The Importance Of Environment On The Environment

Kan Tingting, a 35 year old cafe manager says, “‘What bothers me the most is that my child may have a very negative view of nature’”(Wong 29). The children of Beijing see smog constantly and suffer daily. Although the ordinary person does not do much to restrain smog, it has killed thousands of people throughout history.

The news story focuses on data showing that fourth and fifth graders in El Paso, Texas who are heavily exposed to contaminated air in their home environment display lower grade point averages. The study done by Clark-Reyna and her associates focuses on the students’ exposure to air toxics at home and the impact it has on his or her school performance. There was bolstering evidence that air pollution impairs have the capability to impair success in school.

The different kinds of air pollution and time of exposure can lead to diverse effects which can adversely affect the respiratory system and organs. The effects range from mild upper respiratory irritation to asthma, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer. In children, air pollution can lead to acute and chronic respiratory infections. In a study from the Southern California Children’s Health, which observed the long-term effects of air pollution on children. Researchers found that those who grew up in heavily polluted areas face the increased risk of having underdeveloped lungs. Which as time passes may never recover to their full capacity (72). Additionally, short and long term exposure to air pollution has been “linked to premature mortality and reduced life expectancy.” (Kampa, Marilena, and Castanas

Pollution has become a prevalent issue worldwide and has begun to affect the air used to breathe, the soil used to grow food, and the water used to drink. All of these effects result in commonly occurring destruction of health and wildlife that one may have seen on the news or heard from peers. In order to live, one needs food, water, clothing, and shelter. If the water and food that society consumes gets contaminated, a major component of life has been eradicated, which can only have negative consequences. If more people are educated as to what effects the environment, the world has a chance to counteract the effects of pollution. The main causes of pollution are the burning of fossil fuels such as with car exhausts, littering as a result of societal norms and laziness, and factory waste as a result of lax waste regulation, and can result in mass destruction of the environment and catastrophic effects on the everyday lives of contemporary people.

We will then add various other living and non-living components and ask the students each time. Afterwards, we will explain the concept of an ecosystem in further detail. The next activity comprises the bulk of the lesson and asks students (split into four groups) to draw the ideal town on a large piece of paper with a habitat on it (containing a mountainous area, a small stream, and a larger river). The town’s natural resources must provide a source of food, shelter, and energy. Once the students have finished their town creations, we will hang them and have students explain them. Next, we will hand out greenhouse gas explanation sheets and go over some of the basic types of emissions, and discuss which ones might be produced by each town. This segment of our lesson is particularly important because it gets students thinking about how the actions of their local communities can have a big impact on the environment. In our last lesson component we will show students pictures of different ecosystems and have them decide whether these sources contribute to pollution, and if so, how they can be reduced. This will serve as both a summative assessment of students’ knowledge and a call to action to help protect the local environment.

Pollution is a major problem that has and is causing devastating impacts to people and the environment. It comes in many different forms such as water, air, noise, and light, all of which affect our society in different ways. The focus of my essay is specifically about air pollution and the effect it has on our society, as well as ways of preventing it from hurting future generations. Air pollution is most commonly caused by the burning of fossil fuels, agricultural activities, and exhaust from factories and industries. Many governments have already implemented air quality standards to protect against health and welfare effects. Unfortunately, these standards aren’t enforced properly and air pollution is still a major problem in today’s society.

Society must consider ancient history and texts to navigate the treatment of nature. As countries around the world continue to develop, it becomes important to reflect on history to see how the environment was preserved. In the bible it is evident that God intended humans to preserve His land. After the creation of the world, “the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:5). In studying this passage it becomes clear that God placed people on Earth to enjoy it, but at the same time “keep it, revealing that the environment has been a priority since the beginning of Earth. Later in the Bible, Moses shares God’s command that we “shall not pollute the land in which you live” (Numbers 35:33 ESV). This verse encouraged many people in ancient times to preserve the environment as it was created. As a developing society, we can reflect on communities as old as 1450 BC to see how the environment was treated and preserved for the future. Society must reflect on ancient history and texts to guide the decision of how to preserve the environment for future generations.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, sustainability is defined as “of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). The Federal Government regulates the specific use and protection of natural resources through the Environmental Protection Agency (henceforth, EPA). In 1962 Rachel Carson published a book called “Silent Spring” which popularized the idea of environmental protection (EPA History, 2017). The momentum for protection of the environment grew until, in 1970, President Richard Nixon established the EPA (EPA History, 2017). The EPA bases their sustainability efforts on the idea that, “everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.” (Learn About Sustainability, 2016). The stated mission of the EPA is to ensure Americans are protected from health and environmental risks, national policies are based on available scientific data, environmental laws are enforced fairly, environmental protection is a consideration during the creation of United States foreign and domestic policies, environmental information provided to Americans is accurate, and ensuring that the United States is a world leader in environmental

Some humans spend their time obsessing over super-heroes while others are obsessing over saving the planet but is there a possible super- power capable of doing so? As emphasized in “Man and Nature” written in 2002 by George Perkins Marsh, a key figure to the commencement of environmentalism (“George Perkins Marsh”, 2015), mankind has done its fair share of destroying nature’s functionality with expectations of a futile environment in return. Although there are constant changes occurring to the environment and the policies having to do with the environment, this article addresses issues that have continued to depress throughout the years. Some of the main aspects and issues addressed in Marsh’s article include the comparison of human vs. animal impact on the environment, changes that have begun to take place although they need a further power to fully improve, protection that needs to be put into place on pastures and land that have yet to be used, the search of a solution to balance the rainfall in each different kind of climate and biome and the need to be able to differentiate changes occurring because of human actions or because of geological actions.

Does human interference benefit or hurt the environment and does human advancement necessarily mean environmental degradation? Earth contains multiple ecosystems, from the dense forests to the vast grasslands, the blazing hot deserts to the frigid tundra, and from the freshwaters to the seawaters. Webster’s Dictionary defines ecosystem as “the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit”. Each individual ecosystem has its own inhabitants along with its own special environment. The inhabitants, whether it be animals or plants, have adapted to specifically thrive in their respectful conditions. Humans, on the other hand, can bounce around to and from different ecosystems, even if it is only for a short time. Technological advances have empowered us to survive and thrive even in the harshest conditions. Whenever we move from place to place, we seem to leave our mark. With technology continuing to push the envelope and human population rising, our reach continues to grow along with our carbon footprint. In return, our expansion may be causing nature to retreat. So how can we combat this decline? In today’s modern age, human interference may be necessary to preserve what’s left of nature because of what happens to the environment in consequence to human advancements.

The world reached an invisible but momentous milestone in 2008 when the human population for the first time in the history reached more than 3.3 billion people, lived in urban areas. (UNPF, 2007) The more people you have in the world the more crowded it tends to be and at that point where would one fit in. While the population is increasing where do you expect to lay your head, in one of the high rises they are building in downtown, LA or one of the hundreds of home tracks in the rural section of Southern California. The car Industry is in hot demand and with the added cars on the road along with the older cars that have shared in the pollution, we are seeing bad pollution in the air. Then this leads to unaffordable housing for those who are not financially stable. And, let’s not forget the poverty amongst those who do not have Jobs or can afford to keep food on the table. If we do not address these problems we will eventually start to result in killing our own selves without even knowing it. The more we keep building the more we will find each other dealing with pollution, unaffordable housing and poverty.

Several psychologists have debated the issue of nature versus nurture for many decades. Only to arrive at one reasonable conclusion: Both genes and the environment are important in shaping a person’s behavior. However, individuals are not spared from these and are susceptible to environmental influences. Depending on how their family is structured to how their culture is structured. Nearly every phase of an individual's life teaches a lesson on how to adapt to the world. Parents purposely choose to teach certain ethical views or ideas to their families. These ideas are a crucial part of their heritage or history. Environment can affect morals, etiquette, and quality of life.

As a Sustainability major the topic of environmental attitudes comes up quite a bit. What stops people from being more environmentally friendly? Why don’t more people car about sustainability and the health of our earth? After seeing the spectrum of environmental attitudes in class I started to visualize it as a bell curve. The opposing extremes of the curve would be the exploitative industries on one side and Eco-radicals on the other. In the middle of the curve is where most of the human population lies. This made me think about where I where I fell on the spectrum and where I want to eventually be on the spectrum.

The burning of fossil fuels is one of the multiples causes of air pollution. The means for the burning of fossil fuels may be to allow types of transportation. Transportation is very important in today’s society. Everyday students may drive their vehicle to school. Just this drive to school causes so much air pollution because of the exhaust. The amount of fumes exhausted at the end of people’s lifetimes may not be worth following the ideological path to adulthood. Now one car may not cause as much as an entire line of traffic, but one car still may make a difference. It is vital to notify the populous of the earth for future generations to come about how important the air around us is. Going to school is not just the only day to day activity happening throughout an average person’s life, but commuting to work. Driving to a local business in town may be an option, or leaving twenty minutes ahead of time to beat traffic may be an alternative too. Still, with the amount of pollutants

The word ‘environment’ has been described as the total sum of elements surrounding a living organism, including the natural forces and other living organisms that provide the catalysts for development, growth, and damage (Dietz et al. 1998). Because everyone’s contribution is needed to create and ensure a sustainable planet for future generations, environmental management has been a long-term focus for all those concerned. As observed through numerous theoretical frameworks developed to explain the gap between the awareness and knowledge of the environment and the actual displays of pro-environmental behaviour, there is a clear difference between recognizing the issue and taking definitive action toward it (Chen et al. 2011). However, the simple awareness of education, in and of itself, is important and has the potential to be a powerful tool in the environmental sphere (Liu and Raven 2010).