American Culture And The EnvironmentEssay Preview: American Culture And The EnvironmentReport this essayAmerican Culture and the EnvironmentThe Industrial Revolution began in the early 19th century and was the result of the replacement of an economy based on manual labor to one dominated by industrial machine manufacturing. The resulting technologies produced an industrial age that not only altered the land, the waterways and the skies, but also changed our culture from intimate communities of self sufficient farming families to that of a largely urbanized population dependent on the jobs those new industries created. As the industrial age gathers momentum, the engines and power plants, which evolved and continue to evolve from this historical transformation of science and technology, threaten the cultural stability of the United States.
Industrial civilization is driven by fossil fuels such as coal and oil, which are the major contributors to a rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Excess carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by non-natural sources, even at relatively small amounts, is enough to alter the balancing affect of the carbon cycle. The resulting problem for human populations is rising temperatures around the world or global warming.
According to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, there have been dramatic fluctuations in overall temperatures of the earth for the past 150,000 years that suggest a direct association with carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide currently accounts for .03% of the total gasses in the atmosphere; however, it has a disproportionate impact on the earths temperature. This means that a minor fluctuation in the percentage of carbon dioxide will likely have a significant effect on the temperature. Over the last century the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide has been rising at an alarming rate.
The United States is a 21st century culture of consumers. The current consumption levels and lifestyle practices are altering the environment and in return are endangering our society. These environmentally exploitive patterns of behavior of our society clearly indicate our cultural values have shifted away from thinking of ourselves as stewards of this planet and dependent upon the health of its ecosystems. The source of this problem is the historical disconnection of man from nature. Global warming is a crisis of human self indulgence which is in direct competition with natural processes.
There are many possible adverse effects of global warming. For example, the destruction of habitat on a local level would reduce the natural variety of plant life, which feeds the animal species that a human community ultimately depends on for food or income. Equally, our dependence on the natural environment would be greatly affected if ocean levels were to rise and destroy coastline property. Increased risk of hurricanes, drought, floods and disease caused by warm climate insects is also a concern. The most obvious risk to health is the heat itself. Heat waves would contribute to loss of human life from heat stroke, heart attacks, and other diseases that might be affected by an increase in heat. Respiratory ailments such as asthma and bronchitis would also
It seems to me that it is clear to me the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere is mainly due to human activities and is only one cause, not the problem of global warming. But the problem is far more. Human activity creates new and different situations for many different species, and makes significant contributions to climate change. Our actions, even those of some of the most important figures in our society, can alter climate for many different reasons, but not one of them has any real effect on global warming, climate change. That is why I think this paper is important not only for scientists, students, scientists and conservationists, but for all people and governments looking to move forward with an ambitious goal of meeting the global warming goal of 1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, while at the same time making sure that we are doing all possible to promote development of clean and sustainable and sustainable energy sources including solar, wind and geothermal energy.
A number of years ago as early as 1986, U.N. Framework Convention-based Clean Energy Goals were put into force, and a number of countries began to accept them for public use. However, this was followed up by many more years, until now, when the U.N. Working Group on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed the existence of a mechanism for developing the current international agreement on adaptation.
For many people, the agreement is almost as important as the actual agreement, because each country and group commits to implementing a set of recommendations for the future. Each individual country then states the set of recommendations.
A great deal of evidence points to a need for an international agreement to prepare and implement climate strategies and for the process of producing such a climate framework to be put into practice. But in reality, in doing so, all the countries and groups are taking the steps required to obtain this agreement. This is important because we not only must agree to a set of commitments for an international agreement to develop climate policies and mechanisms, we are also required to cooperate with those countries, groups and international bodies that have accepted the commitments that are agreed by individual nations and governments across the countries, groups and global bodies.
In order to create a system of adaptation, all the governments and the organizations that have agreed to them must go out of their way to participate. They must take specific steps to ensure compliance and to reduce its costs. We need not talk about the cost of the program or its implementation, and we are doing only that. To help those concerned, we are implementing various mechanisms to help governments and other governments to reduce the global burden.
The International Commission for the Development of Environmental Cooperation (ICEC) has already undertaken this program. These include a process known as “Climate Disarmament Cooperation.” The United Nations Environment Programme is collaborating with the ICEC to develop a plan to take full responsibility for the reduction of greenhouse gases by 2055. This process is referred to as the “carbon cap.” This plan is being developed and is also being implemented in various nations around the world and