This book is very informative and the problems the authors discuss are something that I can relate too and these problems clearly exist in our society and environment. The authors try to present the problems/issues in an unbiased way writing about both sides by exploring the relationship between the environment and people. Covering the economic, political, ethical, and social aspects of issues caused by us humansRobbins et al presented the book as a textbook format with vocabulary which is easy to understand and right to the point.
Chapter 2 Population and Scarcity
As population increases the more of the natural resources are used for example an average person in Phoenix use more than 225 gallons of water per day. Not only water resources are used up more but this also apply to other natural resources as well as the number of population increases. Is there too many people for the earth to handle? Will the number of population stop increasing? According to Malthus “ the capacity of population to grow is greater than the power of earth to provide resources” Human population influence and affect the well being of the earth and its resources. Malthus said that the poorest people were the most vulnerable parts of the population and I agree with his statement because poor people don’t have the resources and the right opportunity compared to more well off people. There’s no point to sustain, protect, or subsidize the conditions of the poor people. They make the resources even more scarcer because they can’t really manage their time and money well. Population today is around 6.5 billion. Technology also contribute a huge cause of scarcity and impact on the environment
Chapter 5: Environmental Ethics
It is hard to define ethics but I think it is harder to define environmental ethics what is consider justice? We are aware of what factory farms are doing to their animals and how bad their living conditions are. By raising them in tight areas and impregnated the female pigs without letting them recover before hand. Is this ethical? In a way it’s a trade off since this way the factory famers can produce meat for a cheaper price so that lower class people can afford to eat meat. What is ethical anyway who’s the one to judge and define the issue? Animals are not capital and it is wrong to treat animals like this. The bigger ethical argument is what people ought to do and not to do? What is right and wrong? I also like how the authors define the difference between conservation and preservation since a lot of people think it’s the same meaning but its not.
“Gifford Pinchot, conservation, efficient and sustainable use of natural resources “for the greatest good of the greatest number.” John Muir, preservation, wilderness should be left alone, not exploited by humans.”
