Service of the Environment to Mankind - Term Paper Example

Introduction Service of the Environment to mankind The name environment is normally broadly used to refer to our surroundings. It has both living and non living components. From the environment resources are obtained which support life and contribute to the relationship between the environment and the living organisms found there. Nature could also be used to refer to the environment. The relationship between mankind and the environment is strong (Forseth, 2010, pg.245). For a long time man has dependent on the environment for all his life. Food, clothing, shelter, fuel and many other goods and services come from nature. Everything that man needs must be sought from nature which is seen to be at the service of man all the time. Looking at the way mankind is dependent on the environment for all his needs we could be accurate that nature or environment exists to serve mankind. The existence of the environmental components such vegetation, water bodies, mountains, animals among others does not depend on man. Nature can exist alone and the involvement of man has been termed as interference. The meaning of the word environment is everything within the surroundings. However for the purposes of this paper the natural surrounding or nature will be used when referring to the environment. This paper critically looks at the argument that the purpose of the environment is solely to serve humanity. Dependence of man on the environment The environment or nature is the home of man. The environment is made to solely serve mankind since all components of the environment are subject to mankind in one way or he other. Mankind depends on the environment for food, clothing, shelter, water, air and his entire livelihood. According to UNDP,UNEP, (2005) all the resources that man needs to survive are found within the environment. Rivers, lakes and other water bodies provide water, forests provide timber for construction, firewood and raw materials for paper, and the soil provides minerals and fossil fuels. Plants and animals depend on the soil and they provide man with food and other products that are of economic importance. The interdependence of man with the environment is illustrated by this. Plants provide a very big chunk of the food eaten by man. The food that people eat is made up mainly of fruits, cereals and vegetables. They also provide the many types of raw materials used in factories to make various types of food. Materials such as rubber and wood come from plants McCabe (2010.pg56). Cotton fiber produced from cotton plants is important in fabric and cotton making. Plants also provide man with medicines for the treatment of various diseases. Mankind also depends on plants to maintain oxygen balance in the air. Both people and animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Is there was no process for balancing this phenomenon there could be a problem resulting from air pollution. Animals such as buffaloes, camels, goats and cows provide milk from which cheese, curd, ghee and butter are produced. Meat and eggs provide a lot of protein. Fish provide meat while bees make honey. Animals also provide services like carrying heavy loads. Camels and horses are important for transport in deserts and hills. Dogs are kept by some people as pets and have the role of guarding the house. They can smell very well and are important to the police for detective activities. The enlisting of the ways through mankind benefits from the environment is an indicator of showing how the environment gives service to mankind and how man cannot do without it. This service has been recognized by many people who have therefore decided to campaign for the protection of that environment. This is the genesis of environmental conservation activities. International committees and meetings have been held with various agreements being passed to protect various sections of the environment Schilling M. and Chiang L. (20119, 990-998).Destruction of the environment through poor waste disposal, over utilization of resources, ozone depletion, and destruction of vegetation among other things is believed to be among the things that destroy the habitat of mankind. Environment to serve mankind The environment is created to the service of man because out of the animals and plants created on earth only man posses the biggest brain capacity. This brain capacity gives man control over the rest of nature. Man can therefore use the rest of the components of the environment since he is the only one in all creation with the power to manipulate them. Man having the ability to control the rest of nature makes it possible for him to put them at his service. The environment is meant to serve humanity because humanity has no life without the environment. If one says that the environment is not meant to serve man then man would have no life. Apart from the service it gives to humanity, there is no other role that the environment plays. All the ecosystems that exist and the natural systems in the world would be useless without somebody to make use and benefit form them Forseth (2010). The environment with all its wealth and resources would be unutilized if man was not on the scene. Talk of the minerals, the fossil fuels being exploited, the rich soils, the abundant water, fish, and other resources that need man to make use of them. The influence and intervention of man in nature has shaped the face of the world. If man was not there then the environment or nature would exist for nothing. It would remain wild and unexploited without any control and this would bring out the meaninglessness in it. Humans occupy a unique position in the whole of nature because they have exceptional ability for influencing and molding the environment. Conservationists accept the role played by human activities in destroying the environment and they recognize the needs of both future and present generations. They emphasize on using resources carefully so that the needs of the present and future human societies are taken into consideration. The increasing demand for environmental conservation from various quarters is an indicator of the value of the environment in the service it provides to man. Governments in particular have put in place various institutions to ensure the protection of the environment since they realize that it gives great service to mankind Schilling M. and Chiang L. (20119, 990-998). The private sector as well has its various organizations and institutions through which the conservation of the environment is carried out. At the moment the entire globe has woken up to the needs of the environment. This has been occasioned by the realization that without the service of the environment the life of mankind on earth will be technically very difficult. Conservation of the environment has enabled the creation of words such as matters of national environmental national significance, ecologically sustainable development, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and Planning law (EPBC Act) which are common in the conservation of the environment in Australia (Schilling and Chiang 2011p 390-410). Among other things EPBC Act provides for environmental protection more so those environmental aspects which are matters of national environmental significance. It promotes ecologically sustainable development by conserving and use of natural resources in a way that is ecologically sustainable. It also promotes biodiversity conservation and cooperative approach to the management and protection of the environment. It helps in the cooperative implementation of the international environmental responsibilities of Australia. The Act provides for the recognition of the roles of indigenous communities in conserving and using the biodiversity of Australia in an ecologically sustainable way. It also seeks to promote the use of the knowledge of the indigenous people about biodiversity involving and cooperating with those who own that knowledge McCabe, (1 (12): 4.. The enactment of the above Act in Australia shows how much environmental conservation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of resources within the environment is given much value. Such initiatives could not be possible if the law makers did not realize how valuable he service of the environment is to man. In the EPBC Act there are the matters of national environmental significance among them world heritage properties, national heritage properties, wetlands of international significance, species and ecological communities that are threatened, migratory species, commonwealth marine areas, and nuclear actions among others. The above matters of national environmental significance show the desire of the Australian government to protect its environment and to cultivate the same culture in the people of Australia. Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) is a concept which seeks to form an integration of both long term and short term economic, environmental and social effects in to government and industry decision making. The Australian community through the ESD is able to appreciate the fact that the environment and the resources thereof are very crucial to the survival of mankind. Ecologically Sustainable Development helps to bring in Australia a kind of development that seeks to conserve the ecology of the land Schilling M. and Chiang L.(20119, 990-998). This is in recognition of the fact that all future generations will still need to be served by the same ecological systems and the environment in general. The efforts of the government of Australia to conserve its environment as discussed above could be interpreted to mean that that the environment is made to serve humanity since even the Australian government has realized this and is acting on it Salvati and Marco (2008, 1 (12): 4.). It could be argued that the environment does not exist to solely serve humanity. It is possible for one to say that the existence of man on earth adds no contribution to the environment and that nature would do well without the interference of man. In this dimension one would argue that nature exists for other purposes which include serving the other of its components. With this kind of argument it means that animals and plants with the physical components such as rivers and soils coexist together in an interdependent and complementary way Fein (2003 p 19:1-13.).Therefore nature exists for itself and could give service to its other components which do not include man. Actually there is some rationality in this thought. Trees could be living to serve the animals by providing shelter and food, water could be there to serve the animals and the plants, the soils serve the plants and the animals and so forth. We could say the animals exist to serve each other for example in terms of food where carnivores feed on herbivores. Besides serving man the environment has the obligation to serve other components within it besides man. However as much as this point of view may look right it overlooks some important points. The environment does give service to man and to the rest of nature at the same time. It could be agreed that it does not solely serve mankind. However we can place humanity at the top of the chain and say that after the other components of nature have served each other then all of them render their services to man. Take an example of a herbivore being served by the land and the water through provision of food and shelter from vegetation. A leopard could be served by the herbivore when it kills and eats it Forseth, I. (20101 (8): 12).When man comes on the scene he is served by the leopard with or without the herbivore in terms of tourism, spot or other ways. Looking at it from a broader perspective the components of nature could serve themselves and each other but collectively they exist to serve mankind Conclusion In conclusion the paper has examined critically the argument that the environment exists solely to serve mankind. The dependence of man on the environment and increasing campaigns at international and international levels for environmental conservation show its relevance to man. Nature is there to solely serve man although it could serve itself in the process of serving mankind. A contrary argument could be made to the effect that components of nature serve each other and man as well. Therefore nature does not solely serve man. However the ultimate goal is for these components to be ready whenever they are needed by man. Bibliography Ecosystem Services (2000). Ecological Society of America. Amazon publishers. New York City Fein J. (2003) Learning to Care: Education and Compassion, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 19:1-13. Forseth, I. (2010). "Terrestrial Biomes" Nature Education Knowledge 1 (8): 12.Cambridge University. McCabe, D. J. (2010) "Rivers and streams: Life in flowing water" Nature Education Knowledge 1 (12): 4. Salvati L. and Marco Z. (2008) Natural resource depletion and economic performance of local districts: suggestions from a within-country analysis; Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology. 15(6): 518-523 Schilling M. and Chiang L. (2011) The effect of natural resources on sustainable development policy: The approach of non- sustainable externalities. Energy Policy 39: 990-998 UNDP,UNEP(2005).The World Bank and World Resources Institute -The Wealth of the Poor: Managing Ecosystems to Fight Poverty Institute 2005 Chapter 3 The board's role in governance, World Resources 2005 Read More