Deep Ecologist comments on Soft Ecologist

Soft Ecologist say that deep ecologist view the environment as sacred. They say that native Americans used the resources appropriately however they are not considering that Europeans Pioneers invaded Americans bringing new technology and therefore they require more resources, that way they pollute more.  That is why we as deep ecologist believe that the environment should be above all and that way see if it can support all the life that the European Pioneers and the Native Americans need.

In the graph above we can see that as the population grows so does the economy. This leads to demographic changes that affect the environment. That is why it is more important for us to take care of the evironment in order to have a sustainable future i this planet. In the graph above it is evident that when the Europens arrived to America the Native Americans were forced to adopt new ways of living, for example as seen above in 1820 there was an Embargo war for agricultural lands. Overpopulation lead to the depletion of soil. Therefore, we can conclude that as population increases the environment is harmed that is why it is more important for us to consider the safety of the environment than the benefits of human beings. The soft ecologist said that the native Americans used the appropriate amount of resources but they are not considering the demographic changes that the world faces.  As seen above in the year 1850 as the population increases new method of living and technology need to be set, that is why they need to establish takeoff factories and railroads.

The visual above demonstrates that the planet is not able to hold overpopulation. This problems of overpopulation started when the Europeans pioneers invaded the Americas. The soft ecologist should consider this problem that harms our future in the planet due to the limited amount of resources that the planet has. We are abusing the amount of resources we have and therefore we will encounter more problems as population continues to increase in the planet.

Environmental Managers

Environmental Managers

It is important to notice the development that the first nation Americans and European pioneers brought to America. These people were the ones that first developed the economy of the country and helped the country flourish and get where it is now. It is evident that this process involved the exploitation of what seemed unlimited resources then but only to the extent that it was a necessary process in the world.

Since the colonization of Native American in U.S.A by the Europeans the conditions of the land and the economy changed in the territory of U.S.A.  Since the 16^th century the invasion over America started in hands of England, Spain, France, and the Netherlands, in which they transported developed technology and new ideas on how to use the land. Having positive and negative impacts over the ´population and their land may vary. Some positive aspects were that Europeans implemented new kinds of buildings, they knew how to explode mines and take out gold and resources from these mines, and they have commercial perspectives on how to use this kind of resources that Europe did not have. A negative aspect was that during the invasion they killed many Native Americans thanks that they fight for the land. Europeans had developed arms like guns and also they had more developed sickness skills in which they were able to support the conditions. Europeans look at the resources of America as a great source of commerce thanks that things like fruits, vegetables, gold and other exotic resources were well paid in Europe but they started to take out the resources form this land which affected the conditions of the land. Thanks to the development of technology and the new idealism Europeans knew how to use the land and make it fertile in a way they could plant new kinds of fruits and vegetables. The Europeans also brought negative aspects because they took too much resources from the miens and each time they exploded more because they wanted to find more gold so they were able to sale it for big amounts of money in Europe.  Land was also affected because they started to build railroads and road in the land so transportation was much easier but this was positive for Europeans because they could go through the land much faster. The use of resources is okay but in that time Europeans did not have a consciousness over the amount of resources they use  and know a days those resources are not enough to find and the conditions of the land were affected in long term.

When the London Company sent the first expedition to begin the colonization in Virginia was in December 1606. It was not the first attempt to exploit the resources of North America but one of the most successful. The interest was huge; the land had huge potential so the Europeans, not only the English, claimed the lands to exploit them. Towns were built one by one and the connected with a railroad which was a positive decision for the country but the exploitation was over whelming. The progress was inevitable, the railroads were getting bigger and the land was getting fragmentized. The Europeans wanted to create progress while the Native were concerned about nature but the rush to take out the resources before another European country was increasing accelerating the impact on the land. Once the land was fragmentized and destroyed by the introduction of cities, there was nothing left to do than to improve the cities and take advantage of the situation. The railroads connection the cities were key to the improvement of the economy of the US, they had incredible railroads by year 1927 with over 3000 miles of rails. The use of cars has incremented, as we can see in figure 1 and they used to be responsible for must of the contamination in the transportation sector that was before the trains were electric and the cars became more common. The use of this transportation methods increased and it was the beginning of the modern transportation, which doesn’t contaminate much in relationship to other transportation methods.

Figure 1

As environmental managers we believe that resource use is essential for economic growth and can continue as long as there are the appropriate regulations. For example, appropriate taxes and fees should be adjusted so that people now until what point they can use the resources of our planet. Every country should have legal rights to minimum environmental quality as well. We understand that human’s impact in the world is a necessary step for development and growth but there should always be a compensation for the environment when the people affect it negatively by their actions. Economic and resources use decisions should always be done based on research and be done when everyone involved is in agreement. It is imperative that people value the role of the environment and find a balance between resources consumption and economic and country’s growth.

"Colonial History of the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Mar. 2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_history_of_the_United_States>.

"Native Americans in the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Mar. 2013. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States>.

Cornocopians coment on european pioneer arival to america

 The arrival of European pioneers was something that developed society structure and organization. They brought technology that didn’t exist in America and with that technology they showed Native Americans how to use the resources they had. This allowed America to be one of the major world powers today. Throughout history, America has been a main provider of new and developed technological advances thanks to the natural resources they exploited. And before the arrival of the Europeans they used only small amounts of their resources and with a greater use of these resources enormous cities raised. They built roads to unify the territory and developed new living habits that improved the life of many Americans.

They didn’t only brought technology they also applied it to improving education and working skills. This made them sophisticated human beings and respectful people. They also improved farming and agriculture, providing them with more food and basic resources. They affected the environment however US citizens live in a comfortable environment in present times. 

Graph 1: USA Economical Behavior  

 As graph 1 illustrates, the economy of America has increased exponentially since the industrial revolution. This is due to the vast amount of resource in this country at that time, and the technological support provided by European pioneers. This allowed US country to develop technologically and socially, which demonstrates that technology is key to improve living conditions for any social group. Besides technological and social advances in the population of the US, the economy of the country shown by GDP per person has increased exponentially outreaching  the whole worlds GDP (as shown in Graph 1). What this proves is that technology is the key for development in the society.



Graph 2: Historical Population Growth in Europe        Graph 3: Historical Population Growth in USA     

To add up to the claim that pioneer intervention in Europe was positive, graph 2 & 3 demonstrate the population growth through the years and since Europe advance much before USA one can see that they were much more economically and socially developed than USA. Only good influences can come from this. 

Soft Ecologist

Sof ecologists are a group of people who believe for nature to be a vital thing in our survival as a specie. However, unlike the deep ecologists, we don't see nature as something so fragile and sacred that can't even be touched. We believe that we can achieve a harmonious existence with nature by working together with it. To do this we need still to take things from nature and use it in our favor correctly. Our philosophy is quite similar to the native american view on nature in the sense we are discourage all the nonsense and stupid technological advances the rest of the world has. We believe that it is something that destroys our humane side and we prefer to live the way we do. The native americans believed that working together with nature was very important. They used to respect nature and understand that it was important to their own survival. They understood nature was fragile and all, however they still understood that they needed things from it to survive. The indians from the great plains used to follow the buffalo herds and by that way having a constant food source. they did respect the natural way of working but also understood that they needed to take somethings out of the environment in order to survive. Everything went perfect until the european pioneers appeared. They had a different vision of the envronment. They saw the environment as an unlimited source of resorurces that was ok to exploit for their own good. They had a mentality inherited from the roman empire that consists of exploiting every source off a place and then move to another with available resources. They were somehow like a bunch of parasites. The native americans were getting affected because the pioneers were takin there lands, hunting there buffalos and exploiting every natural resource

Deep Ecologist thoghts on the explotation of unlimited resources in the USA

The first Native Americans used animal skin for their clothing, wood to cook and for fire, and they used trees to build their homes. They were the first to settle. This means that they were the first ones to start polluting the environment. They should have been aware for their future and find alternative resources to evolve instead of exploiting unlimited resources in the planet. If they were looking for progress and evolution they should have consider the sustainability of the planet for future generations instead of evolving by themselves just their first years of their existence. In the other hand in those times the worry about global warming and climate change didn't exist that is why they were not aware of the damage they were causing to the planet by consuming the unlimited resources that existed.  When the Europeans pioneers arrived to America a problem of overpopulation occurred. This is led for Native Americans to over exploit their land in order to sustain their community. This is when they should have realized that more human’s beings mean more demand for product and more harm to the environment. That is why they should have thought about alternative resources and laws to prevent the harm of the environment. Even though there was increase of population limited resources didn’t increase. Native Americans could live with they had and didn’t need more but when the Europeans pioneers arrived they didn’t explode the resources they brought new technology and new ideas that influenced the course of Americans use of resources.

Regarding the graph above it is seen that as the foreign population increases in this case the Europeans pioneers.  Since 1850 to 1920 the population of America started to increased drastically by a 20 million increase in both foreign born and joined with the total percentage population in the US. This means that if the population increased the demand for resources will increase as well. Through this graph we can conclude that if the Native American population didn’t increase by the new foreign born less resources will have been used and the planet wouldn’t have been as harmed. In the graph below, it can be observed how the USA population start increasing rapidly after the European Pioneers arrived, around the 1780´s; meaning that it was illogical to have an increase in population without an increase in resources. However, since the year 1790 the USA population was around 3.93 million, consequently as a deep ecologist it can be sustained that because of unnecessarily resources used as well as development of technology population has increase till the year 2009 with a record of 306.18 million: harming the environment as a whole.

Question 2 to debate

1.   Each group will research and respond the following and demonstrate how:

a.   First Nation Americans vs European pioneers, were involved in the exploitation of unlimited resources in the united states.

soft ecologists rebut cornucopias

As seen in the graph above the approximate deaths caused by DDT and the ones caused y Malaria are about the same but the DDT causes side effects against the entire food chain not only affecting humans or Malaria mosquitos but they affect the entire water cycle, affecting the entire environment.

The DDT affects the environment world wide. DDT residues is capable of messing with the plasma membrane of organisms, affecting their offspring. Many organisms die, including microorganisms.
DDT can prevail its substance concentration in the water for 52 days and 28 days in rivers, affecting organisms in long periods of time. Organisms that absorb this substance, transmit it to next generations which affects the whole food chain. 
DDT is a strong chemical that affects people that consume the crops it is exposed to as well. The effect on humans include genotoxity and endocrine disruption which is serious. This is chemical is developed with technology so, how if it affects the environment and human health, can we think that one should rely on technology only to save the world? 

Technology also affects humans, in search for cheap energy sources and high efficiency humanity can be affected. For example Chernobyl where a nuclear reactor failed many people where affected that instant and in long term because of nuclear reactions. It is now inhabited but there are still people born with deformities or mutations.
Also the Bhopal disaster affected many peoples lives. A gas leak in india affected the people living around it affecting people instantly but also long term.