Is human progress good at cost of environment and natural resources ?

Question

I would like to know how good making a wide road or a express highway at cost of thousands of trees.
Isn't makes temp. warm of our land ?
Different gases taking life of many creatures ?
May mining is the cause of Earthqueck and volcano etc. Disasters ?
Inside plates moving because of mining and fatching crude oil ?

Answer 1

Progress is certainly good but at what cost? When we progress at the cost of environment it is certainly not good nor advisable.

Natural resources are and will be required for our progress but what we need to take care about is sustainable development and use of natural resources. Land is limited, today we are reclaiming sea to create more land but soon nature will claim back more. How? Global warming is melting snow covers all over the world and soon in around a decade or two we will be loosing a vast tract of land to sea.

We are cutting forests to claim more land for agriculture but with changes in climatic conditions our productivity will go down and we will be the sufferer.

We make dams to produce electricity but even than most of India sleeps without it and places where we have made dams have lost vast tract of most fertile agricultural fields and prestine forests because of dams and above all have become earthquake prone areas. Water flow in the rivers have gone down and has become the main cause for deplition of fishes and othe creatures dependent on this water and this has consequently hurt villegers who used to catch these fishes for livelihood and food.

Our so called progress is without application of mind, without thinking about our childrens future and without having any respect for our mother earth.

This is not what we can call progress and we need to stop all this immediatly. Now people have started objecting on acquisition of agricultural land for industrial purpose and the result will be denotification of forest land and cutting and killing of thousands of trees. What will be the result?

We need to wake up, fight for our childrens and coming generation and for their security. Fight for our MOTHER EARTH, and stop all this unsustainable way of so called development.

Answer 2

There is always a balance between environment, development and human existence. This is often termed as sustainable development. The direct linkage between human progress and environment is the life style. Percapita waste generation and energy consumption is higher in developed nations than in the developing countries.

We require progress at the same time, realise resources are finite. Possibly, if there has been no industrial revolution, may be our resources would'nt have been depleted.

The perfect answer to the environmental issues is to have a holistic approach. Instead of blaming human progress for the environmental degradation (which is true in many sense), let us unite together and make the difference. Individually and collectively, we can make the difference. Reduce-Reuse-Recyle as much as possible. Create innovative and cost economic options - use gunny/cloth/jute bag instead of plastic bag whereever possible, Switch off computer totally if not in use for more than 6 hrs, use energy savings concepts at home and office,

The other way to look at all these issues is the ultimate goal of human existence. What are we aiming to achieve by human progress. Bhutan has a perfect answer to this, so also has that magical island country called Vanautu. These two countries has one of the least usage of resources. Strangely, the people in these two countries are one the happiest persons in the world. The least happiest persons in the world are all from the developed nations.

Let us start to think in a different way of human existence and progress, then the world becomes greener and smarter, that we all be proud of..That is may be a dream only

Answer 3

Petrol -fuelled cars and burning fossil fuels were first used/employed because they are the most convenient. When cars were first invented, no one knew of the unforseen consequences, otherwise we wouldn't be in this situation. Same goes for the burning of coal. I think that the reason we have gotten to this stage is because we as humans were in denial about what was happening. A summit was held for all the world politicians 30 years ago, in which the most prominent scientists posed the theory of climate change and the enhanced greenhouse effect as a direct result of human activity, and they were ridiculed. Even today John Howard and George Bush would rather shut off to what is happening, rather than confronting the problems at hand. If they really acknowledged our shifting climate, why is Australia and the USA the only two developed nations who are yet to sign the Kyoto Protocol? I mean no disrespect to developing countries, but some of the poorest nations in the world have agreed to solve this problem, and we are left behind with instructions from John Howard to "pray" that there will be rain. Praying is not enough, we need to take action rather than hoping that everything will end up ok.
Well, I seem to have gone off on a tangent, but I think that how humans have progressed as a race is fantastic. People are having a better quality of life than ever before, but we won't have a world to enjoy this life if we don't take action immediately. I personally am not very patient, and in naivity would like to see all cars taken off the roads and all energy been switched to renewable energy sources immediately, but realistically that is not going to happen. It is worrying that it has come to this point. For example, hydrogen fuelled cars are another 20 years away from being found on the roads. Right now the honda hydrogen fuelled car is retailing at a million dollars. Even though the effects of climate change are reversible, it will take another 20 years for an effect to take place. We don't have that time. We can't afford to stop thinking about this dilemma. The problem is that all these new technologies that are been invented to solve one environmental problem create another, let alone the unaffordable cost. Also, to all those sceptics out there, why do you want to gamble with our lives? Even if we find out that 50 years from now that global warming was a hoax, why do nothing in case, just maybe, that the evidence was true and global warming is happening and is a result of human interaction?
My friend has a theory that humans are experiments, which is explainable by her obsession with sci-fi books and movies. She thinks that humans were put on here to see how long it takes before we end up leading ourselves to extinction. Who knows...the universe is so vast that it is possible, though it is slightly unnerving to think about it like that. Humans are intelligent, I only hope that we will figure it out.

P.S. Sorry about my fragmented answer, I sort of covered many points in one answer and it probably doesn't make that much sense.

Answer 4

It is not a progress ! Why only Roads? Think from within ! Human is the most selfish animal.All mankind has to suffer some day some time if he is progressing like what you said !Human has to take care of MOTHER NATURE ! its rule of give and take ! Togetherness is happiness other wise one day human will start eating human!There should be a limit of reproduction not with cruelty but with self restriction among HUMANS.Today the life expectancy is nearly 100 years but at the end of era it may go down to even 20 years !Progress on the cost of other God created lives is in no way should be considered justifiable !There should be a fully implemented rule of LIVE and LET LIVE !If one can live happily with as little as he needs why he should un neccessarily harm Mother Nature in any way ?In present senario it looks like Progress but it is also true that we will not be here to see when decline line abruptly will starts ! May the thinkers and implimenters do the needful for the future of planet called earth!I remains always YouRs mE !

Answer 5

Normal man or woman cleans body by a daily bath,uses soap while washing hands and powdering while moving out.But a person of with mental imbalance does it too many times which requires medical attention by a psychiatrist.At times , the cry for eco -care is also like that of a sick mind when elongated too much.
Similarly when natural resources are put to use for the betterment of society , one should not make a hue and cry. But when limits are crossed and degradation enters , OK, it requires attention. When works are done for the society with environmental compatibility it is tobe appreciated.
Also, it is fictitious imagination that by mining activity, tectonic plates are affected and earth quacks are caused due to mining. All mining activities on earth are skin deep and have no connection with interior of earth's activity.

Answer 6

Progress is good. That is how we get things like plenty of food to eat, delivered to your local market on those roads. That is how you get a nice house to live in, by cutting trees to make wood. And the lumber companies plant more trees to maintain their supply of raw materials. There is no deforestation in the U.S. because of the millions of trees that lumber companies plant.

Mining does NOT cause earthquakes. It can cause soil erosion and water pollution though, and there are regulations to control that. Without mines, there is no steel, so no trucks and tractors and so no abundant food supply.

If you think living in a small village without modern things like running water and electricity is better, go see the millions in Africa who are starving and getting sick in their little villages because they have no clean water and no refrigerator to keep food fresh and no road to drive the ambulance on to the hospital that does not exist.

And if you still think the simple life is the way to live, go join the Amish, who are living the simple life quite well. If you are not Amish but you are still telling me to simplify, then you are just a hypocrite.

Answer 7

Please don't be afraid of Mexican classmates. That isn't good. I lived next door to extremely nice Muslim neighbors for about 15 years. After the terrorist attack at the Pentagon, I was defensive for my neighbors and very protective for them. It is people in Mexico who have bad cases of the Swine flu. Your class mates probably don't even know any of the people affected by the swine flu. The important thing to do, is to eat healthy, exercise, practice good hygiene, and wash your hands with soap and water. Your school will probably have many assemblies concerning the swine flu and also to alert students that their class mates shouldn't be shunned. Treat your classmates as you would want them to treat you. They are just as scared as you. They also have the additional burden of being Mexican where the outbreak has been devastating. Hang in there and be kind. By the way, I was the white minority at my school in San Francisco. There were mostly Mexicans, some blacks and some whites. I worked for 33 years for the Federal Government and again, I was the minority. I got along with everyone (except my last supervisor- bleahhhh!)

Answer 8

The whole idea of human progress has been misinterpreted. To progress we need to improve the conditions of the whole, to insure our survival. And to do so we need to take care whenever possible to protect our surrounding and provide for the future. Big freeways and mining don't do that they perpetuate the issue of what we used to believe was good for all people and not just some overused traditional thought. Kinda like racism or slavery. Steal from Peter to pay Paul ya know?

Answer 9

Progress you mentioned brought with it PAIN and PLEASURE at the cost of our environment.

It,the so called progress ,because of river water becoming effluent so many diseases have surfaced whom we have to name yet,

The progress brought pain both to humans and Nature as well,

so many problems are cropping up...again research...solutions....side effects...illhealth...stress......new medicines...so on and so forth.

we actually do not know hither we are heading .

God alone knows ..


let us PRAY TO HIM

Answer 10

Who says building roads is progress? As our world gets smaller our problems get bigger. The small our villiages were, the happier families and people were.