Essay The Spread of People, Agriculture, and Disease

The first example of human manipulation of changes within the biosphere is through expansion. The rapid growth of the population has led to expansion in development; the need for more space is causing strain on other living organisms such as plants and animals. Human procurement of forest, grass, and wetlands has weighed on the animal population heavily. As a result of this domination, animals have lost areas they use to thrive in, causing migration and in more serious cases extinction. Animals are a prevalent source of protein for humans, and when a species is threatened by extinction, it not only disrupts the balance of the ecosystem, but it also disrupts the food chain. The more resources that are required to sustain human life, the bigger the need to migrate to surrounding areas in a short period of time (Haines).

McNeill argues that disease and human populations had reached equilibrium before the Neolithic Revolution. The evolution of agriculture and human expansion brought many changes, an environment that encouraged the more rapid evolution of disease organisms for both humans and their animal servants. There is a relationship between host and disease agents; evolution of culture produces disruption. Humans begin to shape the environment. Diseases become much easier to spread.

As we continue to grow and have a greater impact on the Earth’s systems, it is essential that we address our role and relationship with nature. The separation of humans from nature encourages environmentally irresponsible behavior because it allows us to take on the conqueror role, giving us the ability to manipulate the landscape with the duty to provide and proliferate. Throughout human history, we have made advancements in technology and agriculture, resulting in the imbalance and overuse of land. The ability of humans to manipulate the landscape and recognize the consequences of doing so makes us an invasive species. Our dependency on Earth’s resources and services put us at competition with the environment. In order to understand our role

As we lose more and more habitats, it could create a domino effect causing many other complications in the world's ecosystem.

re devastation and harm that may not be able to be undone if our society fails to take the necessary action to sustain life of all ecosystems.

Have you ever wondered if we need nature more than nature needs us? Anthony Brandt, the author of “When Nature Comes too Close,” writes that nature causes many problems. He shows this by stating only negative things about nature and not the positive things in nature. Humans and nature affect each other equally because humans spray harmful pesticides to protect their food supply, animals spread diseases that can be harmful to humans and humans and nature are able to exist together while benefiting each other. Humans spray harmful pesticides, which is both necessary and unnecessary.

Soil is the most important element for agricultural ecosystems. Healthy soil comes with beneficial microbes and insects. Unfortunately, these are often killed off by the abuse of pesticides. Healthy soil can produce strong crops that are less vulnerable to pests. Damaged soils often need strong fertilizers application to produce a high amount of crops. Soil quality can be amplified in many ways, including leaving crop remainders in the field after harvest and adding composted plant material (Union of Concerned Scientists) Compared to industrial agriculture, companies continue to damage and consume natural soil. While intensive plowing and monocrop (does not rotate) agriculture systems have caused nutrient exhaustion and soil erosion. Excessive application of fertilizers and pesticides has contaminated soils and polluted waterways (Grace Communications Foundations)

This is evident with suburban sprawl. When you look out the window of an airplane, you’re likely to see vast tracks of low-density communities. The landscape is dominated and characterized by cookie cutter single-family homes and cul-de-sacs. What a lot of people fail to understand is that this method is destroying large swaths of ecosystems and there is an omnipresent threat to biodiversity. Each year, millions upon millions of acres of various forms of open space, from farmlands to forests to marshes, are destroyed at an accelerating pace. It is a relentless and chronic threat to Earth’s biodiversity. This is only one aspect of a plethora of ways that overconsumption effects the planet. We have been persistent in our unsustainable overconsumption for generations and this ideology is spreading to the developing world as the idealistic dogma of the American dream is perpetuated via the ‘leap-frog’ approach to

It is true that we are in a battle of feeding our people while trying to care for our soil and environment. While trying to produce enough food to feed the masses, we are still and will always be damaging the environment in some way. The use of chemicals and pesticides on crops is wonderful for yield, but is toxic and destructive to the soil. It is also a fact that not all farmers can afford to do better practices

"The earth's vegetation is part of a web of life in which there are intimate and essential relations between plants and animals. Sometimes we have no choice but to disturb these relationships, but we should do so thoughtfully, with full awareness that what we do may have consequences remote in time and place" (Carson 64).

Humans have impacted the world for years. One of the biggest environmental issues is Animal Agriculture. Many people do not believe this because it is a huge part in everyday life. Three things that this paper will show you is how Animal Agriculture affects deforestation, how much land is used to hold animals, and the factory farms. Many things that happen in today's environment is connected to Animal Agriculture. The top 10 things that are important to the environment that is affected is Pollution, Biodiversity, Ecological Footprint, Sustainability, Atmosphere, Ozone Layer, Habitat, Carbon Cycle, Fossil Fuels, and Carrying Capacity.

Transportation by fuel-guzzling land, water, and air vehicles is rapidly depleting the fossil fuels, and causing air pollution. The flow from industries, fertilizer run off, and oil spills all hurt delicate ecosystems. Removing trees and other plants to grow places of civilization causes loss and treats the survival of many species of animals and plants. There are many negative impacts along with population explosion. Using chemical fertilizers, insecticides,

The environment is getting worse due to many reasons, one of being ‘off-farm input’, which is effecting and damaging the environment. ‘Off-farm input’ consists of fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides, which is used on agriculture to grow faster and larger. These ‘off-farm input’ is effecting and damaging the environment, through the chemicals in the pesticides and fertilizers, creating groundwater contamination. The ‘Environmental Protection Agency’ has stated that herbicides

This is where we, Humans come in. Humans by instinct have a tendency to modify, to exploit their environment to suit their needs. That is, more than adapting to the environment, their rate of converting the environment to suit requirements is incomparably higher. This reverse phenomenon is what causes the depletion of other species which are unable to adapt to the unnatural, fast changes. Nature is ineffectual in recompensing for these artificial changes which further increases the rate of extinction of species resulting in ecosystem imbalance. The scientists have predicted that we are presently undergoing the sixth mass extinction on the history of earth, mainly due to human activities and their effects.

Yersinia pestis is a bacterium that has been well known to mankind for centuries. Its mechanisms of survival in wide variety of species are extraordinary. The power of this bacterium is dependent on its manipulation of the immune system of its host’s. Its means of survival in the flea and its use of the flea as a vector to other desirable hosts portray this bacterium’s true capability. This flea is the main cause of the bacterium to other animals, especially humans. However, the bacterium does not just stop here; it uses its coded proteins to inhibit the host’s immune system and the host’s cellular functions to aid in its survival in the organism.