The theory of evolution states that the organism which is most adapt to acquiring its necessary resource will survive and reproduce, allowing it to pass down its DNA to its offspring and then the offspring gets to do the same thing unless its gets out done by some one else. But for us humans, through almost all of our history the resource we most valued is currency. In a sense, "money runs the world". But this becomes a problem when money, and the greed for it, counter common sense and biophilia. For example, the marine ecosystems were destroyed in the pursuit of profit. Rain forests destroyed for wood and land, which turns into profit. The cause of Global Warming? Thousands of factories and millions of cars producing Co2, so their owners can make profit. Even in the face of a possible world wide natural catastrophe because of global warming in the next 30-50 years, big business shies away from change all because of money. No matter your opinion on it, for us humans, money is the resource we all inevitably fight over. Even subconciously, one reason you are up reading this right now is because you want to out do your fellow stevenson classmates and make more money than them later on in life (and of course biophilia).
But in a sense, won't the world greed eventually destroy it? Already nature is being taken for granted in favor of profit, and we're growing nearer and nearer to the point where our natural resources our dwindling, destroying thousands of species and habitats daily. Is there any hope for a bio diverse future with nature in it, or will humans inevetibaly mechanize and over populate the world where there is no more room for other species and nature. Could common sense eventually slow down this steady destruction of the planet earth, or will we inevitably dig our own graves out of greed. Post your opinions, and if possible any examples of people countering this phenommenon on a large scale. ( You planting a cherry tree by your house doesn't count.)
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I think that there is hope for a bio diverse future because at the moment, we have individuals and different groups fighting for "protection of land" and "protecting the animals/endangered species". But as soon as these groups dwindle away and people stop caring altogether, a bio diverse future is going to be very hard to maintain. Carroll warns about this in the last chapter especially with the Huxley quote saying that "facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored"(268). He knows that there are many ignorant people in the world who only care about profiting themselves and could care less about the environment. Carroll states that if we continue to ignore what is going on with the growing industries and the decline in nature, we will be "determining the future direction of evolution on this earth", which would result in overpopulation without room for nature.
ReplyDeleteThere are ways to slow down destruction such as commuting to work or recycling or using less energy but in the time period we live in, we are constantly too busy to be thinking about anything but ourselves. Unfortunately, our behavior has a consequence which is what the Huxley quote on the last page of the book hints at.
There are many organizations out there that are “going green” and trying to help the world with various programs. A good example is the Nike ReUse-A-Shoe program. This program takes donations of any and all gym shoes. Nike grinds the shoes up into Nike grind, Nike upper, and Nike foam. The different materials are then used to make court surfaces for communities who request or need the facilities. The old gym shoes used would have been going into land fills if they were not recycled by Nike. Think about the amount of space that is being taken up by land fills and how many animals’ homes are being taken by land fills. Nike’s program is one that tries to get rid of some of the garbage in the world and at the same time benefit communities. In order for this program to run Nike has to provide the workers and machinery and then in the end have to work to install the courts. All of these things are very expensive and have will get no profit. Nike is a profitable company, but they still realize the significance of helping the earth and the community. They are not being greedy and there work provides proof that not all people or companies are simply money hungry. In addition, in order for this program to work the public has to be willing to donate their old gym shoes. This is another act that is not greedy. A group that was apart of this process was local Girl Scout Troop 3481. They were able to donate 2,462 shoes to the program. Although this may seem like a small act, it is a step in the right direction to cleaning up the earth and having less garbage in the land fills.
ReplyDeleteNot to be a debbie downer or anything--- but the world will eventually end (of course not in our lifetimes- more like about 7 billion years). But anyway, humans have certainly done lots of harm to the Earth through global warming, tearing down rainforests, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe Jewish national fund (JNF) has a program for people to donate money in order to plant trees in Israel. Thousands of trees have been planted (I've even seen the "tree-fields"). Trees, using photosynthesis, absorb carbon dioxide (which has had a very large increase in the atmosphere) through the stomata and perform photosynthesis in the chloroplasts of leaves and then release oxygen into the atmosphere back through stomata (interaction with environment theme :] ). (remember photosynthesis is 2 parts- light reactions and calvin cycle). Of course there are the little things everyone can do in order to 'go green' a bit more. We can buy hybrid cars, or at least cars with better mpg, turn off the water while we aren't using water, recycling, etc. etc.
Humans are innately greedy. Technically, so is every single organism on the planet because lets face it, every single organism does want to survive and reproduce. Therefore, competition with any species will arise, but in different forms. Humans are innately greedy with money (big duh). However, it is unlikely that the world will end because of our greed. Humans have the capability to show compassion for the environment and to have biophilia. That's why we get organizations like WWF.
I agree with Erin that humans are innately greedy especially with money. However, I believe that this greed will lead humans to save the world rather than destroy it. Leaders of corporations and other primary culprits of environmental degradation realize that they might experience the effects of environmental destruction in their life times; these effects would either affect their business directly or reduce their standard of living. Many will not be able to continue their environment degrading businesses for long (oil companies, car companies producing gas guzzlers). They are also aware that they can make huge profits by going green and expanding into a new economic sector with little competition. Indeed, many companies are being forced to go green by an eco-friendly consumer base (car companies, paper companies).
ReplyDeleteA perfect example of greed going green is OPEC (organization of petroleum exporting countries). The countries in OPEC produce over 35% of the worlds oil, the countries of OPEC together contain two thirds of the word oil reserves, and have a significant amount of control over the price of oil. However, with all production reaching its peak and its imminent decline, many OPEC countries are using their prodigious profits from the oil trade to install alternative energy programs. Algeria for example is creating new solar energy generation plants through project NEAL. OPEC countries’ greed forces them to go green so that they can exploit a new market, economically secure their futures for oil runs out, and continue to control world energy prices. Going green is profitable so actions such as this from bodies like OPEC are not suprising.