The Importance Of Natural Capital On Human Capital

These dilemmas brought up in Part II make the Round River essays, inserted as the modern edition’s Part III, titled "A Taste for Country," particularly apt, because this is the section of the book that deals primarily with philosophies. It is here that Leopold states that "poor land may be rich country, and vice versa". It is here that Leopold introduces the concept, radical then but widely accepted now, that the planet itself is a living organism and, through the natural cycles of earth, wind, fire and water, continually replenishes its own means of remaining alive. The human role in this "Round River" ecosystem is prominent, of course, and for thousands of years indigenous people depended directly on the bounty of this natural system to supply their needs of food and fiber. Although modern civilization has been forced by its increasing population to create artificial cycles, replacing elk and deer and grouse with beef and hogs and poultry, and replacing the oaks and bluestem grasses which fed the wild meat with corn and alfalfa.

Farming has been a source of work ever since man has been introduced to the earth, but the past 100 years have been promising in continuing to provide for the needs of the growing population. The people have become more educated, and technology has become much more advanced. The two have come together to boon the land and animals so that they produce to their fullest potential. The people of the world have been influenced to the extent that they work smarter not harder to provide for the growing population. Farming, a crucial necessity to the survival of mankind, has evolved in the area of education of the people which has assisted in the advances of technology, land, and animal production which will lead to the provision of food for the growing

The transition from the traditional hunter gatherer societies, in to an agriculture based living system, has allowed humans to increase their population size, putting strains on the Earth’s environment. Agriculture has also brought along with it a decrease in women’s roles in the community, while also bringing about a class system where the wealthy rule, and were the weak and poor obey. As humans began to domesticate more plants and animals, they settled in permanent areas. The Change from hunter gatherer benefited few, but had dire consequences for the earth and groups with in it. One such consequence was the population increase, which has lead to major issues throughout history, and one that has ties to current global issues.

Throughout history people have changed their environment to meet their needs these changes have had both positive and negative effects on people, societies, and regions. These change to the environment are needed first for the aztecs because the aztec built their capital in a middle of a lake then they had to expand but they could not feed all the people so when they built chinampas it help the aztec give more food to their people. That did not feed all their people so The Aztecs also implemented terrace agriculture in hilly areas, or areas that could not be used for level ground farming. In the valleys irrigation farming was used. Dams diverted water from natural springs to the fields. This allowed for harvests on a regular basis. the ancient

“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).

When humans turned to agriculture, they had to depend on the weather for crop production and a good harvest, which did not always turn out to their favour. Neolithic farmers faced drought,

capital, the joining of the growth of human groups to the expansion of productive forces

Geography and the environment play a monumental role in the establishment and success of a nearly every civilization. For example, rivers bring water and allow for agricultural development, while mountains or deserts provide for protection and create a barrier. Many things, such as the aforementioned deserts and mountains, can offer both positive and negative influences on the society in question. The climate and amount of rainfall is directly related to the success or failure of crop growing, and thus related to the amount of time spent on simply surviving. Civilizations that are able to spend less time on subsistence farming are able to redirect that energy towards the establishment of arts, culture, religion, and science. Where a

To continue, agriculture and farming is essensial because we need food to survive and it helps with a regions economic growth. This human activity however, is creating

The life-sustaining bond of human beings with the land has a strong connection. Centuries have gone by… throughout the many years, humans have relied on the land to provide, evolve, help survive, and move forward with their lives. The land provides for humans in a non costly manner. The land provides humans free shelter. For example, Humans use the dirt we walk on to build shelter. The Earth provides humans natural resources, such as water from lakes, streams and rain. The land gives humans bountiful, healthy nourishing food. The Earth provides free healthcare for every living creature. The land has a bond with humans because the land provides natural resources, it provides shelter, and it evolves the human body.

Through the years, people have been influenced by their environment and have interacted with different socioeconomic sectors. Therefore, it is not a surprise that people study these sectors and how they affect our daily lives, for the better or the worse. One theory of the American socioeconomic interdependent sectors is social ecology. Social ecology is a system of 3 socioeconomic sectors: business, government, and civil society. Each sector gives social contributions but also has social limitations. If all three of the sectors live in harmony with each other, in a system of checks and balances, then there exists an excellent environment for human development and quality of life. However, if any of the sectors tips the balance too far over, problems arise and affect our daily lives. Keeping these sectors in check is our responsibility; therefore, we need to know what each sector offers and what can go wrong.

This can happen only when people become sensitive towards to the environment. Human Social activities play an important role in harming the environment. Activities like Industrialization, loss of ecological balance, Air pollution, water pollution, excessive use of natural resources, and extinction of wildlife etc. lead to various other environmental problems. It is important to understand that all these problems are interconnected and it further leads to a major problem. Furthermore, it is very important to follow a plan in the case of an environment as unplanned urbanization and agricultural plans lead to various other problems. Hence, human social activities need to be carried out in a plan and a organized way in order to have a sustainable

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,

Development processes is connected with environmental degradation and use of natural resources. Rudel et al. (2011) assumes the present of two distinct waves of development power which control environment. The first wave of political economy deals with the power of capitalism as the main agent for environmental degradation, while the second wave concern with the social power (community) to control the use of natural resources.

As the population grows, cities are constructed along rivers and other waterways, and the sources are modified to meet urban needs rather than ecological. More and more food needs to be grown to nourish people. Now, land is degrading and sea levels are rising, making growing impossible in many former farming areas. Because of this, "... 800 million people are chronically malnourished, and 2 billion lack food security" (Dahl, 603). Because agriculture for the masses depends heavily on irrigation, it puts additional strain on the globe's water tables (Dahl, 602). Not to mention that current water sources are being polluted by sewer discharge and industrial waste. Deforestation is another issue. Forests and other natural vegetation help protect against flooding and soil erosion. In the 1990s, 563,709 square miles of land were cleared of forests (Dahl, 602). Without these forests, global warming has been accelerated as more carbon is released into the atmosphere, rather than being consumed as fuel by plants and released as oxygen. For example, in India and Sri Lanka, a tsunami, unhindered by the mangroves that used to grow there, destroyed