controlled. Some native American’s view the earth as a sacred place could be called animist. Another alternative view is that the entire planet earth is a self correcting system based on a symbiotic relationship between the earth and the living beings(Peacock,
Nearly everything that a human does is in response to the environment. Our lives are defined by what is around us and what we find in front of us, whether this means accepting, dealing with or changing it. This has been the pattern since primates first stood up and became Homo erectus, and has continued until we considered ourselves doubly wise. The shape of the land affected where humans moved. Weather was something with which to contend. Fire affected humans until they conquered it – and herein lies the core of the relationship. The earth affects humans, and humans affect it back, viewing characteristics and patterns as problems and challenges, and finding a solution.
The decline of the environment due to natural and human exertion is known as the degradation of the environment. The natural weather occurrences such as heavy rain, flooding, storms, earthquakes, volcanoes etc. are not administered under human control. These meteorological phenomenon’s wreak devastation on the environment from time to time causing the land to become unsuitable to cultivate. On this subject matter, the human population does not contain the power to stop the wrath of Mother Nature. Rather, we are forced to sit back and watch. Nevertheless, humans engage in a crucial role towards the degradation of the environment in which we live in. Unavoidably, the degradation of the environment is a rising and utmost worldwide subject. I accept that the root cause to environmental degradation is the excessive use of resources on our land utilized by the processes under capitalism. As Jensen wrote in Endgame, “The global industrial economy is the engine for massive environmental degradation and massive human and (nonhuman) impoverishment.
Environmental issues have been a cause of a lot of debate in the recent past. Governments and nongovernmental organizations have been in constant consultations on how to help protect the environment. Apparently, as a result of man’s many actions, the natural environment is getting torn apart so quickly that the coming generations will not enjoy this kind of environment, unless a
Every living being are directly or indirectly depend on natural environment. Sustainability helps to balance financial, social, and environmental factors to facilitate responsible business decision making over the immediate and long term. . Sustainability refers to meeting the needs of present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Oxford University press 1987, p.43). Sustainability is also being protective and aware of use of natural resources and development that meets the need of present and everything that is need for our survival and well being depends, directly or indirectly on our natural environment. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Sustainability is
Fertile lands have been transformed into grazing fields, highways, houses and commercial centers. Diminishing vast agricultural areas that will naturally deplete the production of food. Researchers show that earth’s natural resources are limited, but today these resources are exploited to meet the nation’s needs. Darwin’s theory of natural selection is invoked to argue that humans are conditioned by nature to struggle for access to limited resources emphasizing on the fact that nature remains unpredictable. Although the quality of life has improved over the past decades, the negative effects on our planet are unquestionable.
Environmental health should be a great concern for each individual person as well as our nation and the whole world. Environmental health addresses all the physical, chemical, and biological factors affecting health and our environment.t which includes air, land and water. Environmental health extents to the chemical we use such as BPA and the effects it can and may have on our children, fuel in the economy and additional sources of fuel, building green, environmental disease and sources of energy in which all of these items can have an effect on the environment and our health.