Overpopulation

Shuo Feng

Overpopulation

As the population in an area with too many people, its resource is not enough for their consumptions. The relationship between humans and the environment is not balanced, because the population is more than the earth capacity of them. The current world population is more than 7.3 billion. Scientists predict that the population will reach 9 billion in 40 years. The top three countries with the highest population are China, India and America.

Over population has different reasons. The one of the factors is lack of birth control education that would lead to high fertility rate. In many undeveloped countries like Africa, women do not have birth control to prevent accidental pregnancy. As a result, they gave birth to the child after they are pregnant. Another reason is that people now live longer and there is a better quality of life and advanced medical treatment that can decrease the mortality rate. In addition, the impact of immigration on the local population will increase the amount of people.

The population has affected many aspects of our ecosystem. First of all, biodiversity is declining. With the competition for resources, animal use less resources than they need. This will cause species extinction on earth. The extinction will be 1000 times faster than today's typical speed of history. This is mainly because of rapid population growth.

 

Secondly, much of the population will affect the ecological footprint. With the increase of population, people consume more energy and resources than ever before. The planet is not the production of these needs as we want. Humans will eventually use all of the resources, because the earth is not at the speed of itself. In addition, overpopulation is the impact of the environment. Chemical waste from factories and toxic substances into the water near the pollution they supply. As a result, it kills fish and endangers people's health.

I come from Beijing, China. Most of the provinces are as busy as New York City, especially in large city, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. People from other districts like to move to a big city. However, as a native of the city, I don't like this phenomenon. This can increase the difficulty of searching work, inflation, as well as the competition and traffic control. Resources are scarce, if more people need more resources will be added. When more and more people want to move in, the more difficult they will find to adapt to the society.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/eye/overpopulation/effect.html

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/25/overpopulation.overview/index.html

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/overpopulation/index.html

http://geojoedr.tripod.com/id3.html

The Western North Pacific Gray Whale (Shannon Muldowney)

              In the 1970s, it was believed that western North Pacific gray whales had gone extinct.  Later in the 1990s, there was a small group of the western North Pacific gray whales discovered off of Sakhalin Island in Russia.  Scientists have monitored the population of the western North Pacific gray whales since the 1990s.  Of the small population, scientists from the United States and Russia selected three of the whales to monitor.  Satellite-monitored tags did the monitoring.  The scientists got surprising results from the tracking, which resulted in the longest migration of a mammal ever documented.  The tracked whales had travelled a total of 14,000 miles.

Pictured above is a western North Pacific gray whale.
Credit: Photograph by Craig Hayslip

            Not only was the length of the trip surprising to the scientists, but because of the satellite-monitored tags, it was also discovered that the endangered western North Pacific gray whales had interacted with the eastern gray whales along the way.  There has been debate about whether or not the western and eastern gray whales are separate species.  If it is found to be true that they are the same species, the chances of the recovery of the western gray whale significantly increases.  Photograph comparisons were used for identifying and comparing the two types of whales.  Scientists have found pictures of gray whales from areas like Mexico that match pictures of the western gray whales from Russia.

            In our class, we have spent a lot of time discussing endangered and extinct species.  It is amazing that there is so much hope for a species that was believed to be extinct forty-five years ago.  We have also discussed the evolution of species.  If the western gray whales reproduce with the eastern gray whales, there is the possibility that there will be genetic changes to both the western and eastern gray whales.

            I think that it is encouraging and exciting that the western North Pacific gray whales crossed paths with the eastern gray whales.  The eastern gray whale population has fully recovered from their risk of endangerment.  Since they have fully recovered and the western gray whales interact with them, it gives hope for a stronger recovery for the western North Pacific gray whales.

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Overfishing (Ricky Plasencia)

Over time fish populations have decreased significantly due to overfishing. Overfishing is simply as it sounds. Overfishing is when the quantity of fish is cultivated at a rate where fishes are not given enough time to replenish. These methods of fishing are unsustainable for oceans because it exceeds the capacity of fishing. Fishing fleets are catching fishes two to three times more than what oceans can sustainably support. As a result of this, many fishes are now labeled as endangered species. This includes many forms of salmons and tunas. The issue of overfishing is not only impacting creatures that humans consume. Many dolphins and seals are becoming endangered.

One way of solving this issue is to clearly slow down on the fishing. Fishes are caught at an alarming rate on a daily basis. In all reality, all of humanity will not eat the amounts of fish that are caught. This means that we can apply the brakes a little when it comes to fishing. We are slowly reaching the point where all of our previous actions can’t be reversed, but we are not there yet. The effects of overfishing are still reversible but humanity must act fast if wants to reach a level of sustainability for fishes. Fishermen must learn to safely catch fishes without reaching the point where its harmful. This can be achieved but people must first become consciously aware of the situation. The change can be made, it just takes a great amount of effort to achieve it.

Sources:

http://overfishing.org/

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/esa/listed.htm

Image: WorldWildLife.org

Ocean Pollution By: Mahbubar Rahman

                  Ocean pollution, also known as marine pollution, is the spreading of harmful substances such as oil, plastic, industrial and agricultural waste and chemical particles into the ocean. Ocean pollution can harm marine organisms by destroying marine habitats. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), land-based activities are responsible for as much as 80 percent of the pollutant load in coastal waters and deep oceans. Most of the marine pollution enters into the ocean by land runoff. Some of the pollution first runs into a river, and then the river water enters the sea carrying a staggering load of pollutants accumulated along the river’s entire length. In agricultural sites, runoff pollution sources such as livestock wastes, nutrients from fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides can drain from fields into the ocean. In urban areas, runoff carries an array of pollutants; wastes deposited by motor vehicles, including gasoline, oil, grease, and heavy metals, sediment from construction sites; herbicides and pesticides from lawns and gardens, road salts, viruses and bacteria from inefficient septic systems, and spilled chemicals from industrial sites. Shipping spills is another major pollution for the ocean. Ships often carry toxic substances such as oil, liquefied natural gas, pesticides, and industrial chemicals. Shipwrecks can lead to the release of these chemicals and result in serious damage to marine life. Another major pollution source is dumping plastic items into the ocean, which can cause harm to the larger animals of the sea. They can trap mammals, diving birds, or turtles, causing them to drown. Fishing gear lost overboard can continue to drift, snaring fish and entangling seabirds. Marine animals routinely mistake plastic items for food, ingest them, and die.

           

            Most of the debris in the ocean does not decompose and remain there for years. This debris uses oxygen as it degrades. As a result of this, oxygen levels go down. Also, the Industrial and agricultural wastes are considered hazardous for marine life because chemicals from the pesticides can accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals, leading to failure in their reproductive system. Other chemicals from plastic and industrial decomposition do not get fully dissolved and sink to the bottom of the ocean. Small animals ingest these chemicals and are later eaten by large animals, which then affects the whole food chain. Marine pollution also affects human health. Humans consumes animals from the impacted food chain which affects their health as toxins from these contaminated animals get deposited in the tissues of people and can lead to cancer, birth defects or long term health problems.

Citations:

Ocean pollution. By: MacInnes, David F., Jr., Kähler, Karen N., Salem Press Encyclopedia, January, 2015

GregMorrison - Biodiversity

Over the years we hear about various species becoming endangered, or tragically going extinct. Many people will agree that letting an entire species cease to exist is irresponsible, especially when it is at our hand (as part of the human race).  However, there is a much greater concern when a species becomes endangered than just for that one species. This is where bio diversity comes into the conversation.  The following is a short explanation and analysis of what biodiversity is, why it is important and the impacts it has on the environment.

Biodiversity, is variety or variation of life. Biodiversity can be examined on a global scale as well as on a micro scale, such as the biodiversity of a lake. It can also be divided between genetic biodiversity, ecological biodiversity. Genetic biodiversity refers to the variation of genes within a specific species. Ecologically biodiversity refers to the diversity of ecosystems, meaning the diversity of species and their interactions with their environment.  According to the National Wildlife Federation we have identified 1.7 million species, yet current estimates state that there is likely 3-30 million species on earth. Some go as far to say that there are over 100 million species. Figure1 source:  http://www.thebluedotpost.com/why-biodiversity-and-the-interconnected-web-of-life-are-important/ 

 

As we have learned in class biodiversity is very important to the well being of the environment. Biodiversity and genetic diversity make species and environments more stable. It makes it harder for humans or natural disasters, such as floods or hurricanes to have a negative impact on species population.  Species are also deeply connected, and dependent on the existence of other species for food, help forming their environment. In class we talked about keystone species such as the crocodile and the wolf. Both of which impact their environment in a variety of ways. The way many crocodiles dig out holes for their own habitat collect water that other species rely on for drinking water in times of drought or the dry season. Biodiversity is also influential to humans. As there are an array of pollinators that help plants. We also have made great strides in medicine thanks to plant and animal diversity.

Personally I see biodiversity is under threat, while extinction has been a natural part of the environment for many years. The rate is increasing and doing so at an exponential rate. As humans increase pollution through fossil fuel emissions and exacerbate climate change, deforest large sections of the rainforest and continue to overfish. We see a grave reduction in biodiversity on a global scale. _________________________________________________________________________________

Citations:

http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Biodiversity.aspx

Keystone XL Pipeline

Currently there is a debating going on in the country whether or not the Keystone Xl pipeline should be approved and allowed to transport tar sand oil across the country to Texas to be refined and then sold abroad. Proponents of the pipeline argue that it will create jobs for the country and will be safe and not cause any oil spills. But those opposing the building of the pipeline argue that no pipeline is 100% safe and that an oil spill in many of the areas the pipeline would pass through would be detrimental to the ecosystems it will go through. Also the jobs that its proponent’s claim it will create will be only temporary and it is not worth the damage it would cause the environment just to create these jobs for a short period of time. And the extraction and burning of this oil could be the tipping point for global climate change some scientists have warned and should be avoided at all costs.

In this course we have looked at how ecosystems react to change and how for many ecosystems small changes in temperature or the population of one of its members can throw it completely out of balance. The changes to the atmosphere and also the possible changes an oil spill could cause will destroy many ecosystems and throw them out of balance. The Keystone pipeline and any other pipelines that looks to transport tar sands from Canada should be stopped. The benefits of this pipeline are all only short term and will have a detrimental impact on the environment going into the future.

We need to seriously explore alternative ways to power our society from renewable sources instead of simply developing finite sources to make a profit without regard for the effect it will have on everyone on Earth. Ultimately it is the structure of the economy and the values that it instills in its participants that drives the exploitation of the planet and people living on it. Without a reshaping of how we distribute goods and services issues such as climate change that demanded action much sooner then our economy is willing to allow us will continue to happen. This is because the profit motive, which is the basis of the economy, causes us to focus only on the short term instead of what is good for all in the long term. 

Work Cited:

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/01/transcanada-keystone-pipeline-map

http://wire.kapitall.com/wp-content/image-import/pipeline-430x323.jpg