Humans and the Environment

Today's prompt is: "What is your biggest concern about the future of the environment?"  My answer is that most humans are my largest concern.  Quite simply we have overpopulated what the earth can easily sustain.  Since humans tend to move in and create an environment that suites us we will "tame" the land around us.  That taming action means that we cut back the natural vegetation, we utilize all the resources, and we keep the animals out.  Quite simply we destroy the natural ecosystem of anywhere we settle.



One of the things I noticed while visiting Fiji was the lack of trash and sewer facilities.  Everything was flushed out into the ocean which killed the reefs.  By killing the reefs it also killed a lot of the native aquatic population.  While it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited it also tended to be dirty away from the resort areas. 

The only way to fix this is to strive for a stable population of earth conscience people.  People no longer need to have 18 children to have two survive.  The survival rate of children and humans on a whole has risen substantially.  You are no longer old, and going to die by the time you are thirty.  Modern health care has altered how many children are needed to continue a family line.  Most people can get away with one or two children without any issues and should.  It doesn't matter what you can afford to raise, it matters what the earth can afford to raise.  This is not a knock against any religion but remember those books were written in a very different time.  One where the life expectancy of most was not past fifty years and   Disease, War, and famine wiped out most of the children of a village and you were a lucky parent if three of your children survived.  Now most children will grow to an age that is able to reproduce.  Humans are not dyeing off in a significant enough number to sustain a normal population level or an earth sustainable level. 

The only way to control the population and keep what we have left of the earth is to control how many children we have.  Unfortunately I do not see this being something that will happen anytime soon.  I think we will have destroyed most of the earth’s environment before we figure out that we are not the only creatures on earth that have the right to it. 

Question of the hour!

What is your biggest environmental concern?