In rural areas, there is a lot of farmland, where you can see the natural resources and the natural environment. This view is one that needs to be saved and preserved. According to the European Wilderness Society, due to excessive human activity, only 35% of the natural environment is left; only five percent is untouched. It is even visible in everyday life: a new development is being built, a new Dunkin Donuts being placed, apartments behind a gas station, the list goes on.

     Human development is happening at an alarming rate.  Some sources report that there is an increasing number of people in the world.  According  to Eurekalert, there are currently eight billion people in the world, and that number is increasing by 200,000 people per day.

      The result of human development is human activity which includes deforestation, ocean pollution, removing vegetation, or drilling for oil or natural resources. All of these benefit the human race but damage the natural ecosystem, and add to the damaging effects of global warming.

     Human activity is normally for the benefit of humans only. However, there is limited care for the ecosystem they are using to develop. Take a forest and cut down almost all the trees in it;  humans get the wood and the space. The species in the environment get left with nothing; the deer and foxes and other huntable animals are left and might run to find new space to hide and feel safe, being completely thrown out of their home and potentially running across a road in the middle of a forest or into territory of a predator.

     However, all of  this land use still finds a way to make its way back to humans. In order to cut down and clear land, people  must use machines and tools that give off carbon dioxide, a harmful greenhouse gas that gets trapped in the atmosphere and keeps in heat from the sun, producing the effect of global warming. 

     If it’s necessary to build a new road, or a new house, these machines will release some type of byproduct that will most likely contribute to the ongoing problem of the Earth’s heating.

     The ocean is one of the greatest contributors to the oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere. According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, ocean pollution causes the ocean to slowly degrade over many years; it uses oxygen to do so, resulting in less oxygen in the ocean and less oxygen to be released into the atmosphere. 

     It is imperative that we stop damaging ourselves and the ecosystem that was here before us. The human race has to find a better way to deal with these devastating problems. If we don’t,  it will affect everyone and all the species on this planet in the worst possible ways.