Environment
Alexander Poli
When you hear the word ‘environment’, you very well may think of the gases surrounding the earth and causing the ‘greenhouse effect’, the warming of the Earth that makes it possible for life to survive on the Earth. But that warming is also the thing that could spell the downfall of the ecosystems of the world, if it is allowed to grow too much. However, this is not the only ‘environment’. An environment gets its name for being the thing that surrounds or fills an area or a concentration of lifeforms, thus the word ‘environment’ is also applied to, for instance, a petri dish filled with agar, or a vivarium. An environment is not always a habitat, but a habitat is an environment. Environments are extremely important to the survival and welfare of all lifeforms; for instance, we will perish – and many lifeforms are perishing – if we allow the damage to the greenhouse layer to get too severe; or an animal will not survive placed in an environment with wildly different conditions, physical or social, as a human placed in an unfamiliar social environment, such as a new school where they know nobody, can experience heavy detriments to mental health. An environmental change can provide the force to break a link in the meticulous infrastructure of an ecosystem. However, the ecosystem relies on everything being exactly ordered. Everything feeds on or is fed upon everything, so if one link collapses, any links above it will also collapse. A stable environment is essential for the survival of everything. The most important rule in this equation is simply that no part of an environment is worth more or less than any other part. The tiniest bee is worth just as much as we are. If the bees die out, a huge amount of plants will also die out and have huge impacts on anything that ate those plants, including us. In fact, we may be exempt to the rule, but not in the way we think. We have failed to understand this simple rule, and have thus hugely damaged the environment. Because of our elevation and isolation from the ecosystems of the world, we have alienated ourselves. As such, we have nothing to give to the ecosystems of the world. Our development is unnatural, and has no place in an ecosystem. Thus, we are the one thing in the ecosystems that represents no link and is thus lower in importance than everything else. This is to the extent that our extinction, or us never having evolved would have been vastly better for the ecosystems of the world. However, we are alive, and if we want to save the environment and the ecosystems of the world, it will require a drastic change in mindset. We will need to recognize that we will have to make sacrifices and revoke some of our quality of life for the greater good, and stop thinking selfishly. But why? Why should we, as a species, care about every other species? Why should we be the only species that puts ourselves down to help other species? Even animals in symbiotic relationships only help the other animal for their own personal gain. The answer to this is that, firstly, we have a moral duty. Because of our intelligence, we have transcended the need to fit into ecosystem, and because of our intelligence, we have consciences. Thus, it is morally wrong according to most human standards, to let millions of lifeforms perish by our hands. However, this is a principled argument. A different, perhaps practical reason is that nature is beautiful. Most people, as humans, love nature in some form or another. That enjoyment will be wrenched from you forever if you allow the beautiful aspects of
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