Have humans been a benefit or a hinderance to the earth?
Human are the most advanced species on our planet. Most people know that, however just because we are the most advanced intellectually does not mean we have benefited the earth in any way. Besides humans, each animal is in an ecosystem, in these ecosystems each animal fills a niche. Unless an outside force tampers with the ecosystem, animals will evolve to fill a specific niche. The largest ecosystem, the world, would be in equilibrium. For the most part nature has stayed true to my previous statement. In areas rarely tampered with by humans all life thrives. Natural events keep the populations of all animals in check and everything stays equal. Some events like global warming would still slowly occur without the presence of humans, as some plants release green house gasses when they die, and other things like wildfires would cause global warming. However this effect would be Drastically slower than it is currently. Without human intervention the world ecosystem could have survived until the day the sun burned out. However as you know since you are reading this article, humans do exist and haven’t done anything positive for the earth. Ever since pre-medival times farmers would burn down large quantities of forests to fertilize there crops, and this practice still exists in places such as Madagascar, one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the entire world! The human nature to consistently expand and the unique characteristic of reproducing for pleasure (a trait that only humans and bonobos share) has made humans rapidly expand and evolve astronomically fast compared to similar species. Since we have more complex brains we strive for more complex things. And use the environment as we see fit for us to live a happy and prosperous life. However this desire will ultimately lead to our demise. Our larger brains allow us to predict and comprehend dangers that other animals cannot. We can see into the future and imagine a different life. These attributes led us to making decisions in the past, that are ultimately hurting us now. One example is that in suburban areas humans drove out or killed all potential predators. This drove wolfs, coyotes, and bears out of these areas. Deer now over populate these areas, knowing that they are safe and have an abundance of food. Deer now kill more people on car accidents then any wolf or coyote or even a bear could have. Our immense amount of fossil fuel burning with no real concern about what it is doing to the environment and what happens if we run out has had and will continue to have devastating effects on our environment. And the lack of fossil fuels might lead to our demise as a species. Now someone might argue that humans have done great things as well, for example our programs to help save endangered species. However the majority of endangered species are endangered because of human hunting, environmental changes from global warming, or the pet trade. These things are all human made problems that we are now trying to solve after it is to late. The pollution of our oceans, whether through dumping garbage or oils spills has devastated the marine ecosystems. And the melting of the ice caps is going to potentially kill billions of animals due to the rise of ocean levels and increased water temperatures. Forests in beautiful places like Madagascar will be gone within a hundred years and the incredibly unique organisms that used to prosper there will no longer exist. I beg of you to take action and join groups that will help the preservation of our earth. Together we can make a difference.
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