United States Congress,
As a member in our society I have noticed that a common mind
set is that as humans we can do whatever we want with no regard for the
environment or other species. I go to school and live near Santa Cruz and I
have observed that it is a place where people generally care for the environment.
We are at the edge of the Pacific Ocean and actually see some of the human
effects on the coastline and most people are aware of this. Although Santa Cruz
is only one small area in the world, and outside of coastal areas a lot of
people actually do not believe global warming or any environmental issues are
even going on. If everyone understands the importance of taking care of the
environment and takes action accordingly the earth and every organism living on
it, including us would be in a lot better shape.
Humans have driven a lot of species
into extinction. This is due to the belief that we are the “master species”,
and lack of knowledge about the animals that have been systematically decimated
for human pleasures, such as money. Very few actually went extinct because we
ate all of them; it is usually because they have some other kind of value to us.
For example, with whales we want their oil.
We extract what we want from the kill and then dispose of the rest of
the animal. With humans rapidly growing in numbers we need places to live, so
we have built towns and cities by cutting down trees destroying habitats. This
has also driven species into extinction. We have massive brains and are able to
communicate using language better than any other species, but does this mean we
have the right to rule the world?
We are land animals, so we do not
know a lot about the ocean even though is dominates 71 percent of our planet. Because
we do not live in the ocean habitat a lot of people are not aware that we are
trashing it. According to my Oceanography teacher David Schwartz and my Marine
Biology teacher Nicole Crane there are garbage piles the size of Texas in the
middle of the ocean. This happens because on each side of the hemisphere the water
has a current that spirals and down wells in the middle of the northern and
southern hemisphere. This is called a gyre, sort of the effect of a toilet
bowl. Because the current spirals toward the gyre this is where trash like
plastic accumulates and essentially stays forever.
What are even worse
than the visible heap of trash are the micro plastics. Except for a handful of
plastics that are made to break down most of these particles are made out of Bisphenol
A which breaks into microscopic particles. It will never completely break down,
and humans just keep contributing to it and unknowingly consuming it along with
all of the animals in the sea. Seven Billion pounds of Bisphenol A are manufactured
each year and they are known to cause health problems in people and animals. These
synthetic particles are found in nearly every sea creature and because we eat
them these particles are in human bodies as well. There was a study done in
Japan that detected the women with high levels of bisphenol A were the ones who
had several miss carriages and in some cases they were never able to conceive.
This not only interferes with human reproduction, it also as some of the same
effects on fish. One out of every four male sword fish produces female eggs due
to these toxic synthetic particles that cloud the water. Scientists and engineers have had ideas to
take the trash from the gyres and convert it into energy, the problem is it is
expensive and we really do not have the technology to do this yet. When or if we do figure it out, it may put too
much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which is a whole other problem.
Too much carbon dioxide is very
detrimental to life on earth. There are many theories of why dinosaurs went
extinct. There were a lot of volcanoes erupting during the time of dinosaurs so
one of the most plausible theories is that the gas from the volcanoes caused
their mass extinction because there is mostly carbon dioxide in the gas exploding
off volcanoes. According to USGS.gov the changes in levels of carbon dioxide
have mimicked the global temperature. Every year 300 million tons of carbon
dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere by volcanoes, which seems like a lot,
but in comparison with the human activity it is only 1 percent of total carbon
dioxide emission. We top the charts at 26.8 billion tons a year. To reduce this
amount our society would have to be less dependent on oil. Because we are so
dependent on it, it is extremely difficult to get people on board to try a
different energy source now, unless we find alternate energy sources that work
just as efficiently.
Finding alternative energy sources
and using products that are biodegradable is not impossible. Hydrogen engines
have even been made to replace the use of gasoline. Although the gasoline
industry is so profitable that the government makes is seem like that’s the
only option for us so they can make money. The well being of the economy is
really important too, but that can always be altered to fit our life style. The
shape of the environment is essential to all life and that really cannot be
reversed. We need to look at the big picture. If we don’t try to slow down the
global warming green house effect our food source will be slim from the
decreasing crop fields and loss of habitat. We are so accustom to wrapping nearly
everything in plastic. Plastic is good for things that need to have a long life
such as cars, but for things like wrapping food in plastic and plastic water
bottles it just does not make since that we use permanent materials for
products that do not last long. Consumers can help by bringing their own bags
and try to minimize the things they buy with plastic. Although nearly everything
is wrapped in plastic, so it’s difficult to avoid and that is where the
government can help by putting regulations on wrapping material. When the
synthetic plastic materials were first made nobody thought about where these
particles are going to end up. Now that we know how toxic and permanent they
are it is time to change our ways.
Our intelligent brains are part of
the reason we are in this mess, but if we use our brains we can slow it down.
Just getting more people to realize what is slowly happening to our earth it
would help to figure out how to move forward while doing less damage to the
environment. This is our home and it’s time to start taking care of it. The
rising has affected a lot of the animals in the North and South pools already,
and it is only a matter of time until it will directly affect us.
Works Cited
"Plastic
Not-So-Fantastic: How the Versatile Material Harms the Environment and Human
Health:
Scientific American." Scientificamerican.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29
Apr. 2013.
"Volcanic
Gases and Their Effects." Usgs.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.
"TOXIC: Garbage Island - Part 1." VICE.
N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2013. <http://www.vice.com/toxic/toxic-
garbage-island-1-of-3>.
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