This is the start of the many thoughts and possibly interesting news on the blog. This week, the Environmental Science discussed about population and how China's "One child policy" effected China's population, and whether more developed countries should help less developed countries amongst the few of the several topics discussed.
I will be answering questions each week based on Environmental Science.
Week 1 Questions:
1) What do you think are the five most important issues facing the environment today? Why?
There are many issues facing the environment, that we hear a lot about in the news. There are more than five I can list, but some of the major ones could be:
- Global Warming: There are many concerns involving climate change. Some people are worried about the effects of climate change; even politics have become involved in trying to reduce Global Warming. The ice is melting, more hurricanes...etc.
- Alternative energy: We, as a society, are looking for alternative ways to use energy. Whether it's from nuclear power, corn, or more recently, algae-people are looking into ways of reducing energy without polluting the environment. Some agriculture are primarily being used to grow crops for alternative fuel. Interesting....
- Organic and Local Farming=Healthy environment and health: Organic and local farming seems very popular amongst societies in more developed nations. This kind of farming is not only seemingly sustainble, but organic farming is "healthy" for the environment without the use of pesticides.
- Melting Ice: I don't know any other ways to describe this topic, however there have been news that ice bergs are melting at a certain rate, where in the future there will be no ice. This leads to extinction of certain species, one well known example being: Polarbears, who depend on icebergs.
- Health Issues: I am not sure whether this topic has anything to do with environmental science, however certain outbreaks of diseases such as bird flu could effect birds, and even humans. Thus, this means an outbreak of a disease could effect the population of species. Diseases are not only found in humans and animals, but can effect plant herbivores from an outside source.
I could go on with the list; I would like to point out even local issues are important to know. Here, in the Northwest there have been recent concerns about the Puget Sounds, the salmon and Orca population.
2) What activities or daily practices do you do that have a positive impact on the environment?
The more I think about this question, I have to admit: sadly, I don't do a lot; however I do try to use the back of recycled papers when I am solving math problems... and I call myself an "environmentalist?" It' s ironic.3) What are some of your daily practices that have a negative impact?
Sadly to say, I have quite a few. These include: I guzzle a lot of water for showers, cleaning dishes, and for the pets. I drive a car-and sometimes I find myself saying "I should bike to BCC," (only when the weather's nice). I also use plastic bags, and I used to throw out more food, which expired. However, I try not to throw as many out and try to use the food before the expiration date.
4) What is your attitude about the impact humans (individuals and societies) are having on the environment?
From my observations, there are many opposing view points amongst people particularly amongst politicians and environmentalist. Most seem to disagree on certain view points, however they seem to agree that they must protect and preserve the natural environment, without causing damage. There doesn't seem to be one right answer addressing environmental policies, and there is a lot of trepidation when it comes to addressing environmental issues among environmentalists and politicians.
We have already done certain damages, which includes introducing invasive species, consuming resources more than is necessary etc. In all we are much of a consumer society as much as we love and care for the environment. Consumption probably wouldn't stop any time soon, since there are many goods that people want and need.
5) What are your feelings about human population? What should we do as a society to help decrease the demand for resources that a growing population requires? What could you do?
I have never thought of population as an environmental issue, but it makes sense that it is rightly so. As population seems to increase, more resources need to be met. I did worry whether there would be too many people on the planet...anyway as a society, it's probably not ideal to go around telling everybody that the population is growing and you shouldn't have children. However, we can encourage the use of contraceptives and family planning programs-both of which a society could use if they were worried about increasing birth rates. However, as more there are more urbanizations and older generations, societies should keep in mind about how they would provide resources for older generations and the growing urbanization.
As to the question: what I could do? I don't rightly know since the growing population is not something I could control, and even if I should and could use less resources, I probably would end up using more.
I think it should be said that any issues regarding the environment is not an easy one, even population, since we are part of this population, and however much we need to control it-we cannot always do so.
I will post soon.
Yoko
No comments:
Post a Comment