Sara Chan
The entire world operates as a system, and in order to maintain this system, regulatory forces are required to maintain balance. This may sound obvious, and scarcely in need of being repeated, but I feel that we do not quite register the significance of this. This balance is essential, it plays a crucial role in our continued existence (just like the atmosphere). Our lives, our future, our very existence is dependent on this balance. How ironical it is that we, as human beings dependent on this delicate balance are doing our utmost to upset this balance, an act which, should we succeed, can ultimately end only in the annihilation of ourselves.
When watching the video we saw in class today, the first thing that came to my mind was that our earth is beautiful. Isn't it amazing how the simple presence of the atmosphere has transformed the once (theoretically) barren planet into the gorgeous paradise we see around us today? (Or the paradise we would see if we didn't live in the concrete jungle of Singapore.) What a wonderful job the stromatolites (was that spelt correctly? stromatolites are the first life forms on earth, bacteria, the first to photosynthesize and produce that incredible life giving gas: oxygen) did of turning that "witches brew" of noxious fumes into the vibrant, life-supporting world of today.
The Earth is simply perfect for human survival, or perhaps I should say was. The composition of air for example, 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen, 0.03% carbon dioxide and 0.97% sundry other gases, is completely ideal for human habitation. Too much oxygen would lead to the horrible anguish of lung damage as oxygen is a highly reactive element, while too would result in a slow suffocating death. The key then is balance: neither too much nor too little. Take carbon dioxide, along with other greenhouse gases as another example. Too little and we would freeze to death, but any more would lead to global warming. As we saw in the video today, global warming sets off a chain of other events. Apart from the obvious rise in temperatures across the globe, and the subsequent melting of the ice around the world, the rise in ocean levels and all the other problems brought on by global warming, there is also the melting of the permafrost in Siberia, releasing copious amounts of methane into the atmosphere. As an extremely potent greenhouse gas, the drastic increase in methane would lead to a great rise in global warming: a downward spiraling cycle where more global warming causes the release of more methane which in turn causes a rise in global warming and so on. How quickly things spiral out of control once we tip the balance! This balance we depend on is indeed delicate. Delicate and precious.
Another thing we learnt to day was how to analyze questions, a skill that will surely be useful, not only in Geography, but also in English, Chinese, MI, and possibly all of our other subjects as well. Breaking down the question does indeed help you to understand exactly what the question is asking for, and, consequently, makes it a lot easier to answer.
The last thing we covered today would be the carbon cycle, in which we once again made use of the nifty method of mind-mapping. Another thing that proves how perfectly the world is for survival: the way the carbon circulates. And another example of how humans are demolishing the earth through deforestation and whatnot. It may take some time to get used to mind mapping as opposed to memorizing all those facts and regurgitating them when the exams loom over us, but I'm sure as time goes on we will find it much easier. Not to mention we would probably die if we attempted to memorize everything we're learning for Geography.
Comments: (place here first, insert name at the bottom)
posted by 08ip01 at
5:59 PM
6 Comments:
It is true that the carbon cycle holds key to climate change and global warming. I remember a project for SPIRE which I thought off last year (but was abandoned because it was plain ridiculous). Can we speed up the rate of decomposition of dead matter to increase oil production? I suppose with modern technology we could, but the amount of gas released into the air would unbalance the carbon cycle even further resulting in greater damage to the enviroment, increasing global warming potentially. Everything we do has a great impact on the environment- similarly with science and research, and as global citizens, we have some sort of responsibility to conserve our earth and not harm to it. Definitely, it is important that we tread with caution in science researches that we carry out, for just like the atomic bomb, something meant for a good cause may cause harm to something else. The nature of this world is so fragile. Every little action can displace it severely.
Yes, indeed nature can be described with the word 'fragility.' Another thing that might be taken into consideration are the extreme limitations of human beings. We do not protect earth simply to maintain its beauty. It therefore seems like an endless cycle. It seems an endless pursuit of finding how to maintain that balance without disrupting life. The world cannot come to a standstill so as to completely conserve nature. At the same time, as what Geraldine said, everything has an impact, and i feel this includes the complete exclusion of humans from the Earth. Perhaps earth has already found a way to adapt itself slowly to human existence. The thing is we may never know. And without this knowledge, we can state that equilibrium is essential but i do not think we can judge for ourselves when it actually does exist or when it will, or if stopping human activity will help. We cannot state percentages and with full assurance, by the logic that it may maintain life, say it is the mark of equilibrium. The world evolves in ways that we may not know about. It has evolved to this point and yet we do not know for sure how it began and how it continued this far. This is an area that is relatively unventured. Caution indeed must be taken, but to what extent?
I know this is going to sound really weird but since it is true that planet Earth is able to adapt well, then is it by any chance possible that Earth would be able to adapt itself to the situation of global warming which is getting rather severe right now? And is there anything that us humans would be able to do that can possibly act as a catalyst to improve this speed of adaptation. Think of itthis way, the Earth was not able to sustain life at all at the beginning, like you mentioned in your post. Yet now, we see that it has not much problem sustaining life as it has adapted, could the same thing be done for the constantly increasing temperature on Earth nowadays?
I somewhat agree with nurul, I think it is possible for the Earth to change and adapt to the happenings now, namely climate change. After all, the Earth indeed has evolved through these many million of years, I believe that there is a chance the Earth would evolve to become immune to such climate changes in time to come.
But of course, we must not aggravate the current situation and try to bring down the level of climate change. Perhaps we can try invent ways to replace electricity! O:
We don't need to replace electricity, we need to find alternate non-polluting ways to produce it. Global warming is a natural process. The humans have only increase its speed. The earth might be able to adapt to climate changes but we should always be prepared for future. Even if we are able to adapt Global warming we know that our most important form of energy Oil is bound to finish in about 50 years. So we should continue to find alternate sources of energy.
Well, of course it'll be great if Earth could adapt to the effects of climate change. However, what if it couldn't? As quoted from the SISC video I viewed last week, Earth wasn't something we inherited from our ancestors. It is merely what we have borrowed from our children. Personally, I think that this makes sense a lot. As we sit under blasting aircon or conveniently forget to turn off the lights and fans of our classroom, have we not forgotten something? Who did we think was going to suffer for our deeds? Well, as far as I am concerned, I don't think we are going to be the ones. In fact, our children, our grandchildren will be thrust into the realms of such pitiable plights just because of our greed for over-comfort.So well, for our children's sake, we should all return Earth to them as how it should have been.. erm.. clean and green? haha
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home