Civic Engagement Letter: Our Planet Is At Risk

Our green planet is now at risk. We have polluted and exhausted our many natural resources including water, soil, air. Industrial development has affected the environment to the point of extremes. It is growing clear that the more conveniences we have, the more pollution we, collectively as a people, produce.

The environments contamination directly correlates with global climate change. Climate changes far more rapidly now than it did a number of years ago. Industrial progress has become more subject to weather change.

Hurricanes, floods, and droughts are direct outcomes of climate change. Many countries have suffered these natural disasters in recent years, most recently in Indonesia. A significant amount of time and resources are used in covering the costs of these increasingly common calamities. These disasters growing more frequent is nature’s way of demonstrating to us the desperate situation we have created.

Global warming is a prevalent example of natural imbalance. We witness the enhanced greenhouse effect when the amount of greenhouse gases increase and cause the temperature to increase.

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It influences the rise of the worlds ocean levels and the melting of the ice in the Arctic. Scientists have calculated that over the next several decades' coastal countries and some islands have the potential to be completely engulfed by water. An abundant greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, it effectively functions as a sheet preventing heat from the Earth from escaping the atmosphere.

As the population increases, people need more space and resources to meet fundamental requirements such as food and shelter.

Urbanization is the primary concern of ineffective land use. As the need for space increases, people begin encroaching on forest land or largely unpopulated land. Our selfish desire for luxury and space directly results in the degradation of land. We the inhabitants of earth cut down forests in order to satisfy our selfish need for space, we fill a once healthy woodland with pastures and agricultural fields. Forests function similar to lungs in the body and are an important ecosystem containing a wide variety of animals, birds, and insects. Many species of forest animals are endangered as a result of deforestation and other harmful human activities. Developing countries tend to not care about the protection of nature and use an abundance of natural resources, and developed countries pollute the environment with industrial wastes.

Overpopulation is a primary concern to a majority of countries. We as a species exploit natural resources that we deem necessary to satisfy our requirements for consumption without consideration of future outcomes. Overpopulation results in the pollution of nature, overproduction, and urban expansion. Countries attempt to manage these issues on the governmental level but as of yet, policies such as these have proven ineffective, particularly in underdeveloped countries such as India or China. The recent development of industry and improvement of quality of life in both India and China has resulted in significant overpopulation.

The increased population comes with higher rates of consumption of various products and more waste production. Landfill sites grow exponentially resulting in air, soil and water pollution. Recycling is becoming an increasingly popular movement in many major cities. The waste of large landfills and factories ends up in river beds and oceans, extenuating the already extensive pollution of earth’s bodies of water. Water we could eventually be drinking.The depletion of the ozone layer is a problem we, the inhabitants of Earth need to come to terms with. The ozone layer absorbs ultraviolet radiation that is harmful to people. The increasing number of holes in the protective layer will result in extreme solar radiation and in an exponential increase of cancers, specifically skin cancer.Using alternate forms of energy will help the ozone layers rate of depletion grow less rapidly. Using solar, or wind energy rather than oil or nuclear energy we can still satisfy our great need for energy. Nuclear power is costly and cannot be used or stored in a safe way therefore heavily impacting the environment. Oil being a natural resource means we cannot be so heavily dependent on it or we will run out, our current rate of consumption is far greater than the rate it’s readily available to us. People need to be more willing to procure energy from new and more environmentally friendly resources.

We must care for our environment and try to live in harmony within it. All too commonly, people forget that we are an integral part of nature. Though we are the cause of many of the environments issues, we need to take into consideration our rate of consumption and attitude towards nature. Awareness is imperative to our environments immediate and future health. Humankind is neither the only nor the ultimate user of nature.

We need to be more considerate in sharing our environment with our earthly co-inhabitants such as plants and animals. The damage inflicted cannot be undone, but it is not too late for us to consider the impact we will leave for future generations.People actively seek solutions to our numerous environmental problems. We recycle, are increasing the use of electric cars, planting new trees, all in an attempt to limit air, water, and soil pollution. While the damage cannot be reversed, we need to change both our life style and our expectations of what we deserve until we are more considerate of future generations and are not pushing nature to its extremes.

Works cited

1. Smith, J. (2019). The Environmental Crisis: Understanding the Causes, Consequences, and Solutions. Cambridge University Press.
2. Diamond, J. (2005). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Penguin Books.
3. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2014). Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Cambridge University Press.
4. United Nations Environment Programme. (2021). Global Environment Outlook: Healthy Planet, Healthy People. Cambridge University Press.
5. Gore, A. (2013). The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change. Random House.
6. Chiras, D. (2017). Environmental Science. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
7. Kolbert, E. (2014). The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. Henry Holt and Company.
8. Rockström, J., & Klum, M. (2015). Big World, Small Planet: Abundance Within Planetary Boundaries. Yale University Press.
9. Speth, J. G. (2008). The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. Yale University Press.
10. Steffen, W., Broadgate, W., Deutsch, L., Gaffney, O., & Ludwig, C. (2015). The Trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration. The Anthropocene Review, 2(1), 81-98.