Environmental Studies, PHS 100
July 29, 2014
Scientists,
ecologists, environmentalists and many people concerned about our planet are
constantly seeking new ways to assess natural resources in ways less damaging
to the environment. Prioritizing the management and restoration of natural
resources and the environment is often a difficult task, given that there are
other competing priorities in today’s society. There is no single approach or answer for conducting assessments, implementing, restoring, or minimizing the impacts of
the reconstruction. When an
approach is chosen in assessing our natural resources it must be selected,
timed, and designed to meet the needs of a specific goals and the capabilities
of of completing goals for both
government policy as well as the civilian sector.
For
example, minerals in soil can be indicators for
deposits containing economically valuable minerals, such as gold, silver and
copper just to name a few. So assessing these rare
earth elements deposits are of greatest interest for both political relations
and the global economy. Supported by imagery, soil conditions can be assessed
before, during, and after the growing season. In this way, farmers can better
evaluate critical needs such as irrigation, nutrient supply, and cultivation
allowing increases in their crop harvesting and eventually profits. Capabilities for working together between farmers and
environmentalists at multiple scales and across different social and physical
environments are not well developed. There is
such a lack of cooperation that opportunities
for two-way learning between farmers, researchers and policy makers that if they
could come to a resolution farmers could develop more efficient and
environmentally friendly ways to produce and harvest.
As the human populace grows we continue to
stress our ecosystem and consume natural resources at an alarming rate. We as a
society need to establish guidelines and regulations in order to sustain and
leave the planets to many more generations to come. I believe we have become
more conscientious about the effects we have on our planets and have started to
develop ways of minimizing the damage we do. One example would be the regulations
we have in place for logging, as a result the logging industry has suffered
tremendously. In the Pacific Northwest logging companies can only take a
certain number of tress that regulations allow. In addition after taking those
trees the logging company must replant up to ninety percent of what they have
taken in the area. The replanting of the trees is a great way to restore our
natural resource of wood and shows that companies are becoming more conscious
of our resources.
Another example of regulations would be the
multiple regulations put on sea fishermen. Crab limits have been put in place
as well as seasons being shortened. This has been done so that the crab
population isn’t depleted and goes extinct. After all as humans a lot of us
enjoy some tasty crab every now and then, I know I do. These regulations are
put in place for populations and species to have time to regenerate and
recuperate. Once a species is wiped out it won't come back. Everything in our
system is connected, so if one species goes away for good many more could
follow in the wake of its destruction. Therefore as humans we need maybe not to create more regulations
but, perhaps continue to improve on regulations constantly making them better
and better in order to preserve the great creation that is planet Earth for
ourselves, our children, grand children and so on.
Resources
Dematte, J. A. M., J. Morelli, E. Nelly, and R. Negrao
(2000), Precision agriculture applied to sugar cane cultivation in sao paulo,
brazil, in Second International Conference on Geospatial Information in
Agriculture and Forestry, vol. 2, pp. 388–394, Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Shah, Anup. “Stress on the environment, society and
resources?.” Global Issues. 18 Sep. 2001. Web. 29
Jul. 2014. <http://www.globalissues.org/article/214/stress-on-the-environment-society-and-resources>.
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