Could humans prevent any of the environmental problems facing us today? Air quality, water, atmosphere, etc...Should we try?
2006-10-12 04:15:29 · 9 answers · asked by hichefheidi 6 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
The short answer is yes and yes.
Humans can't do anything without having an impact on the environment around them. If someone simply stands still this may be as simple as conversion of oxygen to carbon dioxide through respiration, heating up (or cooling down depending on ambient air temperature) the space around them. Of course if someone does something this will result in changes to the surroundings (e.g compressed earth, dead ants, animals scared into the claws of a predator they might otherwise have avoided), not to mention smoke and ash from a cooking fire, pollution from excretion (pee, fecal matter), etc., etc.
In other words, there will always be an impact on the enviroment, no matter how small.
The real question is can impact be contained to a level that allows a sustainable "clean" environment.
If you consider that most enviromental impacts can be absorbed to some degree due to natural processes, and therefore there is certainly an acceptable (i.e. sustainable) level of environmental impact. For example, carbon dioxide excreted by humans is food for plants who convert it back to oxygen. And bacteria and sunlight and water and oxygen and carrion eating animals can get rid of excrement or remains of animals killed for food.
The problem comes when impact exceeds the natural (or manmade mechanisms like sewer treatment facilities) capacity to absorb and nullify the impact.
If one considers that anything not reversed is a change to the environement ... to the degree this is undesirable (e.g. for aesthetic or toxicological reasons) we should be concerned. Sure, natural systems have a great capacity to absorb pollution, but sooner or later the impact will be obvious and potentially devastating.
So, should we care? I think the answer is clear ... yes we should.
And this may be urgent. One of the biggest issues right now is climate change and there is the worry that a point will be (some say already has been) reached where further decline is irreversable (at least in less than a geological timeframe).
Correcting the damage done to the world already will be difficult -- it may even be too late -- but given the uncertainty about this, and the certainty of the problems if we simply let it continue, surely we should consider it important to try. At a minimum our future health and enjoyment of the world depends on it, and at worst our continued existence as a species.
2006-10-12 05:01:29 · answer #1 · answered by agb90spruce 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, yes. But it needs to be sensibly. Idiot agreements like Kyoto would turn the USA into a Mexico in no time.
2006-10-12 04:17:44 · answer #2 · answered by Meow the cat 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes. Yes. Yes.
2006-10-12 04:22:20 · answer #3 · answered by MEL T 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
YES! Haven't you ever heard of the butterfly effect? Everything we do effects the world eventually. Either for good or ill.
2006-10-12 04:21:56 · answer #4 · answered by Spirit Walker 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes we do, yes we could, yes we should try.
2006-10-12 05:07:08 · answer #5 · answered by MishMash [I am not one of your fans] 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well yes. if we bar liberals from grocery stores the food tends to stay fresh longer.
2006-10-12 04:28:43 · answer #6 · answered by Doctor Shiraz! 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Sorry!!!!!
WE are part of the problem.
2006-10-12 04:39:10 · answer #7 · answered by mindtelepathy 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
very much so.... every heard of Pollution?
2006-10-12 04:17:43 · answer #8 · answered by JWAV 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes and yes we should.......
2006-10-12 04:16:51 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋