Humanity has developed and flourished over the span of centuries. As civilizations grew and develop, humans learn many things about nature. Ancient people realized the benefits of nature to humanity and began using it for hunting food, acquiring resources to build homes and to protect them from numerous threats from the environment. As humans learned other benefits of nature, they started to interfere with the environment and greatly change the way it was used. People started to change the structures of land and to remove trees from the forest in order to build farm lands and cities. People continue this practice over the years which resulted to the extreme decline of the amount of the planet’s wilderness or wildlife area. The wilderness is the area which is not commonly disturbed by humans such as forests and deep ocean life. According to John Muir (37), “it is the best he [God] ever planted”.
In the modern times, only a small portion of the initial amount of the planet’s wilderness or wildlife area is left and undisturbed by humans. This small portion is also on the brink of extinction due to numerous human activities such as pollution, extreme hunting activities, climate change and changes in land use. Several advocacies and strategies are in motion to prevent the extinction of the remaining wilderness or wildlife area on earth.
However, problems such as pollution, extreme hunting activities, climate change and changes in land use still continue in the modern times due to political and economic factors. In general, people should provide efforts to protect or to preserve the planet’s remaining wilderness or wildlife area since it is beneficial for them, for the other living things and for the earth. In addition, people have the ability to produce change that could avoid cataclysmic events such as human extinction.
One major reason why people should preserve or protect what is left of the planet’s wilderness is that the wildlife area is beneficial for humans. People should realize that humans need the wilderness to survive. The wilderness has been beneficial for humans even without harnessing its resources such as trees for furniture or animals for food and products. The plants and animals in the wilderness provide balance to earth so all species live in harmony. The forests protect communities of people from floods, landslides and other destructive events (Stevens np). The forest also provides clean water which is essential for all living things. The coral reefs in the ocean protect the land from tsunamis in case of earthquakes. Without the wilderness, people would die and the earth would not be a habitable place to live in.
There are many studies suggesting the benefits of the wilderness to humans but common people could not easily understand these concepts since they are highly scientific. However, people only realize the value of things when it is gone forever. We should not wait for the moment that the last or the remaining area of wilderness is lost for humans to realize its benefits. Imagining the earth without the wilderness is impossible. Without the wilderness, there would be no trees to provide oxygen for humans to breath. In addition, without the wilderness, there would be no other place where humans could acquire essential resources to survive.
Another reason why people should preserve or protect what is left of the planet’s wilderness is that other living things on earth need these areas. Humans are not the only living thing which habituates the earth. Plants and animals also need the wilderness to survive since these areas are their shelter and the place they could live harmoniously with each other. Destroying the remaining wilderness on the planet could kill these species and could also result to their extinction. If these plants and animals are extinct, there is a high possibility that people will also be extinct. Humans need these plants and animals to survive on earth since they provide them benefits even if sometimes most people do not realize it. Plants and animals are part of the earth and they interact with nature to form ecological balance. Without these living things, the balance would be disrupted and could result to cataclysmic events which would result to human extinction.
Lastly, people should preserve or protect what is left of the planet’s wilderness since they can do that even with smaller efforts. Aside from not allowing corporate people to destroy the forests and other wilderness areas, common people could save these areas through small acts such as recycling, avoiding pollution and reducing energy use. These small acts could accumulate from millions of people around the world and could result to great benefits including the protection and preservation of the earth’s remaining wilderness. One thing, people do not realize is that human activities could cause devastating events such as climate change, global warming and pollution which could result to the destruction of the remaining wilderness or wildlife area.
Human activities have been causing the earth to increase its average temperature. This event, called global warming or climate change, results from greenhouse effect in which the common factor is the increase in carbon dioxide or methane in the atmosphere due to extreme use of traditional fossil fuels (Stevens np). The increase in global average temperature could also affect plants and animals which could disrupt the balance in nature. In some cases, global warming is also the cause of forest fires which greatly destroy large areas of wilderness. In addition, human activities could also result to extreme pollution such as the pollution in the ocean which greatly affects the marine life such as the one demonstrated in the film “Addicted to Plastics” (Connacher np).
People can avoid these problems through simple acts or efforts which can greatly help in saving or protecting the earth’s remaining wilderness areas. A simple effort or help in recycling plastics and papers could help reduce pollution. People do not need to participate in the whole process of recycling. They only need to separate the recyclables to the other wastes. Avoiding disposal of plastics in the ocean and in other places could also help in avoiding extreme water pollution. Plastics do not decompose easily and could harm other animals specially the marine species if they pollute the ocean (Connacher np). Reducing energy use could also help in decreasing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the atmosphere which could intensify the effects of global warming.
People do not need to understand the complicated concepts of science to understand the importance of the forests and other wildlife areas. They only need to understand that humans are responsible for the events that are occurring on earth. The heating of the earth, the pollution in the ocean and the decline in wildlife areas are caused by human activities. However, people could change the earth through simple acts such as recycling, reducing energy use and avoiding pollution. People should and could protect the remaining wildlife areas on earth. It is not harmful for humans to try preserving wilderness. Saving the nature also means saving the human species and the other species living on earth. Such as what Aldo Leopold said, “In wilderness is the salvation of the world” (Leopold 58).
Works Cited:
Connacher, Ian, director. Addicted to Plastics. Cryptic Moth Productions, 2008.
Leopold, Aldo. “Thinking Like a Mountain”. Sustainability: A Bedford Spotlight Reader, edited by Christian Weisser. Bedford/St. Martin's. 2014. Print.
Muir, John. “The American Forest”. Sustainability: A Bedford Spotlight Reader, edited by Christian Weisser. Bedford/St. Martin's. 2014. Print.
Stevens, Fisher, director. Before the Flood. National Geographic, 2016.
