Theoretical explanation of Environmental Biology - Essay Example

Task Environmental Biology Environmental biology teaches us important principles of environment and biology, and improves the general science literacy skills. The interaction between living organisms with their surrounding and each other is the basis of environmental biology. Environmental science is an in-disciplinary study of how the earth works, how we interact with the earth and how to deal with the environmental problems that we face by applying nature’s lessons to economies and individual lifestyles (Miller and Spollman, 1). Environmentalism teaches us to preserve, restore and improve the natural environment by for example controlling pollution. Recycling and buying of vintage clothing, for example, does not only prevent pollution, but also sustains the few resources used in producing clothes. Vintage clothes helps in fighting poverty since they are cheaper and are also able to cater for the faster growth of population. Poverty is a major cause of environmental problems and to help the poor, I have collected all old clothes in our home and given them to the homeless people. Most of the clothes these days are made of synthetic fibres and their production and disposal are hazardous to the environment. Therefore, recycling and buying vintage clothes is a big advantage to the ecosystem as it protects it. Switching to eco-friendly light bulbs also helps in saving energy since the old incandescent bulbs waste 90% of the energy. Eco friendly bulbs help in reducing lead, mercury and cadmium. After the second chapter, I discovered that the incandescent bulbs are a potential slow poison for my family and the environment. Lead can cause neurological damage and together with the other two metals, they can result into learning disabilities and short term memory loss. 1 teaspoon of mercury can permanently contaminate a 20-acre lake. A fluorescent bulb can pollute 6,000 gallons of water beyond safe levels of drinking. So we have changed all our bulbs to LED lights and we always turn off and unplug appliances when not using them, since they can also release toxic chemicals and cause contamination. An iron box, for example, should always be unplugged except when in use. Biodiversity is the variety in all forms of life. It provides us with all ranges of benefits such as vital goods such as timber and medicinal products, and essential services such as carbon cycling, clean water and pollination. Our daily bread, fish, meat, flowers, books and building timber materials are all gifts of nature. I think building from stone bricks and not timber will be a big step in saving our environment. We should also plant more trees each time we cut one for an essential usage. Biodiversity should be extremely high in our surrounding. When done with books of a lower level, we should donate them to libraries so as to avoid over exploitation of more trees being brought down for paper. Animals and plants, humans included, all rely on each other and the environment for survival. Some even share vital resources and when some of these resources become scarce, some end up migrating, changing feeding habits, dropping in population and even becoming extinct. There are predator-prey relationships, parasitism, mutualism and commensalism. A predator-prey relationship is whereby the predator relies on the prey as food while the prey relies on other preys like birds as an alert system in case of danger. In parasitism, a certain organism relies on another by living in or on it and feeding on it. The host is harmed while the parasite benefits. Mutualism is where everyone benefits through unintentional exploitation of each other. In commensalism, one organism benefits from another without affecting the other. Therefore, we should always use the gifts of the environment sparingly to avoid unnecessary ecological succession. Overconsumption of the earth’s resources has contributed to extreme ecological growth and consequent exhaustion of resources, environmental damage as well as declined ecological wellbeing. Ecological footprint, the resource accounting framework for measuring human demand on the biosphere, is strongly tied to the idea of overconsumption. Footprint is basically the area of land and water that is needed to support someone’s lifestyle. It is the measure of humanities’ demand on nature. Therefore, reducing consumption will also lessen my ecological footprint on the earth. Marine and coast ecosystems are among the most productive, yet threatened ecosystems in the world. This is through direct physical alteration of ocean environments, pollution of ocean environments, introduction of alien species and extraction of living and non living resources. It is also through global climatic change. So generally, people should avoid any form of pollution since it affects the rich marine ecosystems (Miller and Spollman, 56). Packaging of particular condiments should also be improved since most of them are packed in sachets, thus wasting a lot of paper. We should also use compostable bags made of plant or fossil raw material and avoid the plastic ones. Plastic should be recycled and not disposed off. The forests should also be fully protected from unnecessary deforestation and degradation, fires and logging. This is because it degrades biodiversity and accelerates climate change. Since most forests are cut down to accommodate the growing population, people should be educated on how to conserve forests, harvest renewable resources and practice small scale sustainable agriculture. Riparian zones should also be protected. We should also prepare just enough food for our consumption so as to waste less food and use less resources. We should also consume less meat, as the animals from which this comes from are important parts of the ecosystem. We should also buy organic produced foods which do not involve synthetic inputs. Fresh water supply should also be increased by building of dams, importing water from rivers such as the Missouri river, conserving for re use and desalinization. Water should also be used sustainably by recycling dirty water, harvesting rainfall, drip irrigation, and adopting the use of 5 gallon toilets. For good water recycling, we should avoid using water fresheners in the toilets, stop pouring chemicals down the drain and use gray water to wash your car. We should also minimise the use of pesticides, reduce water pollution and turn off running water when shampooing our hair or brushing our teeth. We should also eat seasonally and locally. We should avoid goods and services produced by corporatized institutions and instead consume local and organic foods. When shopping, one should buy goods in bulk to avoid too many individual containers which when disposed contribute more to polluting the environment. If possible, one should use soap nuts or soap berries for laundry since they contain saponins contained in soaps, and do not contain chemicals that pollute the environment. In conclusion, I think the world should come together as a whole to protect and preserve the environment. There should be a drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions so as to slow down the rate temperature increase. The world should also realise that global warming is unavoidable and devise strategies to reduce its harmful effects. The going green campaign should be taken more seriously, with more oceans being treated and preserved and more trees planted. The Kyoto protocol should be globally implemented to avoid extreme pollution. The world should also concentrate and focus on education, hard work and discipline, with regard to environmental protection. Polluters should also be heavily punished. Additionally, the world should concentrate on the Millennium Development Goals to eradicate poverty. To be able to use economic tools to deal with environmental problems, resources can be used more sustainably by including their harmful environmental and health costs in the market costs of products and services, subsidizing environmentally beneficial goods and services and taxing pollution and waste instead of wages and profits. Living more sustainably translates into being environmentally literate, learning from nature, living more simply and becoming active environmental citizens (Miller and Spollman, 68). Works Cited Miller, Tyler and Scott, Spoolman. Environmental Science. Australia: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning, 2013. Print. Read More