Do you think that humans are causing all the problems on Earth?

Question

I read a few books and most of them say that without us humans earth will be great and still lives on, is it true? Are we actually causing all the problems?

Answer 1

Yes, we are the species who are causing the majority of Earth's problems. From pollution to murder, corruption to economic problems, we certainly seem to do more bad than good. Yet there are still a few big problems that we are not responsible for, such as disease, or not fully responsible for, like global warming. So to answer your question: yes, the world would be pretty great without us humans interfering, but no, we don't cause all the problems.

Answer 2

Yes, I do. Without us, would there be any harmful air pollution? No, or very little. And without our massive skyscrapers and houses, would the stars be blocked out from the light? No.
Plus, we are the only ones that have perfected machines for killing animals. Take a look at global warming. Would it even exist if we had not invented cars and other carbon dioxide and monoxide spewing machines? It might, but not even close to the degree it is now. As much as it hurts to say it, people are the root of the problem.Thankfully, we have some people on earth that have finally realized what is happening, and is trying to slow it down. But there are still so many people that believe what we are doing to our planet is fine, and unless we can all work together, things might only get worse.

Answer 3

It depends on who's defining what is/isn't a "problem on Earth", and what point of view is taken.

For the most part, the things we humans define as problems take a very narrow vantage point. Take the viewpoint of one particular bacterium inhabiting a parasite that's about to starve to death in the bloodstream of a fish. This bacterium has a problem of homelessness and perhaps discomfort at the current pH or temperature. But problems like these are common to all organisms - there is always adversity, struggle, defeat, and occasional triumph.

Individuals will always experience individual problems from proximate causes having to do with the individual (I'm dying of heat, here inside the parasite infecting that fish!) and ultimate causes having to do with the natural order of things (all living things must die of something some time). Between the proximate causes and the ultimate causes are intermediate causes that are sometimes strongly influenced by human activity, and sometimes not.

Taken from a much broader vantage point, humans are not at all to blame for earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, comet crashes, solar flares, etc., etc., and bear very little blame for most floods and fires. Some would say these natural events are problems because they can destroy the lives of billions of innocent organisms; others would point out that without destruction, there can be no rebuilding. So again, it depends on who's defining the word "problem".

And yet another point of view: It can be argued that human-caused problems largely arise from the innate nature of humans: As a species, we display behavior that is aggressive, xenophobic, inconsiderate, short-sighted, greedy, violent, etc., and many/most of the predicaments deemed problematic are a rather direct consequence of our nature. If you grant this, then depending on your religiosity/secularity, you should apportion at least some of the blame either to the deity who made us this way or to the evolutionary vicissitudes that shaped the species to have the qualities it has.

And finally, to address the premise in your second sentence: Yes, without human beings Earth would be just fine, discounting earthquakes, volcanoes, comet crashes, and so forth. As a planet, Earth was a fine geological specimen for a billion years without any life at all. As a life-bearing planet, Earth flourished for five billion years without humans. That's 5,000,000,000 years, whereas humans have been on the scene only for the past few 500,000 years or so - literally far less than one drop in a bucket. I don't see much to indicate that humans will have a very long tenure on this planet, especially compared to really successful species like snakes and trilobites in their day.

The creatures that are currently most abundant and successful are, arguably, bacteria and beetles. They are so successful that they couldn't care less whether humans number eight million or eight billion, or whether the human species goes extinct in a thousand years or a million.

Answer 4

Of course, there are some things (such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, etc.) that would have happened regardless of whether humans were on the earth or not. But we do contribute a lot to global warming and things like that. However, we are not the entire cause of global warming and the strange weather in some parts of the world. Some of it is weird things happening with El Nino.

Answer 5

Even with us here, earth is great & lives on. why so many people have negative feelings about the condition of the planet always intrigues me. people need to learn how to enjoy what we have & and to realize that people will always have problems. Personally, I'm pretty proud of what we humans have accomplished. We're not perfect, but we try & we are capable of some pretty amazing things.

Answer 6

Earth was made by God for the intention of being a paradise. It has only been humans that have messed it up.
More to the effect - industrialized humans who live on the earth like parasites. imagine this earth untouched by human hands except more primitive cultures who lived with their enviroment not exploited it for greed and development.

Answer 7

Since we as humans have the intellect to deduce problems, then yes we are "causing" all the problems in the Univererse, not just here on Earth....

Answer 8

Does that make you feel bad. Because that is what the environmentalists want. They worship the earth. So we are interlopers. Now in my belief system , the earth was made to be the home of humans. And it will wear out because of entropy. hopefully a long time away. So to answer you. No we are not the cause. Earth has a built in wear out time.

Answer 9

Hello
you will get a lot of interesting answers on this issue.

without humans Earth would not be as it is.

Humans are their own worst enemies.

Instead of living together in harmony and helping each other, humans have this fascination of having control and power over someone else.

So the answer to your question is yes

Hope this helps

Regards

Answer 10

We're causing most of the problems, except for natural disasters. God loves us so much that he gave us lives with free will, and we chose which direction to go from there. Hence, all the wars, and hate, and abuse, lies, and whatever else we can think of to make us feel POWERFUL and MIGHTY. Very sad.