"As we all generate small ecological damages, we are called to recognize our contribution - small or great - to the disfigurement and destruction of creation . "
According to Florent Marcellesi, who is the coordinator of Ecopolitics and an outstanding member of the Revista Ecología Política, defines the Ecological Crisis as:
It is really alarming you how the models of modern societies are the ones that cause this type of crisis, the society-nature interaction is unbalanced by the high demands of natural resources and the little awareness of people to restore or readjust their way of life.
In fact, the article speaks of two major crises, an exogenous one, that is to say one caused by an external agent that occurred in the 14th century caused by a bacterium in its unknown time (Yarsinia pestis), and the second endogenous one that has It was caused by the social dynamics of a model called liberal-productivism (Lipietz 2012), which is basically defined as a dissociation between humanity and nature.
Regarding the energy crisis, there are three aspects:
- Fossil energy (coal, oil and natural gas). The use of fossil fuels is favored by the increasing demand of some emerging countries such as China and India, which cause an increase in the price, although it is known that in a few years this demand will not be able to be covered. These raw materials are considered as Non-Renewable Resources. Nuclear energy.Even though this type of energy is considered as clean energy, the administration of this type of resource and the lack of security controls at nuclear power plants can lead to some global emergencies, such as what happened in Chernobyl and Fukushima. The risks of accidents are low but with a high magnitude, there is no real solution to treat radioactive waste, uranium is considered a finite resource, the use of this type of energy for military purposes is latent, it also emits carbon dioxide. Carbon to the atmosphere is not a substitute for 100% fossil energy and job creation is low. Energy from biomass (firewood, agrofuels).It is considered by experts as one of the most promising, although it also has some associated risks such as: the increase in meat consumption (livestock requires more hectares than plants), biomass energy prices are high and can cause a food crisis.
In the end, there is a close relationship between the 2008 financial crisis and the ecological crisis, which has triggered a climate crisis. As indicated by the GIECC (Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Climate Change), "the main cause of the growth of the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since pre-industrial times is the use of fossil fuels" (2007, p2). From this it follows that anthropogenic pollution due to the increase in the world population and the indiscriminate use of this type of resources has generated an estimated increase of 75% in greenhouse gases. Although not only due to the use of this type of energy, but also due to deforestation and the change in land use, this considerably increases air, water and soil pollution.All this together has generated a serious problem worldwide.
There are latent effects that have been noted by various agencies and organizations, including of course the GIECC, the UN, through its United Nations Program and the International Energy Agency. These effects are: an increase of two degrees in the planet's temperature, a change in the yields of cold or warm zones, an increase in pests and insects, droughts, heat mortality, a decrease in the quality of life of people, an increase in degree and number of natural phenomena, famine, poverty and finally a collapse in ecosystems.
In the article Rhetoric and Truth of the Ecological Crisis, the subject is approached with a somewhat more social tint. Maldonado comments that the crisis not only concerns nature, but is a symptom of the fracture of civilization as we know it. It also has to do with the way people live, with cultural patterns, the development of science and technology, as well as political and economic systems. Regarding the environment, the loss of plant and animal biodiversity and the alteration of natural processes is imminent. The author then considers that the ecological crisis is a crisis of civilization.
Likewise, mention is made of a set of indicators that show the progress of the green crisis, including human well-being, future sustainability, energy resources, pollution, chemical threats, global warming and loss. of biodiversity, all of them put our planet in a critical situation.
According to Bjorn Lomborg in his book The Skeptical Environmentalist Measuring the Real State of the World, he explains that the state of our environment is basically due to the wishes and needs of man and not the conservation of the natural world, which has no rights, but that It must be respected and protected by the same man who will always have an economic or political intention and not to seek well-being in coexistence with nature.
According to Maldonado, there is a controversy between the defenders of the existence of the crisis and those who deny it. Also mentioned is the progressive separation between man and nature, as a consequence of western social models and the power of transformation, which causes an environmental and ecological imbalance.
In the same way, it is about recognizing the relationship that exists between sustainability and the domain of nature generated by what we call "modernity", that domain can be reformulated and become protection and not abuse of natural resources, abrogated by laws and strict controls for the proper functioning between man and his environment.
It will then be necessary to reconcile political environmentalism with modernity and thus the relationship of man with his environment.
In the document Global Ecological Crisis: Sustainability and equity problems, Dutta indicates that human beings, as well as their dominant economic-industrial system, have radically changed the environment in which they live, influencing the surface of the earth and the oceans (2016).
The deterioration of the natural systems known as ecosystems have generated great concern about human-caused environmental contamination, and this is already part of the political agenda in some meetings worldwide (such is the case of the Climate Change Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification; all of them sponsored by the United Nations) and have been formed of new organisms or committees that have the purpose of reviewing and publicizing climate changes on the planet, as well as the one to generate some norms for the care and protection of the environment.
The model called Western Capitalism has created a difficult situation due to the industrialization that causes unemployment, informal work, the poor sectors become poorer and the exploitation of natural resources increases considerably.
Likewise, Dutta agrees with other authors that the 2008 economic crisis made millions of people wonder if private corporations were really being agents of change towards economic development and growth, and now the idea of this model or social system is no longer it's such a popular idea.
I agree with the author in reference to the fact that today there is a greater interest in connecting with nature, in trying to understand the rights and privileges that "mother earth" has, and that they are asserted worldwide. Vital systems as we know them are considered to be in a critical situation due to the diverse activities of consumption and generation of waste, as well as the urbanization where entertainment centers are created and this contributes to the deterioration of large hectares of land and exploitation excessive resources.
In various areas of our planet, drinking water is being contaminated at accelerated rates, so that nature does not have time to regenerate it, on the other hand, the Carbon Cycle does not have the capacity to absorb even 40% of all emissions of greenhouse gases, the extinction speed of plant and animal species has increased more than 100 times compared to their natural extinction, obviously threatening biodiversity. Also, the nitrogen and phosphorous cycles are near the breaking point.
Water is considered one of the natural resources that support life as we know it, it cannot survive without clean oxygen-rich air, there is no supply for food generation due to rapid population growth, there is not enough land to planting due to soil erosion caused by droughts and indiscriminate felling of trees and taking into consideration that energy generation has grown 22 times more than it did in the last century, there is obviously an excessive consumption of non-renewable natural resources.
In the end, all the authors agree that the Ecological Crisis is the consequence of the current way of life and the lack of consciousness on the part of the human being.
CONCLUSION:
After reviewing the articles, it is clear that the economic-industrial model is the one that causes ecological deterioration, not only of the environment but also of the perception of it. Man tends to think that he has a right to everything around him and has not realized that resources are finite if they are not given enough time to regenerate.
In this industrialized world, it must be considered that the flows of raw materials (natural resources) and energy depend not only on economic factors, but also on the ecological limits of the planet. It is clear that we are in a climate and ecological crisis that will not be reversed unless the foundations of social and cultural models are reinvented, respecting natural cycles and trying to reverse the effects that have been caused by anthropogenic contamination.
POSITION:
Our lifestyle must change, each of us must become aware that the excessive use of resources and the generation of waste can lead to an undesirable situation in the future. Actions must be taken that are radical enough at the global level, generate a commitment on the part of governments to avoid degradation, and thus begin with the recovery of vital systems (ecosystems) and ecological reserves to achieve an ecological balance.
But above all, that each one of us is willing to change to improve and protect nature, respect its rights and comply with the established rules to prevent its deterioration.
Bibliographic references:
- Marcellesi, F. (2013). What is the ecological crisis?. Florentmarcellesi.eu. Available at: http://florentmarcellesi.eu/2013/01/08/que-es-la-crisis-ecologica/. Arias Maldonado, M. (2017). The global ecological crisis: Rhetoric and truth of the ecological crisis Revistadelibros.com. Available at: http://www.revistadelibros.com/articulos/la-crisis-ecologica-global. Dutta, S. and Vigyan Jatha, B. (2017). Global Ecological Crises: Sustainability and Equity Issues. http://www.countercurrents.org/. Available at:
