We have inherited much from planet Earth, such as natural resources and every single one of the living creatures that planet earth is home to. However, in the preceding decades much has happened to our environments. After years of burning unlimited amount of fossil fuels and releasing harmful gases into the atmosphere, we have reached a point where it has affected our ecosystem. As result of the changes in our ecosystem, we have placed extreme amount of stress on living organisms.
Animal population decreasing is one aspect of life; we have witnessed certain animal population decrease to dangerous levels but not anywhere close to the extinction rates of today. As selfish as humans might be, now is the time for us to take responsibility for our actions and start caring about our soon to be extinct wild life. Ever since the Middle Ages, the world has had problems with keeping constant number of wild life animals; however, in the past, the problems were mainly caused because of over harvesting.
Nevertheless, today we are facing a greater problem, which is global warming. Gases released into the atmosphere layer up in addition to the ozone layer and trap more light waves in Earth’s atmosphere that results in heat cause global warming. Higher temperatures affect the ecosystem, the outcome being longer and warmer summers with fewer rains. Living organisms have to adjust and adapt to warmer temperatures, less habitat, and more frequent acid rains. We have more endangered species today than we ever did in the past.
According to Lauren Kurpis, organizer of the website endangered species, California alone has 289 species of plants and animals that are about to face extinction (Kurpis L. ). Animals do have seasonal routines, which they rely on for survivor. Fewer rains and warmer summer’s means they would have to adapt and change there routine in order for them to live; unfortunately, these changes occur in a rapid pace that most of the animals are not able to adjust themselves with and they end up dying.
According to the documentary An Inconvenient Truth, hosted by Al Gore, first time in history their have been cases of polar bears drowning as far as sixty miles from the shore, because all the ice is melted or too thin to support the massive weight of the polar bears. In addition to warmer temperatures, they are also more chance of having acid rain. Two gases that are released into the atmosphere sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are the ingredients for acid rain, the moment these gases mix undergo a chemical change that causes acid rain. When this occurs, it shifts the PH scale of rain from natural to acidic.
Nevertheless, the rain comes down harming the forests below and eventually destroying the lakes. Acid rains do not come as often, but when they do, they could destroy hundreds of acres over time. Also according to Environmental Protection Agency, “ acid rain releases aluminum from soils into lakes and streams; aluminum is highly toxic to many species of aquatic organisms” (EPA). Humans have to cherish the forests since more than 70% of the medicines today are produced using plants that grow naturally in forests. Our forests are both being destroyed by acid rains and cut down by humans.
Thousands of trees are cut every day to fill our need for our wood made materials, which reduces habitat for wild life. Wood is the number one material used as far as building houses worldwide; keeping that in mind and comparing it to the increase in human population, it is obvious that human kind is using much more wood than it’s able to recover. The result, less environment for the wild life to grow. Humans are the number one cause of global warming. Humans have created and invented machinery that makes life easier such as cars and factories but on the other hand, it harms our beloved planet Earth.
As it was mentioned previously, gasses released into the atmosphere as result of human use of fossil fuels cause global warming. People have been trying to come up with a replacement for gasoline, which is efficient and less harmful to our environment. Most of the amount of gases released to the atmosphere is from cars and transportation. With today’s knowledge, there are hundreds of possible ways to use something else instead of traditional gasoline. For instance, General Motors came up with the electric car in the 90’s. The electric car was efficient and did not exhaust harmful gasses into the atmosphere.
According to the documentary film “ Who Killed the Electric Car,” electric cars were produced in limited numbers, and after the first generation of production the cars were not sold, in fact, the company leased them out. The reason for the companies not selling the cars was that the gas company owners saw the downshift in their profits due to the electric car. It seems that in today’s society, politics and money play a greater role in people’s life than caring for planet earth. The cars were soon taken back by the companies and destroyed, because of the potential impact they had on the il industry.
Almost a decade later in 2006 the Japanese designed a car that does not use any kind of fuel at all, in fact, the car is ran by compressed air. The vehicle is equipped with two high-pressure air tanks made out of carbon fibber to reduce the weight. This car’s highest speed is about 120 mph and has the ability to travel 125 miles with two full air tanks traveling at a spend of 70 mph. The only problem is that the car will not be mass-produced, in fact, it has been said that the cars would only be available for consumers living in high-polluted areas.
In conclusion, in order for the future generations to have the same pleasure that we have received from planet earth it is important for us to start taking care of it more. For millions, of years people have lived and enjoyed life on planet Earth. Now a few decades after discovering newer methods of making life easier with instant invention of cars and fossil fuel burning equipment, humans, the most selfish creature on Earth have ruined everything. Wild animals and plants are a necessity for human life, and for that we should care enough not to destroy their habitat.
