How can we justify the damage it is claimed we are doing to the Earth, to future generations?

Question

This is a question not an opinion.

Answer 1

Even primitive man did major damage. Cro Magnon used to run huge herds of animals over precipices, just to get some meat of the few that they could cut up before the rest went rotten.

They also mass killed animal by setting fire to forests.

It is thought by many scientists, though not proven, that the disappearance of many species of animals in North America about 8-9000 years ago was due to the influx of humans across the Bering Strait land bridge from Asia. There were some huge and biizarre animals before man arrived. Also, horses, which were wiped out, only to be introduced thousands of years later by the Spanish in the 16th century.

Answer 2

There is no justification. We need to change the way we live, to live in a way that does not do harm to the planet. The way this can be achieved is no mystery. The reason we are not doing this is purely selfish.
There many technology's available to help us to be green, but virtually no political will. Since most politicians don't want to take the risk of being rejected by greedy voters little will happen in that direction. We need to do what we can personally, sometimes small things can make a huge difference.
Make sure most of the food you buy has not travelled far, use low energy lighting, turn your heating down, (you can put on something warm). If doing diy use only products that are enviro friendly, eg, wood from sustainable forests etc.
Tell people what you do to help the enviro, then they may feel more like doing something too. Good luck.

Answer 3

We have no justifiable reason for much of what we are doing to the Earth, but we have reasons.

-- Some people still believe that the Earth can handle our abuse because it's so big and we don't do enough to cause any real harm. This notion is called the Frontier Ethic.
-- Some people don't care what happens because they figure they won't be around anyway. This notion is called selfish.
-- Some people do not understand the implications of our energy and resource use. They have not been educated or do not beieve their educators.
-- Some people do not have choices about all of their personal contributions to the problem. Ex: My mother went to the hospital in serious condition. I have to drive my car to get there because there's no train or bus and it's 50 miles away. I stay overnight at the hospital to be with her, but I have to go back home to work. I don't have a choice about my fuel use. However, I do have a choice about my car.
-- We can't make choices about things we don't know yet. We didn't know in the 50s that DDT was going to be detrimental, but we do know it now. At the same time we didn't wear seat belts because our cars didn't even have seat belts and we didn't know any better. Now we do. We're doing some things now that we don't know any better about. We need to stay educated.

Answer 4

I think the only thing we can say is that we let our needs/wants in the short term take priority over what was good for us in the long run. Honestly, I'm not too concerned about the Earth. The Earth will rebound from this damage to the environment as it has with many other instances in the past. The only thing we should be concerned about is the human race. I have no idea how serious this global warming thing is going to end up being (I'm willing to bet it won't be absolute chaos though). What it will probably do is affect our lifestyle and will require some changes in our energy consumption, waste, etc. As far as humans destroying the Earth through global warming, I don't think that it's realistic.

Answer 5

We are totally fucked. Did you know that the Greenland ice shelf is very close to collapse? If it goes, kiss goodbye to the global conveyor. Mark my words when it happens there is going to be chaos.

It could happen within a very short time scale. That will trigger all sorts of other nasty stuff. It's going to happen in no more than a handful of years. I personally think we are past the tipping point, right now.

So, we won't have to justify the damage to future generations - we need to be justifying this to ourselves.

Paleolithic here we come.

Answer 6

we as a speciies are unable to justify this damage as we caused the damage to occur and we won't change it as we are only in it for the money not to change global warming. you might as well ask us to stop using gasoline and oil and plastic and stop polluting the atmosphere in such a way that global warming is upon us now. look at the weather from vancouver bc to vladivostok russia. and any variance thereof.

Answer 7

Simple - we can't! Any attempts at justification will only sound like lame excuses to future generations who are living with the consequences of our actions (or lack of them).

Answer 8

we cant just as we couldn't justify the damage made by previous generations just hope we do better and maybe its your turn now

Answer 9

We don't go around shouting at our elders for it why would they? I think the earth is on a natural decline, and sure we aren't helping it but we aren't the ones to blame for it either.

Answer 10

If many more educated people stop acting asymmetric, then just will be achieved.