Ecosystems and Human Well-Being (S 10)

The article discusses the degradation of many natural resources on planet earth. The reading magnifies how much of this damage has been done in recent years. Since 1900, the majority of the worlds ecosystems and natural resources have been damaged more then they were damaged in the prior thousands of years of human existence. The author states that this has a strong correlation with the worlds dramatic increase in population in recent years. The dramatic increase in population has increased the need for food. The need for increased amounts of food production has caused humans to damage most of the worlds remaining resources. The author explains that the degradation of resources and ecosystems is the cost that we pay for human development and well being. The article shares a piece from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment that gives two paths for human development. One path leads to an even more globalized world, the other leads to a more regional world. Both paths have positives and negatives. Lastly, the articles discuss the many ways in which we must make changes in environmental policies if we want to move towards being a more sustainable planet.

It is difficult to manage ecosystem sustainability because many of the negative impacts on these ecosystems that have already been made. If humans had realized the damage they were doing to both the living and non-living environment when the problem first started it would be much easier for us to sustain earth’s ecosystems. Instead, the majority of the worlds population is just learning of these problems now. It is much more difficult to recover our ecosystems back to a level of sustainability then it would have been to keep them at a level of sustainability. Ecosystem sustainability takes commitment from all contributing factors. Everyone must commit to sustainability, regardless of how much their actions are negatively effecting an ecosystem. A large percentage of society is unaware how big of a negative impact they have on ecosystems. Public as a whole, must be better educated on the significance their decisions have on ecosystems if we want to maintain sustainable ecosystems.We need society as a whole to commit to sustainability if we want to sustain our ecosystems. 

Below is a link to the Footprint Network website which shows the worldwide footprint. The page shows how far away from sustainability we are and how much we need to do if we want to make a change to our ecosystems. 

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/