Garth mentions the example of the brown tree snake that stowed away on ships and military equipment during World War II. During this time, obviously, there was not as much awareness of the invasive species problem as there is today. Basically therefore the current era is faced with a problem unintentionally created decades ago.
Another case of unintentional transport that I found particularly interesting in the article is the movement from port to port of ballast water. Ships take on water for balancing purposes. The water is transported to the destination port and discarded. The cycle is repeated from port to port. The aquatic life in this ballast water is then also transported between the ports. As a solution to this, one of the suggestions mentioned in the article is that ships exchange their ballast water outside of ports.
However, I am not sure how such a strategy would mitigate the problem. Surely local aquatic life is not limited to the boundaries of ports. Wherever ballast water is taken, if it is transported a significant distance, it necessarily transports local aquatic organisms significant distances across the globe. I therefore believe that the suggested strategy, even when widely implemented, is unlikely to make much difference.
Another striking element of the article is the focus on interconnectedness. At the end of her article, McGrath states that significant and global political interaction will be needed to make a significant difference to the problem of invasives. For me, this indicates a parallel between human and ecological interaction.
In the ecology, the article makes it abundantly clear that everything in an environment affects everything else. An imported snake that is not particular about its diet and without natural enemies, for example, erode the food sources for other species in the area. This threatens diversity survival and poses a threat to the nature of the specific...
As the road is being laid the fumes from the chemical materials and the concussive force of the construction equipment are devastating to local wildlife (Forman & Alexander, 1998). The result, is displaced organisms which ultimately put increased pressure for food, land, and water on other ecosystems. The extent of these ripple effects are still yet to be fully known. In instances where above or below ground water supplies must
Human Ecology At the beginning of this course, I offered that my stance on the human ecological situation was generally pessimistic. That stance has not changed, because I do not see how any thinking human could be optimistic about the present state of human ecology. However, I would like to note that pessimism is not the same thing as quietism -- this course has inspired me to change my thinking about
Animal Dreams: Real Life Reflections of the Effects of Pollution on the World's Fertility Continued inadequate attention to the world's rivers, lakes and streams will ultimately result to mankind's demise. To ensure the productivity and viability the earth in the future, mankind must start working together to protect the physical environment and ecological processes or face destruction. Government legislation and community action related to this issue up until this point in
Additionally, Bollier further states the contrail emissions to cause warmer weather. The duration of contrails in the atmosphere can last for days, according to (Harris, Kuper, Lebel, 2010). Trails may last for days and spread over hundreds of miles. According to Patrick Minnis, senior research scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia, "It helped us get a very good handle on the relationship between natural cirrus clouds and contrails,
143). Moreover, the global neglect of women (in terms of science) is reflected in the fact that women have been excluded as experimental subjects in drug research, Rosser continues. Certainly pregnant women have been excluded from experiments with pesticides and radioactive materials, but beyond that Rosser explains that "…these drugs and materials are then used without ever having been tested on women" (1991, p. 143). And yet notwithstanding their exclusion
Environmental ethics is a conjecture and an application in relation to apprehensions for principles in, and obligations regarding the natural world. Ethics, basically, is people relating to people in impartiality and love. Environmental ethics begins with human distresses for quality surroundings (Gaston 52). This concern shapes the ethic from beginning to the end. Beyond inter-human concerns, ideals are at pledge when individuals relate to animals, plants, species and ecosystem. Humans
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