Anyone believe man cannot affect the environment?

Question

Prove it...

If man cannot affect his environment, how does one explain the depleted ozone layer or acid rain?

http://www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/tour/part1.html

Answer 1

Some people have a heard time relating human activity to potential effects on the planet and I think a lot of this comes down to, for want of a better way of putting it, not being able to get their head round the numbers.

People see human beings as tiny and the planet as being huge and therefore deduce that humans cannot affect the environment. The problem here is that whilst humans may indeed be tiny, there are a great many of them (6.6 billion) but there's only one planet.

The effect that 6.6 billion people can have is considerable. For example, every second of every day we breath out enough air to inflate 1000 hot air balloons and each year we throw out enough garbage to create 10 Mount Everests.

If all the land were to be divided equally between everyone on the planet we'd each get just 5.5 acres. It's not hard to see how one person could affect such a small area, particularly considering that during the lifetime of the average American citizen they'll pollute their 5.5 acres with more than 2000 tons of garbage and enough greenhouse gases to form a cloud 300 metres (1000 feet) thick.

We can see, and have seen, the effects that we've had on the environment. These effects range from record rates of deforestation to record shrinking of the Arctic Ice Cap and from the 'hole' in the ozone layer to acid rain. To state we can't affect the environment is to ignore historical fact and scientific evidence.

Answer 2

Well, man affects the environment with every action.

Who says we don't?

Lord Kelv, have you ever inhaled? Exhaled? Picked a weed? Eaten an apple? Swept a sidewalk? Turned on a light? Turned off a light? Fed the squirrels? Spit in the ocean? Flushed a toilet? Logged onto a computer?

All of those things AFFECT the environment.

Answer 3

I believe that man is the virus of the earth. How does one know that the ebola virus had every good intention of keeping their host, some kind of mammal, alive while infecting it...well, and eventually killing it...I think that that is what humans are doing to this planet, using up all the resourses until there is nothing left leaving a bloody, dead, carcus to rot in the end...

Answer 4

Sure we can to a point . As soon as we do mother nature starts to clean house and fixes the problem . She,s old and slow but she gets the job dun . She may take out a bunch of us but if you had fleas wouldn't you.

Answer 5

Man has changed local conditions and subsequently the local climates all over this planet for thousands of years and today more than ever ,the quest for ethanol is making it even worse
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ak5Nf3ELTWtLnJCyptSH_0Hsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20070618163201AAyuI69


by deforestation

Forests absorb heat from the sun and produce humidity
people have been removing forests for ever
and with all these forests gone the place gets hotter just from that

Most of Spain is a dessert because of the timber cut to build the Spanish Armada
Lebanon was deforested to build the Phoenician fleet it is now a desert
Ghengas Kahn burned all the forest and filled all the wells with sand ,turning vast regions in to desserts in Asia.

I have seen lands in Africa (i was there for 23 years)that have been turned from jungle into desserts by people in a matter of a couple of years ,because of the slash and burn method used by settlers and expanding agriculture,

I have seen rivers dry up because of deforestation in many places in Africa and Mexico ,(been here 7 years)

I live now by the side of a river in Mexico where,in 30 years 5 species of fish have become extinct .
and part of the year the river is dry this is for longer every year because of over use of water by agriculture and as a result of deforestation.

There are natural cycles in the planets life
but a lot is influenced by mans existence ,and this is increasing with overpopulation,putting strains on Natural resources and increasing contaminations as well as destructions of essential components that ensure living conditions for all life forms

In recent times thousands of people have died because of excessive heat,usually old people.in India ,Mexico and France,

In China, thousands of what used to be farmers are running for their lives from the dust storms that have buried their towns and turned their lands into dessert,the globe where they were ,got to hot for them .
and instead of producing food they are now needing it from some where else,and this will drastically effect the world food prices, when they start buying water in the form of grains ,at any cost disestablishing governments, in some countries ,could be the result

The Sahara is growing by 7 kilometers a year( and that was originally deforested by people ,and you cannot replant in the hot sun of the equator)

Most of the desserts we know are a results of mans actions ,and they are increasing ,not getting less ,

Collectively this planets arable lands are drying up because of bad farming practices like,over grazing,use of chemicals and fertilizers,

As far as the food production is concerned, Global warming or some of its effects are serious,rising seas result in land loss

each degree rise in temperature means 10%crop loss

More and more Farmers are over pumping deep carbon aquifers to irrigate.
and are plowing more and more unstable lands

Every year more land is lost because of desertification ,we have less arable land to produce food ,for an extra 70 million people ,

And there is less and less potable water (because of deforestation),to irrigate this production ,

,Collectively because there is so much of it all over the world ,the global precipitation is affected and so is the climate .


NOTE
And we are NOT even talking about global warming because of pollution ,this is just Man made climate changes because of agriculture and expanding populations of today

Answer 6

Man didn't affect it long ago when the earth went through these cycles.
You can't even prove man is affecting the environment.

Answer 7

I'm sure at least a few idiots think that, so the answer to your question is "yes". I, however am not among that particular lunatic fringe area group.

Answer 8

the earth and environment are very huge system. man did not manufacture the it and can not clean it. do you want any more proooooooooooooofs?

Answer 9

Prove that he has.... Y'all are the ones that want everyone to drastically change lifestyles... to live in mud huts and subsistence farming.... So I believe that the burden of proof lies with you.

Answer 10

A negative cannot be proven!