Other forms of positive influences that wildlife brings to our world consist of animal testing for cures to specific diseases and overall safety of products for humans. Without animals to test manufactured products on, humans would be a lot further behind in medicine and overall well-being. Products such as shampoo, specific kinds of beauty products, health products and medicine help the way we live our lives today. It would be a different world if we did not have animal testing.
The negative aspects of depletion of wildlife due to overpopulation consist of spreading of diseases, extinction, starvation of humans and animals, and depletion of fish groups due to water contamination pollutants. Destroying the rain forest to compensate for population growth will destroy hundreds of known and unknown species of animals that can have many streakening effects on mankind and the animal kingdom itself. Diseases will increase because animals will have to hunt for food for their survival in and around human civilization. The contact between animal and humans will increase significantly and raise our chances of being infected with minor and major potential diseases.
The extinction of animals will be our greatest loss due to overpopulation. Thousands of animals will perish from existence because we will threaten their ecological systems by cutting down their homes and our forests. Since 1600, over 480 animal species and 650 plant species are recorded as having become extinct (Article). Also other types of animals will become overpopulated because the animals that used to feed off of them will no longer exist causing an abundance of smaller animals. This will be one on mankind’s biggest downfall due to overpopulation.
Starvation of humans and animals will increase if we decrease our Amazon rainforest. Local groups of people who live in and near the rainforest will have to seek other forms of survival because the economic value of cutting down the rainforest is much greater than human life. Many groups of people depend on animals that live in the rainforest for their protein intake. If we destroy the rainforests we have the potential of killing off human beings who depend on the deep treasures of the rainforest. Also, animals in the rainforest depend on other animals for survival. If certain species of animals start to diminish then the animals that feed off them will have to depend on other forms of survival such as local cattle or possibly humans. This will have overwhelmingly effects of biodiversity inside our rainforests.
With continuos growth to compensate human growth major fish and water life species are being destroyed because development has spread toxins in nearby streams and wetlands. Wetlands are being drained to support hydroelectric producing equipment, such as dams, to support human demands for power. Streams and rivers in the Amazon will become overfished to help feed increasing population. As the population increases, there will be more demands for inexpensive food sources, such as fish (230, Global Issues). Overpopulation will have its toll on land, in water, and the air we breathe if we don’t plan for the future and save our rainforests.
Conclusion and Thoughts
Rainforest inhabitants are destroying Rainforests worldwide for the profits they yield-mostly harvesting unsustainable resources like timber, for cattle and agriculture, and for subsistence cropping. However, if landowners, governments and those living in the rainforest were given a viable economic reason not to destroy the rainforest, it could and would be saved. Government and industry must become more aware of the consequences of their activities and change accordingly. Education is one of the most effective catalysts for change. Society should undertake to educate the people of today to change their ways and the younger generations to have respect for nature. Recycling of trees should be mandated by all local agencies and high-yield planting should be the minimum we need to allow if people are allowed to cut down forests. Institutions need to be established to help instruct and educate people who work for companies that cut down trees to allow them the knowledge of repercussions if we do not protect our trees, animals, and soil. Last but not least, International aid and programs should be established to help constrict losses of our forests. Destroying rainforests is an international issue because it affects every individual person on the planet, which will impose global consequences. If we delegate new laws and institute education into the system we can reverse the damage that has been done to the rainforests and preserve the beauty for future generations of families.
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/Works Cited
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Syndrome”. Class lecture. Political Science 2401: Global Issues. Southern Polytechnic
State University, Marietta. 23 August 2000.
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Publishers Incorporated, 1998.
5. University of Oregon. “Amazon Deforestation and Global Environmental Phenomena.” 20
November 2000. .
6. U.S. Census Bureau. “International Data Base”. 10 May 2000. .
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8. Amazon Interactive “Making a Living”. 12 July 1998. .