The anthropocene is the time period in which humans have an influence on all of nature. Peter Vitousek and other scientists describe the human impact on nature in “Human Domination of the Earth’s Ecosystems.” The most substantial and evident impact that humans have had on nature is the alteration of land. Humans often alter land to use its resources and provide services. For example, we cut down forests to create cropland and drill mountains to make highways. Activities like often destroys the habitats of many species, which leads them to die off in significant numbers.
Vitousek argues states that humans destroy biodiversity in the ocean. Humans often overfish to the point that a whole community of fish is on the verge of collapsing. Techniques like trawling the ocean floor for fish destroys the habitat in which they live in and leads to more fish dying. In addition, human activity has caused increased algal blooms, which create dead zones without oxygen that kill fish.
“Human Domination of the Earth’s Ecosystems” also provides evidence that human activity has altered many chemical cycles. The burning of fossil fuels for energy release C02 into the air. Since 1957, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased from 315 ppm to 362 ppm. The burning of CO2 increase the greenhouse effect, which raised the temperature on earth which in turn leads to the loss of biodiversity because several habitats depend on lower temperatures. In addition, the human use of nitrogen increases the amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere, which then comes down as acid rain or smog.
Michelle Marvier Peter in her article “Conservation in the Anthropocene” argues that the way many scientist try to preserve the environment is ineffective. Conservationists aim to create protected areas of land where no human development can take place. They try to get rid of non-native species and bring the area back to the way it was before humans dominated the area. However these actions do more harm than good. Setting up protected areas takes a lot of money and energy. In addition, native people are often forced to move out of their homes. Peter even says that the created parks are “no less human constructions than Disneyland.”
“Conservation in the Anthropocene” argues that we should embrace the resiliency of nature. Humans have made too many changes in nature to change it back to the way it was in the past. There is also evidence of nature adopting to live in big cities. The article argues that we should stop trying to create created parks and instead focus on making our cities more nature friendly.
I think that we should aim to make our cities more nature friendly but at the same time also create more protected areas. Building gardens in the city, using public transportation and alternative sources of energy will do wonders for our impact on the environment. However, protected areas like state parks provide beautiful recreational areas for humans to visit and are a safe environment for many wild animals. The best course of action is to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle while also creating more protected areas for animals to live in.
