Considering the most interesting fact that I learned this week, I would like to make mention my new insight into what climate change actually entails. To be precise, I came to understand a truly global threat to our Earth that climate change poses indeed. In particular, many scientists claim that “... climate change has contributed to the longer fire seasons, the growing number and destructiveness of fires, and the increasing area of land consumed.” ( Schlossberg, 2016, p. A11) Supposedly, ongoing human activities are likely to contribute to global warming in a way that the world’s average temperature may potentially go up by almost 5 degrees Celsius in the not-too-distant future. Significantly, I learned that living organisms could be found virtually everywhere in the biosphere which is constantly changing ( Revkin, 2016). And, more importantly, their presence emerges to have a substantial impact on the environment they live in. Obviously, it is important to make an emphasis on the different ways that organisms can affect the environment. Specifically speaking, the effects can be either beneficial or harmful; and as for positive effects, they are usually tightly linked to metabolic activities in living organisms. It is important to indicate that humans put a lot of effort into increasing the range of things they know in respect of the environment; and of all Earth’s ecosystems, the deep sea occurs as probably the least studied. Since the 21 st century has been strongly associated with revolutionary new technologies, one can assume that the world’s largest ecosystem is not far from being fully explored. However, apart from the positive aspects for science itself that the exploration can offer, new investigations can lead to the disruption in the balance of an ecosystem as well. It appears to be certain that “... the impact of humans on the environment is often cast as a modern problem.” (Gray, 2015). Surely, the role of renewable energy should not be underestimated from the perspective of many benefits the society can gain with the use of this source. Notwithstanding this fact, the most interesting fact that I learned consists in that by 2040 renewable energy “...will be the fastest-growing power source.” (Hulac, 2015) In addition, predicting that alternative energy can meet all of the global needs in the nearest future alludes to a dire need for further investment in renewable energy technology. Global warming is the gradual increase in Earth’s surface temperature. As for the way how global warming occurs, one should know that it has a strong connection to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It is about GHD that results in high levels of solar energy occurring, which in turn leads to global warming. Apparently, “... each year, scientists learn more about how global warming is affecting the planet.” (MacMillan, 2015) ; and there is a number of ways to decrease global warming. For all that, one has to understand that healing Earth comes directly depend on whether each particular private citizen is self-conscious enough to be able to reduce the use of fossil fuels in daily activities. In my view, the public must eventually take the problem of global warming seriously and come up with ideas of how to contribute to climate change mitigation. What I learned is that the misuse of environmental resources and basically “privileges given by God” (Anand, 2015) can lead up to extremely unfavorable consequences, incorporating the imbalance in the natural elements. And special attention should be paid to cutting forests that I view as an example of human activities causing one of the greatest environmental harms. Surely, it is high time to stop cutting down trees, since further disregard of this environmental issue will only decrease the amount of moisture in the air and result in higher levels of carbon dioxide, respectively. It is inevitable that learning about biology expanded my knowledge base to a great extent. It becomes clear that this branch of science “... is all about studying life and living organisms.” (Tomasovic, 2014) Regarding the first example of a vast expansion of the knowledge base, I would like to admit that I now understand that contemporary biology rests upon the principle of complementarity, and this in turn indicates that the focus on ontic/epistemic distinctions would definitely make sense. Another expansion lies in that I saw the vital role of new investigations into things, which were simply ignored hitherto. Among the products provided by the environment that I am thankful to receive, it is necessary to take a notice of honey that has “...a variety of health benefits and medical uses .” (Goldman, 2015) Apparently, the significance of honey as medicine cannot be understated, and it is owing to honey that many people successfully cope with many bacteria and deadly infections. Certainly, the benefits of honey are hard to exaggerate, and, thus, it can be identified as a product that people should be thankful for. One cannot but encounter the fact that there are many types of environmental hazards; nevertheless, I think that tobacco smoke should be qualified as the one posing truly dangerous health risks; one should remember that it “...can damage our cells .” ( Nordqvist, 2015) Evidently, it is high time to take some measures, which would serve as a wake-up call for people exposed to tobacco smoke on the daily basis. Moreover, one has to take into account the thing that efforts to reduce tobacco use would also contribute to ecosystem restoration. Yes, the course is both useful and interesting due to giving the chance to reinterpret the attitude towards the environment that “... becomes degraded due to things like deforestation, destructive fishing practices, and pollution.” (Bechtel, 2014) And as for the most interesting information that I came across, is about getting to know all the severity of weather events that global warming increases dramatically. Indisputably, this fact convinced me of the need for some action. Overall, I find myself to be responsible for increasing awareness of environmental protection among the public.
References
Anand, P. (2016, September 27). Misuse of Natural Resources by Human Beings. Priyanka
Blog Thought. Retrieved from
http://priyankablogthoughts.com/misuse-of-natural-resources-by-human-being/
Bechtel, J. (2014, May 12). Why Protecting the Environment ‘For Future Generations’ Is a
Bad Idea. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-bechtel/dear-environmentalists_b_4942089.html
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Goldman, R. (2015, February 19). The Top 6 Raw Honey Benefits. Healthline. Retrieved
from http://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/top-raw-honey-benefits#2
Gray, R. (2015, December 15). Humans Have Been Harming Earth for 6,000 years: Spread of
Farming Caused a Tipping Point that 'Irreversibly' Changed the World. MailOnline, Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3363879/Humans-harming-Earth-6-000-years-Spread-farming-caused-tipping-point-irreversibly-changed-world.html
Hulac, B. (2015, April 27). Strong Future Forecast for Renewable Energy. Scientific
American. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strong-future-forecast-for-renewable-energy/
MacMillan, A. (2016, March 11). Global Warming 101. NRDC. Retrieved from
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101
Nordqvist, C. (2015, July 13). What Chemicals Are In Cigarette Smoke? Medical News Today. Retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/215420.php
Revkin, A. C. (2016, March 26). Too Soon Gone – Gary Braasch, Visual Chronicler of
Climate Change. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/too-soon-gone-gary-braasch-visual-chronicler-of-climate-change/
Tomasovic N. (2014, May 22). Importance of Biology: How the Study of Life Affects Ours.
Udemy Blog. Retrieved from https://blog.udemy.com/importance-of-biology/
Schlossberg, T. (2016, October 10). Climate Change Blamed for Half of Increased Forest
Fire Danger. The New York Times, p. A11.
