McOmber 1

Breanna McOmber

Dr. Melissa Schaefer

Anthropology 2281

1/11/2018

Global Problems, Local Solutions

When we consider things like biodiversity … What does that really even mean? It’s the

diversity between habitat’s or ecosystem essentially. Hence, “bio” (life) and “diversity.” But it’s

much deeper than that. Different habitats have many different species within them and they all

have a cause and effect on each other. Both positive and negative. However, humans are

usually causing negative problems and are often the main root of these problems. Such as;

habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and global climate change. It is why we as humans need

to have more environmentally responsible behaviors. Think, would humans be considered to

possess environmentally responsible behaviors? If you compare us to another species you can

find that every living thing takes from its surroundings to survive but they are never taking

more than what is necessary for that survival. Any waste they produce is recycled back into the

environment. From fallen leaves to dung. Whereas humans are taking up so much unnecessary

space and resources. Constant deforestation caused by humans and their ‘need’ to take

product from the forest. Which in turn takes the homes of a lot of different species. An example

of this would be the ‘need’ for palm oil. Palm oil is in millions of different products sold to the

US and it’s supply and demand policy is to cut down tree’s which kill many of the species within.

One specific species would be the genus Pongo (Orangutan) who are located in these forests in

both Sumatra, Africa and Borneo, Asia. The adults are often killed on site while their babies are
 McOmber 2

taken and sold illegally to wealthy families who ‘need’ to establish or hold a certain reputation.

This is why we need to become more like other species and respect that we aren’t just spoiling

the world for on ourselves but millions of different species, including our future children.

Everyone needs to focus on things like conservation and sustainability. With conservation being

a principle of how we use resources, distribute them and protect them we know that we can

focus on these to be less wasteful. To better maintain the health of the natural world and all its

biological diversity. Conservationists are those who act on and advocates on the protection and

preservation of the environment and wildlife. But don’t we agree that we should all be

consercationist? Sustainability