Humans’ interaction with nature is built upon two profound perspectives that threaten the life of one another. The first perspective ingrained in our thought system is that the earth changes with infinite slowness when rapidly changing because of our alterations. Secondly, humans consider themselves to be smaller compared to the world. Conversely, the world is small compared to humans and requires caring and protection. By understanding the ecological and environmental aspects of our surroundings, we can have better interactions that are nurturing.
However, failing to discern the influence of humans on global climate can result in unseen catastrophes, including global warming from the greenhouse effect. According to Bill McKibben, it is man’s interaction with the environment that creates these problems through actions such as relying on fossil fuels, the use of toxic pollutants like DDT, and consumerism (18). Therefore, ecological environment monitoring is essential in facilitating the collection, collating, and analyzing of environmental data to establish direct actions towards protection. In addition to that, dynamic monitoring is necessary for promoting the sustainable development of the ecology (Chen et al. 2115). A deeper understanding of the ecological and environmental conditions can be unveiled through such systems to facilitate healthy interactions.
Environmental changes reflect human activity on the earth’s surface, and they occur at an alarming rate, not merely through observations as thought by geologists. At the very peak of these activities is a civilization where evolution and human adaptations have been thought to be the culture with no perceived consequences. Bill McKibben describes the changes visually by stating that the world we know dates back to the renaissance, and the world as we know it can be dated to Industrial Revolution. In contrast, the world we feel dates to 1945 (5). Since the introduction of plastic bottles during the Second World War and the Hiroshima event, the atmosphere has reported dramatic changes of at least a 10% increase in carbon dioxide (McKibben 5). A rise snowballed, leading to average global temperature rises, particularly during the preindustrial level. At the same time, a slight change in the quantity of carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater, resulting in a relative change in the pressure of the carbon dioxide in which the atmosphere and oceans are at equilibrium.
The Industrial Revolution is a product of civilization in generating significant energy sources from the world we know. The period of industrialization was marked by burning fossils that significantly increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and burning and clearing forests to make room for industrial plantations. There has been an acceleration in deforestation since the preagricultural years; for instance, there has been a reduction of trees and shrubby forests by three quarters. One hundred eighty thousand square kilometers of deforestation occurred in the Brazilian state of Para in 1975 and 1986, while settlers had hacked away 18,000 km2 one hundred years before that decade. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, there has been an increase in greenhouse gases, especially during the last five decades. The global average surface temperature is 1.0 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial levels (Tong & Ebi 12). Moreover, deforestation adds 1 to 2.5 billion tons of carbon to the atmosphere every year (McKibben 17). The effects of industrial revolutions can merely be grasped by observing the post environment; they have led to significant environmental changes through atmospheric temperature and deforestation.
The depletion of the ozone layer is the new global nature of further pollution. The depletion links to ultraviolet radiation, which tears lead to devastating effects on plant and animal cells, such as eye damage and skin cancer, and even the death of smaller and more sensitive animals. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) consisting of chlorine and fluorine have been determined as the lead factors in the depletion of the ozone layer. The global cease of CFC production has been facilitated through the Montreal Protocol, resulting in a decrease of 15% since 1994 (Montzka et al. 413). However, CFC continues to be rated as the second most abundant ozone-depleting component in the atmosphere. As a result, stratospheric ozone concentration keeps decreasing, which allows the potentially harmful UV-B to reach the surface of the earth. The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere consequently leads to the depletion of the ozone layer.
Environmental consequences of poor interaction are unfathomable and can only be visualized through a hurricane that gains its might from heat transferred to the atmosphere during the evaporation of ocean waters. Hurricane Gilbert formed off the Windward Islands during the 1988 autumn, and its atmospheric pressure dropped to around 885 millibars causing its winds to reach two hundred miles every hour (McKibben 103). Alongside the effects of global warming, it becomes highly unpredictable to pinpoint when or to what extent the next disaster will take place. In addition, reports of rising sea levels can not be overlooked; ecological changes occur, damaging nature through these rises. The coastal marshes exist in an almost broken chain that can not hold the seawater level increase. Therefore, tides flow in and out, spreading and flushing waste, encouraging rapid decay or growth. Moreover, an increase in the sea level results in a rise in warmer air gathering up water vapor, eventually causing high precipitation and higher temperature. The consequences of environmental negligence are diverse and interconnected from one result to the next.
However, these consequences are well attributed to human activities such as agriculture. Agricultural activities such as irrigation require the use of plenty of water, which drastically results in the creation of arid regions downstream. For instance, Colorado’s flow is diverted and consumed upstream through irrigation of lawns and fields, which would have been too dry. Studies have indicated that a two-degree Celsius increase in the temperatures could perpetually lead to a fall of nearly a third of Colorado (McKibben 128). This phenomenon would be accompanied by a ten percent fall in precipitation in the Southwest because of the new weather patterns. Ultimately, this means a decrease in water supply which can not be catered for by streamflow. In addition, Great Lakes and Lake Erie act as a symbol of environmental decline in 1970, infested by algal bloom (Manning et al. 589). The Environmental Protection Agency models demonstrate how doubled carbon dioxide levels are the mean level of Lake Superior. Therefore, Lake Superior would have a fall of a foot and a half, distracting the fleet of ships operating on the Great Lakes.
Furthermore, the decrease in water levels caused various environmental problems, such as dry rot witnessed in the 1960s when Lake Michigan lowered due to drought (McKibben 130). Similarly, it results in a drop in hydropower generation along the Niagara River falls and causes pollutants in the water to be less diluted. Eventually, warmer water forms part of the lake waters resulting in algal bloom and oxygen deprivation that makes the later life inhabitable. However, water quality keeps deteriorating because of the endless list of multiplying threats heightened by agricultural use of pesticides. In addition to that, ponnamperuma occurs due to high salinity impairing the growth of crop plants (Safdar et al. 35). The EPA also reports that warmer temperatures indicate a tripling or doubling of the overwintering range, implying that there would be an increase in the overall invasion populations in the northern states with similar elements (McKibben 133). The uncertainty of environmental problems extends to fields and pastures characterized by a decline in the food supply. Generally, ecological issues pose a more significant danger to human existence than ever imagined.
The end of nature is mired with uncertainty originating from the mixed consequences observed through man’s interaction with the environment. The ecological problems are discernable through the implication of fundamental natural changes that lead to overall adaptations of living organisms and the death to others. However, environmental issues can not be narrowly understood through measuring or observing dry or hot occurrences of hurricanes; they move past that. Instead, they are systematic, with a cause-and-effect implication with no delay, as earlier considered. Right from the use of CFCs and DDTs, the effects of hurricanes, rise in seawater levels, ozone layer depletion, global warming, and droughts. Environmental problems seem to present humans’ past failures in ways that can only be imagined; however, whether these problems progress depends upon decreasing the causes and embracing quality interaction with the environment in naturally productive ways.
Works Cited
Chen, Liang, Chunxiang Xu, and Jianyan Sun. “Dynamic Monitoring Method of Ecological environment Quality based on Big Data Technology.” Ekoloji, vol. 28 no. 108, 2019, pp. 2111-2115.
Manning, Nathan F., Yu-Chen Wang, Colleen M. Long, Isabella Bertani, Michael J. Sayers, Karl R. Bosse, Robert A. Shuchman, and Donald Scavia. “Extending the forecast model: Predicting Western Lake Erie harmful algal blooms at multiple spatial scales.” Journal of Great Lakes Research, vol. 45, no. 3, 2019, pp. 587-595. Web.
McKibben, Bill. The end of nature. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2003.
Montzka, Stephen A., et al. “An unexpected and persistent increase in global emissions of ozone-depleting CFC-11.” Nature, vol. 557, no.7705, 2018, pp. 413-417. Web.
Safdar, Hamna, Aniqa Amin, Yousuf Shafiq, Anum Ali, Rabia Yasin, Abbas Shoukat, Maqsood Ul Hussan, and Muhammad Ishtiaq Sarwar. “A review: Impact of salinity on plant growth.” Nat. Sci, vol.17, no.1, 2019, pp. 34-40. Web.
Tong, S., and K. Ebi. “Preventing and mitigating health risks of climate change.” Environmental Research, vol. 174, 2019, pp. 9-13. Web.