Earth Is Being Harmed by Human Activity Essay Example

Imagine a world without oxygen, everyone gasping for air, and unable to take a simple breath. Why you ask? Because we felt it was necessary to have a few more housing developments. A larger city. A new road. A fast food place. We’re destroying one of the world's largest, most vital ecosystems for our own foolish pleasures. We take down parts of this ecosystem everyday, harming the earth more and more each time. If we continue down this path of pointless destruction, our world will never be the same. 

To begin, we would be destroying one of the world's largest air filtration systems. Trees are a key member in decreasing the world's pollutants, and since we are taking down so many, we are destroying our natural filter. Wwf.panda.org proves this by saying “With the forests gone, CO2 is no longer transformed through photosynthesis, and the crops that replace forests only absorb a fraction of CO2 compared to rainforests. Along with industrial pollution, rampant deforestation in South America and elsewhere has significantly increased the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.” CO2 can be extremely deadly if there is too much of it in the air, and without the rainforest, we would be exposing ourselves to impending doom. Also, If our path of destruction continues, the greenhouse effect will just increase more and more. This would have catastrophic effects on the earth, such as severe climate change. This means temperatures would skyrocket, leading to colder parts of the world beginning to melt. Some places are already struggling with this, and as time goes on, sea levels would rise as well. Lastly, if we were to continue destroying our forests, it requires some pretty heavy machinery. This machinery emits toxic fumes such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, and many others. This depletes our atmosphere and air quality even more. Rainforest destruction is negative and extremely harmful to our planet, But not just to the air and atmosphere.

In addition, if our demolition Of the Amazon rainforest continues, we will lose an extreme amount of the food we eat, and half the world's plants and animals. Amazon produces over 3000 types of edible plants. Some of these include coconuts, figs, oranges, mangoes, grapefruits, bananas, coffee, pineapples, and literally thousands of others. If we follow through with the destruction of the Amazon, we could lose over 50% of the world's food supply. Imagine not being able to find your favorite fruit in stores for under $20, Or not being able to find it at all. Not only would this affect us, but also the animal population living amongst the forest. Destroying the homes these animals have would severely impact their population. It would terminate the living space for hundreds of species, and possibly leave some on the brink of extinction. This point is elaborated upon by amazonaid.org by stating “The destruction of forests destroys the homes, habitat and food sources for the species that live there. It is estimated that 100,000 species become extinct in tropical forests yearly. The loss of one species in an ecosystem can affect others who rely on it.” This quote is attempting to explain how much animals could be affected by the obliteration of their home. As time goes on, we are losing more and more animal and food species. Based on the decline of these things now, we could lose species such as the Amazonian jaguar, The white cheeked spider monkey, Hyacinth macaw, and nobody knows how many others. With the constant harm of the amazon, we are not only affecting our atmosphere, but also our wildlife and our food supply. 

Finally, the amazon rainforest holds innovative medicinal solutions, and as we destroy it more and more, we are losing potentially life saving medical remedies. There are over 80,000 plant species in the Amazon rainforest, and 30,000 of them have some form of medicinally beneficial properties. These plants have opened up a wide range of medical possibilities, But now they are slowly being snatched from our grasp. These plants can be turned into something

revolutionary, and we are terminating our chances at that. There are so many game changing things that can be made with these seemingly magical plants. This point is proven by amazonaid.org when they state “ Many plants that test positive for bioactive compounds are promising for the treatment of diseases that are not yet curable, especially cancer. Drugs to treat malaria, glaucoma, and leukemia, among many other diseases, are derived from plants found in the Amazon Rainforest.” This is just one of the many pieces of evidence showing how life changing these plants can be. Right as we are taking a step forward in finding solutions for ‘incurable’ diseases, things have to get messed up. Our one chance at possibly saving thousands, if not millions of people with these plants, they are being destroyed. By whom you may ask? The same people who need it most. As we continue down this path of demolition and destruction, we are just harming ourselves more and more, when we could be flourishing. 

Our world has been depleted of its health for several thousands of years, but this time it is going too far. For every tree chopped down, Every river polluted, every habitat destroyed, we are just harming our great earth that holds us even more. Isn't it time for a change? We have done enough harm. Why destroy one of the most important ecosystems of our planet. Our effect on this planet has been detrimental. We are slowly killing ourselves, and our planet for our own guilty pleasure. If our treatment of the amazon, and the earth as a whole, continues we may not survive another 500 years. It's time to change, because based on how things seem to be going, the amazon rainforest may not be around much longer, and life without it will be drastically different.