Humans and the Environment (Essay Sample)
In at least 3 well-developed (6-8 sentences) and clearly written paragraphs that employ historical evidence from at least 4 of the assigned readings for this issue (Stearns and Mitchell required as two of the four), answer the following three questions:
Historically, how have humans caused the environmental change, what kinds of changes have taken place, and when? The goal of this question is to use concrete historical examples to make your case. Do not provide vague examples that lack specific time, geography, or result.
How has the shift from renewable energy forms to what Timothy Mitchell calls "buried sunshine" transformed human political organization? When, where, and how did this industrial "revolution" unfold?
Finally, given what you now know about the historical roots of climate change, why is it so political today?
Post your original response to these questions by the deadline indicated on the course schedule to the Discussion Board forum called "Humans and the Environment."
After you have posted your own original response, read your classmates’ original response and, by the deadline indicated in the course schedule, reply to at least one classmate's post by contributing at least one new piece of evidence that can enhance a classmate’s argument. That new piece of evidence should not be one that you’ve included in your original post (which they can already see), but an additional piece of historical evidence from one or more of the readings.
Humans and the Environment
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Humans and the Environment
Both human and animal life depends on the environment they live in and how they interact with it. Unfortunately, human interaction with the environment has been adverse and has led to the fall of some of the earliest civilizations. To illustrate, the Polynesians arrived at Easter Island in the fifth century and started populating it and using its resources for their survival. However, with an explosion in population from tens to 7000 in fifty years and a lack of enough resources, the inhabitants deforested the island leading to the collapse of the island's civilization. Moreover, the Maya contributed to their downfall by clearing vegetation for farming and soil erosion due to poor farming practices. This factor led to changes in climate and reduction in rainfall, thus leading to the Maya collapse in 1967. The collapse of both the Easter Island and the Maya civilizations are vivid illustrations of how humans harm the environment and how it affects them adversely.
Approximately 200 years ago, humans relied entirely on renewable energy from plants that obtained their energy from the sun. However, since around 1800, fossil fuel discovery led to the shift from using renewable energy sources for industrial production. The shift in demand to fossil fuel made man a more sophisticated being with more advanced scientific equipment, warfare, elaborate political and economic ideologies. In Britain, the change is majorly related to the increase in demand for more potent sources of energy in industries and the invention of fossil fuel engines that began in the 1820s. These factors contributed immensely to the industrial revolution, which led to increased industrial production, employment, and change in economic schools of thought. The industrial revolution began in Britain in the last quarter of the eighteenth century during scientists and economists invented many tools and theories which were pivotal to its rise. Fossil fuels were the centre of the revolution as they powered machines, locomotives, and other equipment in factories.
Countries have politicized climate change for decades with disregard to the adverse effects that await the planet. Although logically,
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