The Earth Charter

1) Respect and Care For the Community of Life

                                          

(https://www.google.com/search?q=animals+belong+on+the+planet&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=633&source)

This sub topic opens up by stating that all life forms have a right to be on this planet and all serve a purpose. This relates back to the biotic pyramid which we learned about in class. It also was discussed in our last reading by Jane Goodall. Goodall addressed this subject multiple times even saying: "...these animals belong on the land. They have a right to be there." Every animal that is on the planet serves a specific purpose and is important to environmental cycles. The biotic pyramid shows us the flow of energy and that each animal, plant, or organism fits into a section on the biotic pyramid. They each play a part in the energy flow from one section to another. Once a species goes extinct there is no bringing it back which is why we must respect and care for all living things on the planet.

2) Ecological Integrity 

(https://www.google.com/search?q=earth+deteriorating&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=979&source)

Ecological Integrity is the abundance and diversity of organisms at all levels, and the ecological patterns, processes, and structural attributes responsible for that biological diversity and for ecosystem resilience. In The Earth Charter the main focus within Ecological Integrity is SUSTAINABILITY. It talks about implementing plans and regulations in order to make sustainability easier. It then begins talking about taking advantage of renewable resources and using them effectively. One thing that it went into that hasn't been brought up in any of the readings is the danger that non native species bring into the environment. We touched on it in class and came to the conclusion that non native species are very dangerous to native species and should be eradicated. We witnessed one in the Cuban Tree frog on our Estero Island field trip. 

3) Social and Economic Justice

                                                (https://www.google.com/search?q=economy+and+nature&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=589&source)

Social and Economic Justice was a great section of this reading because it is something we have not gone into in class. It brings up that the environment and economy are interrelated and directly effect each other. This may seem strange at first because they are both so different but they are certainly connected. Vandana Shiva wrote about this in Tomorrow’s Biodiversity “What is Biodiversity and Why is it so Important? Shiva says specifically "Biodiversity is not just a conservation issue, it is an issue affecting economic survival." Everything item that is made comes from the environment somehow so it is important to protect the environment in order to protect the economy. This helps involve people who would not normally be interested in saving the environment learn be help because they see that the economy depends on the environment. 

4) Democracy, Non-Violence, and Peace 


                   (https://www.google.com/search?q=government+saving+environment&espv)

The Earth Charter wraps up by talking about the government. Stating that the government should get more involved in sustainability and help pass laws and lower corruption in order to help save the environment. It also discusses environmental education which we have talked about in class since day one. Not only have we learned the importance of environmental education but also how much it helps. After all this class is a form of environmental education. 

Goodall Endangered Species

(https://www.google.com/search?q=animals+belong+on+the+planet&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=633&source)

"...I tell them it is because these animals belong on the land. They have a right to be there."

This quote sums up the idea of the entire reading. Animals were put on this planet far before us and have as much right to be here as we do. Not only do they have the right to be here but most animals are necessary to the survival of the planet. Every animal has its place and plays its part in the biotic pyramid. This means people must continue to protect endangered species to further prevent extinction. 

(https://www.google.com/search?q=animals+belong+on+the+planet&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=633&source)

"It is indeed true that the expense of saving an endangered species can be exorbitant, so it is fortunate that in many countries there are laws protecting life forms threatened with extinction."

This quote brings up many great points. The first being that saving endangered species can be extremely expensive but it is certainly worth the cost because once a species goes extinct there is no brining it back. Every creature that has been put on the planet has a specific place on the biotic pyramid and plays a part in the big picture. Originally life forms would go extinct because of natural causes but ever since man has started walking the earth it has been people that cause life forms to go extinct. Man made things like pollution, hunting, and destruction of habitats have brought on large amounts of extinction. In order to avoid the high cost of saving endangered species laws can be put in place that keep their population from getting low in the first place. 

(https://www.google.com/search?q=animals+belong+on+the+planet&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=633&source)

"All of them confessed to loving the wilderness, being out there with nature."

Everything I learn in class is all starting to make sense! Mainly sense of place. We have learned repeatedly about the importance of someones sense of place and and it continues to show up in everything I have read for this course. In this quote we see that having a strong sense of place can also posses someone to take action in order to save the environment. These people enjoy nature so much that they make it their goal to help preserve it and help endangered species in order to keep their sense of place in tact. 

(https://www.google.com/search?q=people+and+animals&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=589&tbm)

"It is this-this link between the human being and the other animals with whom we share Planet Earth, this connection we can establish with another life form-that for many makes it possible to carry on."

A persons bond with animals is very important and can happen in many different ways, weather it is a mans bond with his pet dog or a persons ability to see that wild animals are no different than us. The end goal of every creature on the planet is survival at any means necessary. We are meant to share the planet with other creatures because they have the same right to be here as we do and are necessary for the survival of the planet. We must work with these animals in order to ensure a healthy planet and help sustain them at any means necessary. 

Silent Spring

((https://www.google.com/search?q=smaug&espv=2&source))

"The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials."

Carson spends a lot of time focusing on how man is destroying the environment which is a very important subject. In this particular passage she digs into what are in her opinion the most harmful ways man destroys the environment. It is important to understand that everything in life occurs in a cycle. Whether it is the biotic pyramid or the water cycle the earth is constantly working in a cycle continuously reusing resources. When things as dangerous as lethal materials are dumped into the ocean they go through the water cycle and and end up in the air, water, and land. The same goes for air pollution. Once the air is polluted and evaporates whatever was in that air can end up on the land or in the water.

"This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable; the chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life but in living tissues is for the most part irreversible."

(https://www.google.com/search?q=bad+pollution&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=589&source)

This quote was very scary and eye opening. In this day and age it is easy to become numb to hearing about things like air pollution and cars destroying the environment but people need to learn to take action now because the mistakes we are making now are IRREVERSIBLE. Once we abuse the environment to a certain point it will not be possible to go back and fix it. This is why it is important that we go green as soon as possible in order to save the planet before it is too late. 

''...control must be geared to realities, not to mythical situations, and that the methods employed must be such that they do not destroy us along with the insects."

(https://www.google.com/search?q=sustainability&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=589&source)

This quote stresses the importance of being careful with how much we attempt to control the environment and in which ways we do it. Natural pesticides are suitable options in order to control the insect population opposed to man made pesticides that can be lethal. If not done properly we can eliminate people on accident while attempting to eliminate insects. This is why it is always important to seek natural alternatives when working with population control. 

"Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape, but man has displayed a passion for simplifying it."

For some reason people constantly feel that they can be doing better. It is because of this that people continuously attempt to find ways to simplify things. Although iPhones and other forms of technological increase are great examples of this none are more historic than nature. Man has been trying to manipulate the planet since day one in attempt to make life easier. Although we must sometimes manipulate the environment out of necessity we must draw a fine line between surviving and just taking advantage of the planet.  

(https://www.google.com/search?q=man+destroying+nature&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=589&source)

Shiva Biodiversity

(https://www.google.com/search?q=biotic+pyramid&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=633&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source)

Due to the fact that it is so simple the biotic pyramid doesn't seem like it gives us much information but in reality it is what life is based on. As we learned in class it is not a hard concept to grasp. The biotic pyramid is the food chain and it shows in order how energy is transferred. This easy concept can be applied to anything involving life and it is important that we respect it and don't use technology to alter the steps in this pyramid. We need nature to survive and manipulating it can be catastrophic. 

"Throughout the twentieth century it was considered that substitutes could be found for resources supplied by biodiversity: renewable sources of energy -wood and animal energy- could be replaced by fossil fuel; manure for growing food could be replaced by the products of fertilizer factories; and medicines could be made from synthetic molecules. But fossil fuels have given us climate change; agrichemicals have threatened species, undermined soil fertility and human health; and synthetic drugs have had fatal side- effects."

There is no way to beat nature. We must play by the environments rules because we need it to survive. Although manipulating the natural environment may sometimes turn out in short term success things will always fail in the long run. As Shiva has shown us, everything that we humans have done to cheat the environment is beginning to backfire. Things like fossil fuels seemed to work for many decades, but we have recently began to see the dreadful side effects such as pollution and climate change. We must not lose sight of the biotic pyramid and learn to follow its steps exactly without manipulating the environment. 

                                         (https://www.google.com/search?q=fossil+fuels+negative+effects&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=589&source)

"The extinction of a species means not just the loss of that particular species, but also a threat to the other species that are supported by it through ecological process."

                                                            (https://www.google.com/search?q=species+extinction&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=589&source)

Once again we go back to the importance of the biotic pyramid. If you alter even one of the stages of it they will all be negatively affected. The vegetation require the microbes, the animals require the vegetation, and the humans require the animals. All of these are required for life to exist and if any of these are removed the rest would go extinct. 

"Biodiversity is not just a conservation issue, it is an issue affecting economic survival."

                                                (https://www.google.com/search?q=economy+and+nature&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=589&source)

Most of the time when ecological issues are brought up there is a large amount of people who are not concerned with it but only care about money. The thing about biodiversity is it involves both so everyone is affected. Everything we have today comes from nature one way or another and if we neglect and mistreat the environment parts of it can go extinct that we require to make things. This will remove items from circulation which would for sure hurt the economy. 

A Tale of Two Farms

Diamond opens this reading in an extremely unique way that I found very interesting. He began by comparing the similarities of both farms as if they were both fully operational farms which made it easy to compare them. He then goes on to to tell us that Gardar farm was abandoned over 500 years ago. Had he have opened up by telling us this it would have been harder to compare the two and made this reading much more difficult.

                                                           (https://www.google.com/search?q=gardar+farm&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=589&source)

“…even the richest, technologically most advanced societies today face growing environmental and economic problems that should not be underestimated."

                                                  (https://www.google.com/search?q=success+to+failure&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=633&source)

This is the moral of the story! Nothing is ever unstoppable and Diamond uses some great examples to drive this home. He shows us a modern business that is on top and shows no sign of slowing down and compares it to one that was in the exact same place and went on to fail. Having a failed business to compare it to made it much much easier to understand how serious this really is. 

"...many of those mysterious abandonments were at least partly triggered by ecological problems: people inadvertently destroying the environmental resources on which their societies depended."

Sound familiar? They say we learn history because it repeats itself and this is a prime example. Many times we humans have taken advantage of our environment and the results have almost always been catastrophic. A great example would be after the civil war when American settlers began killing Buffalo in the thousands and almost forcing them to go extinct. As we've discussed many times we cannot live without our environment so this is another important lesson to take care of what we are given. Had the environment been preserved and properly taken care of it is highly probable that Gardar farm would have thrived for years to come. With how people are taking advantage of the environment today (car pollution, massive expansion, growing population, etc...) it would not be a surprise to me if Huls farm went down the same path that Gardar farm did.  

                                       (https://www.google.com/search?q=buffalo+going+extinct+wild+west&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=633&source)

"Those past collapses tended to follow somewhat similar courses constituting variations on a theme. Population growth forced people to adopt intensified means of agricultural production..."

Similar to the video we viewed in class we see a pattern where a growing population has forced farmers to abandon the "old fashioned way" of farming and switch to unconventional mass production forms of farming which are not only not as nutritious but usually take more from the environment. The biggest lesson from this reading is to use Gardar farm as an example. Do not take advantage of your environment because the environment always wins!