State of the Environment

Essay by CwoodardUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, December 2006

download word file, 1 pages 1.0

The Environment has a large influence on society. As the environment is slowly degrading, our quality of living is also slowly degrading. Water is our main concern. The wetland and mountainous ecosystems can provide water for four billion people. Water levels have stayed constant from 1960 to 2000, while our demand for it has doubled. At this rate, we will soon not have enough water for everyone. Our important ecosystems, like the wetlands, mangroves, and mountain forests, are disappearing and being replaced by populated urban areas such as towns and cities.

Natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, devastated the population and everything around it. The hurricane had the same amount of power equal to one million Little Boy atomic bombs, which was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Fireweed, which we all know as the bright purple flowers that appear everywhere in the summer time, contains a very harmful venom which could seep into our water system.

"After one man bit a fishing line in two, his mouth and tongue swelled so badly that he couldn't eat solid food for a week."(Kenneth R. Weiss, A Primeval Tide of Toxins, L.A. Times).

In the near future, the population will be more aware of and concerned of environmental issues. As environmental issues threaten the water, food and natural soil that we take for granted today, we will need to consider better more conservative methods of conserving these valuable resources. The lecture was well done and the readings were very informative about the environmental issues arising in the world today.