Caring for the Environment - Essay Example

?Analysis of the argument, “Humans, in general, merely react to their environmental context” Humans do not react to their environmental context. Theycould have had much more responsible in their approach towards impacting environment than they have been for centuries. Every individual adopts such ways and indulges into such practices that increase his/her business’s profitability. Nobody cares for the environment as long as things go in his/her personal interest. “Much of the development that we have enjoyed over the past century has undoubtedly come at the expense of wild nature” (Popple, 2004). Everybody says that humans should take care of the environment and a collective effort needs to be taken to protect the environment, but nothing happens at individualistic level. Accordingly, when there is no effort on individual level, no collective effort ever occurs! Humans only affect environment for the worse. Humans don’t react to the environmental context, they only act upon it. This video uploaded on Youtube by Epers (2007) conveys its message through pictures. As they say, one picture speaks one thousand words. According to the pictures flashed in this video, it can be divided into two parts. Images in the first half of the video reflect the beauty of nature. Primarily, all images flashed in the first half are of the places that have been uninhabited by the humans. There are lakes, valleys, oceans and mountains. Images show lush green valleys, dense forests, and clear spring water. The singer keeps repeating the statement, “We live in a beautiful world” while pictures are flashed in the first half of the video. The pictures show beautiful species of frogs, whales and clouds kissing the mountain peaks. These images were much more in number in the past than they are today, or probably will be in the future. This can be estimated from the fact that numerous species of animals and birds that inhabited the world in the past have now become extinct as a result of human influence and control upon the environment. “Scientists, who examined data for 350 kinds of mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, also found the numbers of many species have more than halved” (Townsend and Burke, 2002). With the statement, “But there is trouble abound….”, the second half of the video commences. The second half of the video compiles images of nature that depict human influence upon the nature. Pictures show evidence of air pollution and water pollution with smoke rising from the chimney tops and waste spread over the water surface. The pictures also depict how human caused damage to the environment has resulted into the spread of epidemic diseases. The video discusses how forests have vanished as urban development spread. There is a picture of deer grazing around like they do in a forest and a factory can be seen nearby, telling how forest has been converted into usable land. There are images of floating seagulls all covered in oil. Pictures show birds drenched in oil. It is obvious that they are not likely to survive for long in this condition. One picture in the video that I find the most ferocious and scary is that of slaughtered dolphins. The picture shows a sea of blood with dolphins laid on its corner. Dolphins killed in a bay in Japan (Jenniferepp, 2011). Who did that? Humans! And for what? For the sake of pleasure! This human act of slaughtering the dolphins does not mention human reaction to the environment in any way, but speaks volumes about human action upon the environment. This picture is of a bay where Japanese people slaughter hundreds of whales and dolphins every year. When investigated, the people were able to come up with no good reason to slaughter these animals but a fake justification that killing them helps save fish in the water (Ward, 2010). According to them, killing whales and dolphins is justifiable because they are the primary eaters of fish which happen to be human food. In the last, the video in the background displays a beautiful scene like the ones flashed in the first half of the video and in the front, it is written, “Is this worth saving? It’s up to you.” Analysis of the pictures flashed one by one in this video suggests that humans have done a lot to spoil the natural environment. The fundamental reason why humans should be held primarily responsible for ruining the environment is the fact that the pictures of ruined nature have emerged as a result of human action upon the environment. In the past, it has happened several times that some big oil company has discharged oil into the sea, and then started the blame game. “Oil giant blames thieves and militants for the spilling of nearly 14,000 tonnes of crude oil into the Niger Delta last year” (The Guardian, 2010). Some of the names included in his list are Royal Dutch Shell Company and British Petroleum Company. Millions of sea animals have lost their natural habitat as well as their life. This is an example of the direct action of humans upon the environment. Humans have also caused much damage to the environment indirectly. Although polar bears and pandas have not been killed directly by humans, yet they are becoming extinct because their natural habitat is vanishing. Although humans did not consume all that ice that forms the habitat of polar bears, yet the ice melted away because of global warming that was fundamentally caused by humans. Polluted waters, land covered with tones of garbage and litter and birds stained and drenched in oil are all the evidences of human action upon the environment. In light of the points discussed in this paper, it becomes obvious that humans have not been reacting to the environment since the evolution of mankind on the face of Earth. Instead, what is true is that humans have always acted upon the environment with least concern towards its safety and the creatures that form part of it. Critics may not be able to bring objections to every argument raised by the proponents of human action upon the environment in lengthy debates, but this video did this job by flashing few pictures! The 2:15 minutes video said it all! References: Epers. (2007). Human Impact On The Environment. [Youtube]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zPcR7wgh0c. Jenniferepp. (2011). Save The Dolphins In Japan 82. Retrieved from http://jenniferepp.hubpages.com/hub/Save-The-Dolphins-In-Japan. Popple, I. (2004). A double crisis on planet Earth. McGill Reporter. 36(15). Retrieved from http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/36/15/earthcrisis/. The Guardian. (2010, May 5). Shell reports record oil spillages in Nigeria. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/05/shell-oil-spill-niger-delta. Townsend, M., and Burke, J. (2002). Earth 'will expire by 2050'. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/jul/07/research.waste. Ward. (2010). Stop eating fish! Retrieved from http://thewordofward.co.uk/?p=1040. Read More