The Effect of Human Action to Nature & Animals

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http://tallinnzoo.ee/

 In order to draw comparisons and analysis of current environmental issues and their impact on animal life, we took a trip to the Tallinn Zoo and got a clearer idea of the animals who are being stirred by pollution issues. To be more precise, our main goal was to find animals who are being affected by deforestation in the Amazon, along with marine pollution. We took pictures of different species in hopes that after putting a face on the problem, it would give our readers something to think about, as well as shedding more light on a topical issue.

 To begin with, one of the most abhorrent outcomes of human-oriented consumerism could be the waste it leads to. To be more exact, the Great Pacific garbage patch may be considered as one of the most devastating outcomes of pollution. To elaborate, it is believed that the size of this debris-formed land might be more than double the size of France. The threats it holds up on the marine animals could be anything from minor injuries, to fatal ones. To explain, wide chunks of plastic pollution have an ability to entangle sea creatures, whilst smaller pieces are ingested by small fish and make their way up the food chain (Milman, 2018). 

 What is more, the pollution issue goes beyond the Pacific Ocean; conversely, it has the look of impacting the majority of world’s oceans. By the same token, contamination of water bodies still admits deterioration. To elucidate, the issue has the appearance of being far worse than expected. Furthermore, it is reported that only about 13 per cent of world’s oceans remain unaffected by pollution. Outwards the far-off areas of the Pacific Ocean, as well as the poles, there are practically no oceans left containing naturally normal levels of marine wildlife. In contrast, the remaining untouched wildlife can depict just how vigorous ocean life was before anthropocentric activity started to dictate to our planet (Garrington, 2018).

After seals ingest plastic which floats in oceans, they could endure pain for months or years, before it becomes fatal (World Animal Protection International, 2017).

To elaborate more on the impacts of the human-oriented consumerism, an example could be given of rainforests; in particular, the Amazon, where trees are not only cut down for lumber, but forests are burned to make room for cattle farms and crop fields. In addition, the need for paper in society is still large, roads are being built and minerals extracted. This causes large extinctions of species native only to the Amazon. For example, most species along the south and east arc of deforestation are expected to go extinct (Sample, 2012).

The extinction is not just isolated to the animals and bugs living in the forest — the trees themselves are in danger. From the existing 15 000 species, over 57% could be at risk in the following decades, including wild cacao, Brazilian nut and açai trees (Carrington, 2015). Aside from the affected trees and species, the effects on the climate cannot be left unmentioned. An extra 3 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide could be released into the atmosphere if all the world's forests would be razed. (Milman, 2018). That being said, deforestation has been reduced significantly in The Amazon, but that is not the case with other rainforests, such as those in Africa, where the potential to lose more of the worlds “lungs” is greater. (Milman, 2018).

To tie this together with the literary world, adventurous books like The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann or Candice Millard’s The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey which are based on real-life personas are filled with fascinating details of the deep jungle.

The magnificent creature responsible for the inspiration to write and research about The Amazon.

In conclusion, the perpetual human need to consume may in the end not only have devastating effects on our climate, animal and floral life, but, in fact, it has the chance to eventually rob the world of inspiration to create not only amazing art, but incredible literature.
  





                                                                                                            Grettel Sokolov & Raimo Kerme

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