Blog post #5  “How do changes in the environment affect whether a species adapts or goes extinct?” 

Welcome to my blog post #5. In this post, I will be researching what people are doing to help the environment and what they are doing to make things worse. The environment is affected every day by the things people do. Some of our actions help protect the planet, while others make it worse. We will look at both the good and the bad, to understand how humans are changing the environment and what needs to improve.

What people are doing to help the environment

• People are spreading the word by encouraging their friends, family and co-workers to reduce their carbon pollution. There are many organizations now that help the environment, like Count Us In, which aims to inspire 1 billion people to take practical steps and challenge their leaders to act more boldly on climate. (1)
• People are now trying to decarbonize travel by leaving their car at home and walking or cycling whenever possible. As well as public transit or carpooling so that fewer cars are on the road. (1)
• People are also shopping locally and buying sustainable to reduce their carbon footprint. By doing this they are helping small businesses and farms in their area and reducing fossil fuel. In some cases people are doing even more by trying to grow their own fruit, vegetables and herbs. (1)
• Not wasting food, even the little things people do are helping, like taking advantage of every edible part of the foods you purchase or measuring portion sizes of rice and other staples before cooking them and many more.(1)
• Eating plant-based food, transitioning to a vegetarian diet can cut your carbon footprint in half, and going vegan, even lower. (3)
•  Participating in the democratic process by voting for a climate activist who supports comprehensive climate policies can make a big difference in the environment. (3)
•  Recycling is a little thing anyone can do. About 50 percent of recycled materials come from households; if that number were increased to 65 percent, it could prevent 2.8 gigatons of carbon emissions.(3)
• Quality over quantity in your wardrobe, the fashion industry might be responsible for 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Buying fewer new clothes and purchasing second-hand clothes will lessen the impact on the planet. You can also repair and refashion old clothes. The average household spends thousands of dollars on clothes each year. Lower your footprint by giving your clothes a second chance and repairing or even refashioning them. Recycling old clothes by thrifting or donating can also make a huge impact on our environment because manufacturing clothes not only contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, but it also uses many valuable resources, like water. (4)

What people are doing to make the environment worse.

• Deforestation, is one of the most impactful ways humans are affecting the environment. There are many impacts of deforestation such as loss of biodiversity, soil erosion and disrupted water cycles. All of these things have a big impact on our environment and animals. (2)
• Pollution is a threat to the environment, impacting air, water, and land. There are many different types of pollution, like air pollution, which is caused by the release of harmful substances into the atmosphere, water pollution, which occurs when pollutants contaminate water bodies such as rivers, lakes, and oceans and many more. (2)
• Overfishing is when you harvest fish at a rate faster then they can reproduce, it is depleting fish stocks and disrupting marine ecosystems. Some impacts of overfishing are the collapse of fish populations, habitat destruction and disruption of marine ecosystems. (2)
• Overconsumption is the excessive use of resources and the generation of waste. Some impacts of overconsumption are the depletion of natural resources, the increase of pollution and waste management issues. (2)
• Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic waste in the environment, and it is a growing global crisis. Some impacts of plastic pollution are the entanglement and ingestion by wildlife, habitat degradation and chemical leaching. (2)
• Food waste is a big problem now, a third of the food we are supposed to eat is wasted or lost, which is enough to feed 3 billion people. (5)
•  Melting Ice Caps and Sea Level Rise is another problem in our world., Sea levels are rising more than twice as quickly as they did for most of the 20th century, which is increasing temperatures on Earth and affecting both animals and the environment. (5)

In conclusion, people are doing many things to help the environment, but they are also doing many things to make it worse. After reading my blog post, I hope you understand more about what’s helping and also what’s making our earth worse. Thank you for reading.

Recourses

• UN environment programme (1)
• iere.org (2)
• Green America (3)
• Government of Canada (4)
• Earth.Org (5)