Environmental report:

Overconsumption and overusage of resources

It is safe to say that global warming and ozone layer depletion are just the tip of the iceberg when looking at current environmental issues. Governments have been putting more and more regulations about this issue but not nearly enough has been done. Most of us have heard about things like Agenda 21, a program launched after the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and the Kyoto booking, which many countries, including Iceland and the United States of America , refused to sign. The public awareness and participation in these fields have increased significantly in the last 50 years but there are so many issues that we have not even began to look at. There is still great apathy and ignorance. Even worse is that we are seeing expansionist movement again which eat up the worlds resources. These expansionists claim that if environmental problems actually exist they pose no immanent threat and that overpopulation is simply a myth.

Although most are not this outrageous in their views the majority of people does not know about half the world's environmental problem, not even those more informed and concerned with these issues.

The novelty of today's situation is:

The unbelievable number of miscellaneous problems, how they spread across the continents, and the rate at which they are getting more severe.

Although some issues, like global warming, have been able to claw their way to the headlines, “less sexy” subjects like soil erosion do not seem able to. Never the less, green house effects are far from being our biggest problem. The most destructive of peacetime human activities, the sterilization of land by paving over it with brick, concrete and tarmac, is the most neglected.

This is just one of many sub-wings of the biggest problem of all, over consumption. Over consumption can be split up in to 7 main categories: Land abuse, deforestation, water systems and fisheries over extraction, wetland destruction, decreasing biodiversity, general over consumption and mineral over extraction.

Problem #1, Land abuse:

Land abuse is the most sever problem we are facing now. The loss of fertile soil does not only effect the human race today but every generation to come, but the humans are just one of many species on this planet and loss of fertile land effects them all equally, this loss causes decreasing land to support life forms so many of them might wither and die due to starvation. One type of land abuse has already been named, the sterilization of land by pavement of bricks, concrete and tarmac but that is far from the only way fertile soil is being lost. The usages of fertilizer on farmland causes the crops to grow faster and bigger then the soil can support and all the nutrition's get used up and the land becomes useless.

For example; 10% of the continental surface has already degraded significantly according to the UN Environmental Program and on present trends, 33% of the world's cropland could be destroyed over the next 10 years.

Problem #2, Deforestation:

“Forests function as the Earth's skin, performing many critical ecological roles. They are being destroyed at an enormous and suicidal rate both in the temperate and tropical areas. Intensive timber production also fails to create sustainable jobs for foresters. Many goods today claim to be products of 'sustainably managed forests' yet these are a very poor substitutes for old-growth forests and often little more than timber 'mines'.” ( http://eco.gn.apc.org/resguide/1_4ii.html )

Deforestation contributes both directly and indirectly to many of the worlds environmental problems such as the greenhouse effects, destruction of land and decrease in biodiversity to name a few.

Deforestation can contribute to even greater loss of forests as it can upset the atmospheric balances and lead to a climatic change which will destroy some areas of forest for they may not be able to adjust to the change of climate quickly enough.

“Before the birth of agriculture, forests, teeming with an incredible diversity of wildlife, clothed over 6 billion hectares. Since then, the Earth has been scalped with two thirds of the original forest felled, half the loss occurring between 1950 and 1990.” ( http://eco.gn.apc.org/resguide/1_4ii.html )
Deforestation in medieval Europe led to shortages of fuel wood which caused the people to burn dung and straw instead. This cost the farmlands essential nutrients which and collapse in crop yields. There for the people were in an already weak state when Black Death arrived. ( http://eco.gn.apc.org/resguide/1_4ii.html )

Problem #3, Water Systems and Fisheries over extraction:

Everyone know that we have troubles with water pollution, its sheer availability in desired quantities and rising sea level but that is far for being our biggest problem. “There is comparative silence on the big issues of what our population levels, lifestyles and land use patterns are doing to the most fundamental of all resources, water… ” ( http://eco.gn.apc.org/resguide/1_4ix.html )

Water tables are falling at an alarming rate all over the world, aquifers are drying up and rivers and lakes shrinking. For example Lake Chad , which once was one of the biggest lakes in Africa , has shrunk to one tenth of its previous size. Freshwater, which should be a renewable resource is being over drained do to overpopulation, more consumption per capita and many technologies consume so much water that they do not only tap it but create other effects which indirectly magnify the problem.

Problem #4, Wetland destruction:

Wetlands all over the world are the lifeline of millions of species, no areas support more biodiversity except the tropical forest. These wetlands are being destroyed for many purposes but mainly to create more cropland as well as being paved over. For example there was more then220 million acres in the United States alone but now over half of them have been dried up and the same goes for the United Kingdoms and many other countries. This has had an unbelievable effect on the biodiversity all over.

Problem #5, Decreasing Biodiversity:

“Biodiversity is a bit like a bath. The 'tap' of evolution creates new species while the 'plughole' of extinction eliminates others. Humanity has been enlarging the plughole so much and so fast that evolution no longer can keep up. The assault on other lifeforms goes back a long way. Hunting and the use of fire by aboriginal peoples wiped out many species, especially larger ones, in prehistoric times. Today, however, humanity is a global force and causing unprecedented destruction. It is both a problem in its own right as well as a symptom of other problems the parallel is often drawn with the use of canaries down in mines to warn of the build-up of dangerous gases. Unlike other forms of environmental dysfunction, the destruction of nonhuman lifeforms by people raises deep moral questions beyond the conservation of species which directly provide resources for human consumption or play an identifiable part of the maintenance of ecosystem services such as pest control and waste recycling.” ( http://eco.gn.apc.org/resguide/1_4xi.html )

Decreasing biodiversity is cost by many different factors such as being slain by humans, both directly and indirectly, pollution, new species being introduced to the ecosystem by importation by men, destruction of habitats. The destruction of habitats is the far most severe and great deals of extinct species are gone do to deforestation and wetland destruction. “ Human-caused species extinction has accelerated from approx. 1,000 species a year in the 1970s to more than 10,000 species per year, according to leading biologist, E.O. Wilson. It is estimated that 33% of all current lifeforms will be extinct within 20 years.” ( http://eco.gn.apc.org/resguide/1_4xi.html )

Problem #6, Mineral overextraction :

After the industrial revolution humans have been producing more and more products and products need minerals to be constructed from. In fact we are producing so much more than ever before that just the American nation has consumed more resources in the past 50 years than all other peoples, past and present. It is clear that this can't go on for long since all resources on Earth are limited. Oil is one example of this, it is renewable but we are extracting it at a much greater rate than it is renewing itself. Speculations have predicted that the oil supplies of the world will run out within 50 years if nothing changes. Oil is not the only resource being overextracted like this, in fact most if not all resources will run out in the near future if nothing changes. “A Dutch study estimates that if the Netherlands economy were to function sustainably (assuming global equity), each citizen would have to consume greatly less resources-energy 60%, freshwater 38%, aluminum 80%, wood 65% with1 liter per person for all forms of travel.” ( http://eco.gn.apc.org/resguide/1_10iii.html )

How can we help mother Earth?

Since this is the case then what can we do? To tell the truth there is not much we can do. In order to “save our world” we need to rebuild civilization nearly from scratch, we need to change the way we think and act.

Here are a few things that might help though:

This would not nearly make up for it but would be a start. A far greater gift to our planet would be minimizing our consumption. Do we really need all this junk we got laying around our home? Well, do you???

Sources:

Sandy Irvine (1997) Real WORLD Resources Guide. ECO - The Campaign for Political Ecology . http://eco.gn.apc.org/resguide/index.html ( 1 Nov 2004 )