Dependence of Man on the Environment SCI 207
Today’s environmental debate highlights many priority issues. In the climate change discussions, energy production and mobility are in the spotlight, but when it comes to the growing concerns about biodiversity, direct environmental pressures and urban development are the focus. But today we will direct our attention to the direct environmental pressures of the production of food and how it is produce and emissions of green house gases. In many geographic locations people gather animals (Cows) for food supplies such as produce, like milk of eggs for example. When you speak of consumption for in this case, it would require less energy for them than it would for us (when I say us I mean industrial areas). For them however, this takes acres worth of land for the animals’ luxury of grazing and living space. So, when we speak in regard to energy, it may be true that it takes them less energy, but it starts to depend what the mode of production is (Duquesne, 2006). For example, in a more domestic population, they must supply way more food for the population and that requires them to butcher the animals herd the animals, milking them in huge quantities. A second mode of production is probably the next most well known one and that is, industrial capitalist (or capitalism in our case). This is a society that works to make a living and by making a living we are able to buy products; we call these goods and services. We need meat, we go to the super market and buy it from a butcher who has already cut and packed it for us. It is very rare to see an animal being slaughtered in a society of this type. The different between the Pastoralists is that for them the cows mean immediate food for us. In industrial, we must work to earn a living and only then can we make money and only then can we buy the meat of the cow. The only issue with this is that we need to make sure that the demands of the society are being met. With the constantly moving currency it is a problem if we run out of money and/or less likely but still possible food (Duquesne, 2006).
In recent years some scientists have argued that the entire planet behaves in a way where the earth is absorbing the amount of phosphorus is damaging the world little by little (Bensel, 2011). We as humans have been consuming oil and making it into gas therefore; cause the greenhouse effect to happen. Like carbon dioxide, methane gases balance naturally in the atmosphere. However, humans have led to an increase in these gases through the production and consumption of natural gas and oil. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, over 60 percent of the methane gas in the atmosphere is due to human intervention. Nitrous Oxide exists naturally in the atmosphere. The production from the soil and water that it originates from is primarily in a wet tropical area of the forest. However, human participation and creativity has played a major role in the rapid increase in nitrous oxide. For oil to be used, it must combust.