refection

Cui 4

Wei Cui

ENGL1C

Professor Krista Walter

11/9/20

Improving Ecosystem By Critical Thinking Of Humans

The presence of different species of the living organism and non-living organisms constitute the ecosystem. It is a network in which all the organisms interact with each other. Some organisms live in mutual benefit during this interaction, whereas some prove harmful to the others. In the modern era, the disturbance of the ecosystem by human activities has become a global concern. Humans are the main reasons due to which the increasing global problems are arising. The most dominant human activities contributing to the ecosystem's disturbance include deforestation, excessive fossil fuel burning, logging, hunting of extinct species, improper disposal of waste materials, and overpopulation (Zhang). These are some of the primary reasons why the environment has disturbed up to a large extent. Humans' responsibility to think critically before taking any action as humans' little activities can also cause rising environmental problems. The increasing environmental and ecosystem issues are entirely dependent on humans and can be alleviated if humans critically think like a mountain and make decisions wisely.

The increasing trend of clear-cutting and logging has become the biggest fuss of modern times. Humans focus on the extensive cutting of trees to obtain woods that they further use to make their fancy houses more beautiful. In this case, humans are only thinking of making their lives luxurious. Due to their selfishness, other species on the planet have been suffering since the dawn of our planet. They do not think a second about the animals that live and dwell in the forests. The extensive cutting of trees leads to desertification, which in turn leads to several other problems. Due to deforestation, the climate of the ecosystem is, and soil erosion occurs. Soil erosion leads to the low growth of the crops, ultimately influencing animals' and humans' food requirements.

There is a chain of problems that arises due to one activity of humans, i.e., deforestation. Because of the excessive cutting of trees, the animals do not get enough food for their survival, and when animals starved to death, the entire food chain will ultimately be affected. Humans have cleared out the forests in most parts of the world to fulfill their great demands, which has destroyed animal's habitats (Rull). If humans think censoriously about the detrimental effects that deforestation causes, then it is possible that this issue can be resolved, and the shelter of forests stay over the heads of animals. In other words, we can say that if humans think aside from their luxurious comforts, then many problems of the ecosystem can be resolved. The real change in the current situation can only be changed by changing the human beings' thinking process.

Excessive burning of burning fossil fuels is another issue that has led to increased global warming and air pollution. The main reason behind fossil fuel burning is to derive energy used to keep electricity in our homes and generate power for cars. Commonly, humans always look for simple ways to meet their demands no matter how much damage is caused by their activities. If humans make a little effort and divert completely towards biogas or water electricity production, global warming can be resolved. Moreover, the burning of fossil fuels emits enormous amounts of pollutants into the environment due to which several health problems such as asthma or allergy can occur. If humans think wisely and take proper actions to reduce their dependence on fossil fuel energy, then there will be a day when no individual has to suffer due to such activities.

It is the nature of man that he loves recreation and hunting. For this purpose, he does not think about the animal species and start their hunting. In most of the world, people go hunting for recreational purposes and enjoyment. In such a desire, they kill so many extinct and endangered species that are valuable to humanity. Sometimes, they hunt those animals which are considered to be the saviors of the forests. Some people think that hunting animals would bring satisfaction to them. However, in general, it always brings destruction. The killing of animals has many detrimental effects on the ecosystem as it leads to an increased risk of microbial growth. Moreover, the hunting of specific animals eventually results in their extinction, and in this way, the other species becomes prominent. Humans should keep their recreational interests aside and focus on the ecosystem. Humans should take inspiration from Leopold, who considers that hunting animals brings satisfaction for just a short period. When people think in loneliness about how hunting animals would invite other harmful animals to destroy the ecosystem, then there is a possibility that humans give preference to their surrounding environment above their recreation (Leopold).

As we all know, the wholesale percentage of plastic waste is being engendered from homes, marketplaces, industrial units, and production industries daily. The difficulty does not befall due to its discharge. Instead, the concern ascends when this leftover is left unprocessed or when the managing authorities miss the mark to manage this discarded waste properly. These systems' failure led to the flock of vast piles of trash in every cranny and curve of the roads. The constrained drill of sustainable plastic waste management is not divulging damaging effects on human life and the environment but is also influencing plants and animals' lives. Due to this buildup, marine life has been influenced the most, leading to different human diseases as most humans consume aquatic animals as their source of food. In this case, firstly, the fault is of those individuals who are not disposing of these wastes secondly and adequately, the authorities who are not managing this problem correctly. Thus, in both cases, the fault is that humans do not consider the health of other humans and animals equally important.

From the whole discussion point of view, the main reason behind the rising trend line of ecosystem disturbance and environmental problems is the economic activities carried out by human beings driven by economic interests. Human beings must first change their selfish thinking to make the whole ecological environment more prosperous and grow naturally. Changing their thinking mode, thinking like a mountain, can not change the ecology's regular operation following human needs so that human beings can develop for a longer time. It can be concluded that in the beginning, human activities were for the enjoyment of the pleasure of life without considering any consequences or consequences. Another key point from the whole narrative is that rich people have sufficient resources to access medical facilities if they become ill due to environmental pollution. On the other hand, people living below the poverty line who affect these activities do not even have access to the necessary health facilities. We have come to the point where we have to make a choice, to change the standard mode of thinking, to get rid of the human mode of thinking, and to think and treat every species of the ecological world in a divergent way, as Leopold said, inspired by his ideas. Ecology should receive the same treatment as it deserves. As a community member, human beings should pay more attention to environmental issues to balance human beings and the ecological environment and achieve the harmonious development of ecology and human beings.

Works Cited

Leopold, Aldo. Thinking like a mountain. Lone Goose Press, 1990.

Rull, Valentí, et al. "CLAFS, a Holistic Climatic-Ecological-Anthropogenic Hypothesis on Easter Island's Deforestation and Cultural Change: Proposals and Testing Prospects." Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 6 (2018): 32.

Zhang, Can, et al. "Late Holocene lacustrine environmental and ecological changes caused by anthropogenic activities in the Chinese Loess Plateau." Quaternary Science Reviews 203 (2019): 266-277.