Collapse

Christopher Kotajarvi
Habitat Destruction
We are destroying habitats and/or converting them into human territory, and have been for a long time, at
an accelerating rate. If we do not act and stop ourselves from doing this, then we will lose precious
resources. Meaning, that the destruction of these habitats represent losses for us people as well. Forest
destruction (deforestation) is one that is especially harmful to us, as the trees contain timber and fuel and
even syrup that we pour all over our delicious pancakes. These habitats also provide us with ecological
services, such as protecting us from soil erosion, providing a living space for many of our animals and
plants, etc.
Tragedy of the Commons

Wild foods make up a massive portion of the world’s consumption, namely fish and other meats that
contribute protein to us humans. The problem with reliance on such sources of protein is called the tragedy
of the commons, which is where over time, our over reliance on them will lead to overharvesting or
overfishing, granted these are not managed correctly. And unfortunately in our society, they are indeed
managed improperly.
Loss of Biodiversity

The loss of biodiversity is a major problem the human race has been facing for a long, long time. Not only
the human race, but the entire planet itself. Species that have been driven to extinction left behind a gap in
their environmental impact, distorting food chains and in some cases causing humans to lose a resource.
An example used in the book with worms represents this quite well. You’d think that no one would care if
worms were to be lost, and you’d be right as no one would care. But that misses the entire point of
biodiversity in general, and losing worms would cause less soil fertilization. Every organism does
something, and losing that diversity has been causing problems.
Soil Erosion

Yet another big problem that we as a race have faced for a very long period of time. Soil that is used for
farmland and growing crops is carried away by different forms of erosion (water, wind, etc.) at rates
between 10 and 40 times that of the rate of soil formation, meaning more soil is being lost than is being
formed back. This presents a problem in that farming, while less practiced than before, is still a huge part in
the economic, environmental, and ecological part of the world, and losing precious farmland could cause a
scarcity in certain crops or other problems that could stem from it.
The World’s Fuels

Over time, the demand for fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas will cripple us as a society. Like
tragedy of the commons, our over reliance on these fuels to power an insane amount of things in our daily
lives will eventually come back to bite us, as it is inevitable that we will run out of their sources at some
point in time. It may be decades until that happens, but it will eventually create a monumental gap that must
be jumped by humans to scramble and replace it with a new source of fuel.
Freshwater Usage

A problem that I am a bit more familiar with is the use of freshwater by our world today. Freshwater is more
sought after than ocean water as its salinity is non existent and it is easy to bank off of by purifying it further
and selling it in the form of water bottles and the like. But mainly, it is a precious source of energy, and a
habitat for life that is slowly being depleted with its over-usage. As most of the freshwater in the world is
stored in glaciers and the ice caps, and another large portion is dirty ground water, it will be hard to switch
to using ocean water as the cost of de-salinifying it will be great.
Solar Energy Usage

It might at first seem that the supply of sunlight is infinite, so one might reason that the Earth's capacity to
grow crops and wild plants also infinite, but this is not the case. The first calculation of this photosynthetic
ceiling, carried out in 1986, estimated that humans then already used, or diverted or wasted, about half of
the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity.
Pollution

Many of our most prevalent industries and their factories play a role in the pollution of the environment due
to the amount of toxic chemicals that they release into the soil, air, water, etc. Some of these chemicals are
seen as unnatural, as we humans synthesize them. They are dangerous not only to us, but other wildlife as
well and render bodies of water, or areas with air pollution like forests, unsafe. Meaning we are unable to
harvest resources from them, and also run the risk of dangerous exposure to them.
“Alien Species”

You might think alien species refers to the extra-terrestrial from the reaches of space, but it does not. “Alien
species” refers to us purposefully or inadvertently transferring a native species to a place where it is not
native and that they have never been before. There have been hundreds of recorded cases of such events
where these species have thrown the environmental stability of an area out of whack or caused havoc in
the area, such as when the British brought rabbits and foxes to Australia.
Gases and the Ozone Layer

Us humans undergo activities that inadvertently release gasses into the atmosphere where they either
damage the atmosphere greatly or become trapped up there and instead absorb sunlight, thus contributing
to or causing global warming. Both of these things are major problems, as the atmosphere is all that
protects us from the sun’s radiation, while it also allows a good amount of it to seep through though the
gasses that are absorbing it have prevented this.
Population Explosion

With the world’s growing population, more demands need to be met worldwide. This means more
resources are being used, more money, more space is being taken up and in turn more land is being
destroyed to make homes, etc. A rapidly growing population can greatly affect our society in such ways,
and already has before and even now.
Population’s Environment Impact

What should be more considered than the rising population, is their impact on the environment that they
knowingly or unknowingly have. As stated before, more people means demands for more resources,
energy, water, space, etc. But this also means that more jobs need to be made, including the jobs that harm
our environment with chemicals and destruction of land. Or we could say that even more people will litter.
The main issue however is that all of nature’s valuable, and finite resources are being depleted greatly by
population growth.
Reasons For Hope

This may seem like a lot of major problems, and the odds that we are able to overcome them may be seen
as impossible but there is still hope. One reason is that even though they may seem great, quite a few of
these issues are not impossible to solve by us humans. In fact, we can solve most of them and only the
greater ones are out of our hands. Another basis for hope could be human’s awareness of their
environment hopefully increasing over time and contributing to them helping in protecting it more, including
using less resources and being more mindful of their waste. A final reason for hope could be our ever-
evolving technology and how it serves in helping our planet. We could create machines that clean the
environment for us, that are more cost-effective and produce less waste.
 How People Can Help
If a person were to be wealthy, they could obviously do a lot: for example, Bill and Melinda Gates have
decided to devote billions of dollars to urgent public health problems around the world. If you are in a
position of power, you can use that position to advance your agenda. The people's ability to vote in a
democracy can also provide positive environmental results. Or, if that isn’t enough, find a way to contact
your elected representatives. Next, you can consider what you do or don't purchase.. The purchasing power
of an individual is very powerful, as it encourages big corporations to make products based on the people's
wants and desires. People could also join together in protest of a corporations moral corruption, and
possibly see to it that said company faces needed environmentally-positive changes. However, on the other
end of the spectrum, people could praise companies whose environmental policies they prefer. And lastly,
people could seek to change their local communities environments for the better.