Richard Kahn's "Towards Ecopedagogy" Reflection

The human population is larger than it has ever been in the history of existence.  This means that resources are being extracted from the earth faster than ever before.  The use of fossil fuels has damaged our environment by releasing harmful gases into the atmosphere.  American industry in general has devastated our environment because of the way we use the earth’s natural resources, leading to depletion. 

            Tree consumption is a huge concern because we can’t live without the trees providing us with oxygen.  About half of the earth’s forests are disappearing according to Richard Kahn.  Not only does this reduce the amount of usable oxygen in the environment, but cutting down forests also destroys habitats, which causes an ecological chain of destruction.  When a certain species’ habitat is destroyed, they are forced to leave their environment.  If this particular species is a keystone species, then all the other animals living nearby will die off.  Even if the species isn’t that important, the absence might alter the hierarchal order of the ecosystem causing a new dominant species to arise. 

            Another concern to environmentalists is the recent decline in fisheries.  We rely heavily on the fishing industry because it provides us with food to support our growing population.  Problems with overfishing is affecting the ecosystem in the North Pacific.  Off the coast of Washington, salmon are taken away from the wild  and are placed in fish farms where they can mature and multiply.  This helps our fishing industry a lot, but it is killing the ecosystem of the North Pacific.  The species mainly affected by the shortage of the salmon are the species that depend on the salmon in order to survive.  We depend on the salmon in order to survive, but we are not the species in immediate danger.  The species most affected are the Orcas, or most commonly called, the killer whales.  The Killer Whales are currently an endangered species.  This is just an example of how the environment is affected by human actions.

            While modern countries are disrupting the environment by consuming more resources, other countries are impacting the environment less by living off of less resources.  Why can’t everyone just use less than they have to so we can save what is left of our wonderful earth?  The answer is because no matter what, people either haven’t heard the news about our earth becoming less sustainable, or don’t care that the earth has a shorter timeline due to our mass consumption of fossil fuels. 

            The only thing we can do to slow down the rate of degradation is to create a generation more cautious of the harmful affects of extracting fossil fuels.  We need to educate our children to care for the earth so we can prolong our existence.  They need to learn at a very young age that everything of the earth is vital to human life.  Every tree and organism has significance on this earth and should therefore be protected.  Parents need to do a better job of setting an example for their children to follow and live by when they are grown adults.  It doesn’t matter what teachers tell their students, the kids will ultimately do what their parents tell them.  It is our job to teach our kids to take care of the earth.  This is the only way we can turn back the clocks.  The fate of the generations to come rests in our hands.  Our encouragement and example has the power to change the course of civilization from capitalistic to conservatism.