Innovating_Ways_to_Produce_and_Consume_Materials

Innovating Ways to Produce and Consume Materials The human population is growing rapidly (about 80 million people each year) and this is affecting the well-being of our planet. The way people use material resources is another thing that affects the planet. Humans consume and produce a large variety of resources and products that has become beyond our basic needs that include luxury items and technological innovations in order to improve efficiency. This paper will address human habits pertaining to consumption and production of material and environmental resources, in addition to recommending changes that will allow the sustainment of global population. The way people consume resources is very important to our environment. The uncontrollable growth of human consumption and production over the past 50 years is continuing to put strains on the environment and human health as never before. Production and over consumption of certain materials and species, has not only brought extinction, but has endangered the planet to such a degree, that there is constant devastation on the earth, ocean and sky’s. Some of these effects are: Global warming, floods, deforestation, and dried up rivers. The production of paper affects forests. Forests provide homes for numerous numbers of plant and animal species. They also help maintain water quality and stabilize the climate by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forests are not the only ones affected by paper production. The process of papermaking is chemical process. The paper industries release chemicals into water and air. Thrown away paper also affects the environment. In the land-fills “paper can decompose and produce methane, a greenhouse gas with 21 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide” (Latvala, 2012). Some of the efforts to consider are cut fewer trees down, produce less paper, print on both sides of paper, and start recycling paper. The human race depends on these resources in order to meet their needs. However the production of oil can cause severe damage to the environment. Oil waste dumping and oil spills cause serious damage on surrounding wildlife and habitat. The oil production has already harmed many land, air, and sea animal and plant species. The oil pollutes water and kills fish. The production of oil can also affect human life. The damage can include pollution of drinking water, livestock and health of the human body itself. In an effort to replace oil alternative energy can be used. Let’s take a look at the consumption of meat products; Beef is a perfect example of using resources wastefully and is causing our environment to be degraded. Beef production has a great impact on the environment because of the amount of grain that is needed for livestock grazing. Livestock grazing contributes too many environmental problems including, soil erosion, desertification, water pollution, and loss of biological diversity (Latvala, 2012). Millions of acres in Latin America have been cleared for cattle grazing; due to the digestive physiology cattle emit a large quantity of methane, and their manure expels gaseous ammonia into the air, contributing to acid rain (Latvala, 2012). This may lead to us having more available meat, but in the long haul the land and air will be polluted. Meat consumption is a central part of our diet, and the leading contributor to many health problems. So how can we solve this issue' Stop eating Meet, or compromise and give up beef. Furthermore regarding consumption, Americans have devoured much of the farmland for commercial use. Professor Reid Ewing states that, the best lands for growing crops are also better suited for growing houses (Turk & Bensel, 2011). The loss of land used for development or for building urban and suburban neighborhoods referred to as sprawl, which poses many issues for the environment. According to research from the American Farmland Trust, “from 1982 to 1992 prime farmland, the land with the best soils and climates for growing crops were lost at an average of 400,000 acres per year to urban and suburban development” (Turk & Bensel, 2011, p.4.3). Unfortunately, this adds up to a daily loss of 45.7 acres an hour. First, developing the land often times destroy the natural beauty of the landscape and pollutes the air and water. These developments are sometimes widespread, and require the use of personal vehicles, which of course means an increase use of energy resulting in emission of greenhouse gases related to climate change. We need to work on ways so that the effects of production and consumption do not deplete our environmental resources. The use of fossil fuel, coal, synthetic gas and oil needs to come to an end. Producers shall which to electric power solar, wind, and biomass. These can assure consumers that their power source will not contribute to the increasing consumption of fossil fuels or emission of greenhouse gases. Cars shall all be hybrids or cars that use some sort of solar energy to operate. People need to go back to living off the crops and give up beef in their daily diet. Recycling shall be made mandatory. There are many steps that can be done to help the environment that will ensure a longer life for us as well as our planet. In conclusion people are continuously finding innovative new ideas to improve the quality of life. From the invention of cars, cell phones, washing machines, computers and many other conveniences to make living life easier. Since the majority of these innovations benefit society, we tend to overlook the issues surrounding the damages these changes cause to the environment The real problem of consumption and production is not only consumption and production within it itself, it is the effects and patterns of both that is the continuing problem. There are many steps that can be done to help the environment that will ensure a longer life for us as well as our planet.   Reference Turk, J. & Bensel, T. (2011). Contemporary Environmental Issues. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUSCI207.11.1/sections/sec1.6 Latvala, T., Niva, M., Mäkelä, J., Pouta, E., Heikkilä, J., Kotro, J., & Forsman-Hugg, S. (2012). Diversifying meat consumption patterns: Consumers' self-reported past behaviour and intentions for change. Meat Science, 92(1), 71-77. doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2012.04.014