DD3

Anell,

 When analyzing this discussion question, I feel that the world was created for all life, not just strictly for human life.  Studies show that if science takes ethical values into consideration then it will also benefit human beings.  Wouldn't that in itself be enough motivation to have a moral obligation to change the way we live our lives?  Although some people may see it from a selfish perspective, in the end does it matter?  The goal would be to preserve all life, to include our wild life, ecological communities and humans alike.

    As stated in the article "The Impact of Moral Values on Promotion of Science", studies confirm that if we take an ethical value into consideration, then it will also have a positive impact on humans(Zoohoor, 2003).  Wouldn't it behoove us to change the way we live and stop living with the notion of out of sight out of mind? 

 Authoritative Media-The destruction of the biosphere is catapulting our world into a danger zone; one that it may not be able to return from.  It is also minimizing  our planet's animal beauty.  Even back in 1992 The New York Times wrote "that human activity could bring a mass extinction of epic scales wiping out 25% of the world's remaining species in the next 50 years"(Stevens,1992).  If this was written back in 1992, fifty years would put us at 2042.  We are not too far from 2042; In fact it's right around the corner.  Do we really want to be selfish and be responsible for the permanent expunction of our ecological communities?

Experience Based-On a personal level I have seen the threat that the destruction of the biosphere has done to my home state.  I have lived in Naples, Florida since 1994.  Florida was once known for its abundance of manatees, also known as sea cows.  This beautiful and gentle creature is dwindling in numbers.  Due to the ruin of the biosphere there are more hurricanes, which in turn decreases the odds of these gentle giants surviving.  In the twenty-six years I have lived in Florida, I had never seen a manatee in their own habitat until two weeks ago.  That in itself should be a huge clue as to what is happening to our world.  We need to change the way we are coexisting with the other species that we share the world with. 

Conclusion

      For the sake of man kind we all need to follow what we have been taught, two wrongs don't make a right.  We not only have an obligation to the world's animals and ecological community, but also to the future generation.\

Write a 100 word response to Anell, discussion board question, talk about what was said.

Richard,

The facts of Global Warming demand our greatest and immediate attention. Too many of us have great difficulty and or incapable of grasping what’s at stake regarding this global crisis. The video documentary “Heat” highlighted a television show in 1958; where Dr. Frank Baxter warned that man might be unwittingly changing the world’s climate through the waste products in civilization. He noted that this was due to factories and automobiles releasing six billion tons of carbon dioxide yearly, which cause the air to absorb heat from the sun thereby, making the atmosphere warmer. It did then and it does now present significant threats to the ecosystem, biological diversity and human life itself.

AUTHORITATIVE:  The International Panel on Climate Control (IPCC) Special Report (2018) informed that human activities are estimated to have caused approximately 1.0°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels (between 1850-1900), with a likely range of 0.8°C to 1.2°C. Global warming is likely to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate. A 1.5°C increase in temperature will impact fisheries, aquaculture and threaten many marine species.

Human populations show the effects of the increase in temperatures with an increase in poverty and social disadvantage that increases greatly especially in coastal communities, island states and least developed countries depending on temperatures stabilizing at 1.5 ̊C of warming versus 2.0 ̊C. Human health is also affected due to ozone-related mortality, increased heat waves in cities, and shifts in geographic location of diseases like dengue fever and malaria whose range opens up considerably with higher temperatures. The entomological society has brought the sharp decline of insects into sharp focus. In the United States, scientists have noted that the population of the Monarch Butterfly has dropped by 90% in the last 13 years. Scientists have begun to speak of functional extinction (as opposed to the more familiar kind, numerical extinction). Functionally extinct animals and plants are still present but no longer prevalent enough to affect how an ecosystem works (Jarvis, 2018). Disadvantaged and vulnerable human populations are at disproportionately higher risk of adverse consequences if global warming reaches 1.5°C and beyond; particularly those who live in coastal communities, island states and least developed countries (IPCC, 2018). 

EXPERIENCE: Albeit loosely related, when I was stationed in California, I had to get smog inspections on my vehicle in which my truck failed the inspection once due to my truck releasing too much carbon monoxide (which can be deadly if too much is inhaled) into the atmosphere. Because of this failure, I was required to have some expensive repairs done to my vehicle. So I had the responsibility to correct my problem and stop contributing to air pollution or else I wouldn't be able to drive  my vehicle. I learned an expensive lesson about doing my part in protecting the atmosphere. Too bad all states don't have smog or other pollution related vehicular test. An idea!

Utilitarianism teaches that the right acts should produce the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. Like the famous utilitarian and philosopher John Stuart Mill said (I’ll paraphrase), “a drowning person doesn’t care why someone is swimming out to rescue them, only that someone is coming.” Our planet needs rescuing! Why not you and me?

Therefore, we are all personally accountable to some degree for facilitating the decline of global warming. We have a moral, social, and ecological imperative to do so!

Write a 100 word response to Richard discussion board question, talk about what was said.