ecological crisis anywhere in the world that has attracted significant attention. Explain the history of the event including how the situation reached a crisis point.
Answers
Answer:
One of the most compelling reasons for studying environmental science and management is the fact that, in the view of many leading authorities, we are now experiencing an environmental crisis; indeed, many authors have claimed that the present environmental crisis is unprecedented in its magnitude, pace and severity (Park 2001). Awareness of this environmental crisis has grown since the 1970s, partly as a result of the prominence given to major so-called 'environmental' disasters such as the Sahelian droughts of the 1970s and 1980s and the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986. A major assessment of the global environment published in 1999, the UNEP Global Environment Outlook 2000 report (UNEP 1999), drew attention to two critical, recurring themes:
- The fact that the global human ecosystem is threatened by grave imbalances in productivity and in the distribution of goods and services - as evidenced by the fact that a large proportion of the human population lives in poverty, and that a widening gap exists between those who benefit from economic and technological development and those who do not
- The fact that accelerating changes are occurring at the global scale, with rates of economic and social development outstripping progress in achieving internationally co-ordinated environmental stewardship - with the result that improvements in environmental protection due to new technologies are being 'cancelled out' by the magnitude and pace of human population growth and economic development
Consequently, a wide range of environmental problems has emerged; those problems include anthropogenic climate change ('global warming'), the depletion of stratospheric ozone (the 'ozone hole'), the acidification of surface waters ('acid rain'), the destruction of tropical forests, the depletion and extinction of species, and the precipitous decline of biodiversity. Yet, while all of these problems have physical (environmental) manifestations, their causes - and their potential solutions - are invariably bound up with human attitudes, beliefs, values, needs, desires, expectations, and behaviours. Thus the symptoms of the environmental crisis cannot be regarded purely as physical problems requiring solutions by environmental 'specialists'; instead, they are intrinsically human problems and they are intimately related to the question of what it means to be human.
Explanation:
Pick an ecological crisis anywhere in the world that has attracted significant attention. Explain the history of the event including how the situation reached a crisis point. Document as many sides of the situation as possible and include the resolution, if any was reached, of the crisis. If there was no resolution, speculate on how the crisis may be resolved in the future.
Background: Throughout the world, there are numerous environmental problems resulting from human population pressure on local natural resources. A large proportion of ecological research is dedicated to finding solutions to these issues.
Objectives: Upon completing this assignment, you should be able to describe in-depth an ecological issue, including at least two different perspectives, and how this issue is representative of other similar issues.