refelction

Professor Krista Walter

ENGL1C

01/30/2021

Ethical Obligation to our Biotic Community

Nature provides us with the things soothing our health and has infinite beauty to serve comfort and pleasure to our eyes. When it comes to giving, our biotic community selflessly bestows us with unlimited benefits, from food to medicines; it barely keeps anything to itself. However, when we give, we deserve something in return, and so does nature. It is a moral responsibility of every individual to follow certain practices to pay back to the environment, which can be done by conserving and protecting the environment and reducing pollution.

The protection of our environment is our moral responsibility. Our ethical practices and consideration can govern it. According to the EPA statistics, an average American produces almost 6 pounds of trash, among which only 1.5 pounds is recyclable. It means about 4.5 pounds is a complete waste. One person produces this much waste, keeping in mind the Earth's population, it is not a tall helpful and is extremely damaging for the environment (Tiseo). Accountability is an attribute neglected by most people, which also has certain reasons. Producing unnecessary trash is not seen as something unethical generally by the people, and the sense of responsibility and accountability is not even promoted through different means. It is because the alternative that causes damage to the environment is competitively cheaper than the recyclable ones. The need to build a perspective that highlights the damage caused to the planet is something that society lacks. Another perspective that indicates that human being is the most superior of all the species also blur the vision of people towards other species, making them consider others not important enough.

What people fail to understand is that the lives of all the organisms are interlinked with each other. Human beings and other organisms on this planet share a food chain. If any of the organisms' life is affected, it is automatically going to harm the food chain. Causing harm to one is not going to benefit the other. Humans and the food chain's involvement has been profound, as We have brought drastic changes due to their practices. They have caused enormous damage by fishing, hunting, and largely polluting the environment. It has not only caused damage to life on land but also to life in water.

Global warming is one of the largest damages done by humans to the planet. The release of harmful gases in the air and harmful chemicals in the water has caused enormous losses by damaging the O3 layer and water life. We non-decomposable things in our daily life and produce much waste out of it. This waste lives longer than an average human and is neither recycled nor reused (Denchak). Due to this, it is often thrown in oceans and empty lands. It causes many problems like temperature changes, making it hard for many species to survive. Degrading the environment is never going to cause positive changes in human life and will definitely result in unfavorable outcomes. More activities like oil and trash spills disturb the weather to a huge extent.

From the food chain to medicines to calmness, we obtain almost every single thing from nature. Clean water, mirror, soil maintenance, healthy ecosystems, climate regulation, nutrients, medicines, raw materials, food, water, shelter, furniture, and even clothes are obtained from nature's elements. It is without a doubt extremely important for our survival. All of these things constitute and form the base and foundation of a healthy human life.

In order to awaken an ideology comprising of a more responsible and accountable attitude, it is our responsibility to emphasize practices that promote a healthy ecosystem. For this ideology to be effective, self-realization is extremely necessary. Unless a person does not understand the negative contribution to the environment and its consequences, a sense of responsibility cannot be effective in him for the long term. For a long time, the planet Earth has been communicating all of the miseries by earthquakes, floods, cyclones, and other natural disasters. We need to be our own judge because all the change starts within. Promoting the idea of using recyclable and reusable items, especially in daily life, needs time. Today, a sustainable lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle because it will be beneficial in the long term. We need to change our way of living and switch waste-producing practices with sustainable ones. Volunteering for cleanups in the community can also improve environmental sustainability (Chan).

Many plantation and cleanup campaigns are carried out on both smaller and larger scales, which promote a sense of responsibility, making people more careful and considerate towards the environment. One of the most important practices that are neglected and considered as less important is water conservation. As per the EPA statistics, an average family wastes almost 180 gallons of water per week. Not fixing household leaks wastes nearly 900 billion gallons of water annually. Some estimation also indicates that more than 50 percent of landscape water is wasted due to over-watering runoffs and evaporation. Hence, we must conserve water. Many animals die every year by ingesting plastic or getting stuck in it. Reducing plastic usage and replacing it with environmentally friendly alternatives would cause an enormous change in both terrestrial life and life in water. There are many alternatives to toxic chemicals. Using natural disinfectants can reduce harm to the environment and prevent humans' contact with harmful substances. They are environmentally friendly and just as effective. Moreover, using energy-efficient products will cause a change in greenhouse emissions. Along with that, unnecessary energy usage should also be reduced (Evans).

Moreover, deforestation is also one of the biggest contributors to environmental damage. Cutting off huge portions of forests to use the land commercially is a selfish move. Deforestation has altered the complete environmental behavior, which has not been helpful for human life either. The planet's temperature is rising to a great extent day by day, causing extinction to extraterrestrial life and health problems to humans (Chakravarty 20). Industries also produce tons of waste and chemicals, which are then dumped in oceans and seas. This water goes through the process of evaporation, resulting in acid rains. It is one of the biggest examples of humans causing damage to them. Thus, the industries need to develop and adopt less harmful practices so that the environment and eventually the human life can be saved.

As per the pace that humans have in damaging the environment, it is not too hard to state that human life would also go extinct in the future. Due to a lack of decency and self-realization, humans are planting a trap for themselves, which they are unable to see due to being blinded by their selfishness. What they consider as saving money today is going to make them spend billions later. No money is worth killing a life, regardless of it being human or animal life. Thus, it is important not to neglect our moral obligations and foresee the upcoming harms we would be causing to ourselves. Not only will it save us from the upcoming damages, but it will also encourage a sense of responsibility and make us better morally. All the practices would uplift human lives and standards of living along with improving environmental quality. We should interact responsibly with the environment to avoid the degradation and destruction of natural resources. Collective action would for sure improve lifestyle for the long term. The three sustainability pillars: the society, the economy, and the environment; all they can be saved. These pillars provide safety to the profit, the planet, and also the people. We need to ensure that all the environmental protection steps are taken responsibly by evaluating every practice's effect.

Work Cited