Application Assignment #1: This Land Is the Only Land There Is

Source of Article: This Land Is the Only Land There Is



Earth Warming

The article "This Land Is the Only Land There is," portrays the realization that we have a problem, we as a society need to seek change. We as humans living on this earth, don't understand that the planet's dangerously warm future is upon us. Robinson Meyer, explains that the earth's landscape has already warmed than 1.5 degrees Celsius since the industrial revolution. The land that we use on earth is extremely scarce, we need to use it for everything and we are already using most of it. Roughly more than 70 percent of the planet's ice free land is already shaped by human activity. There must be changes that happen quicker that you think because land problems have a pesky way of spreading diseases to different areas around the globe.
How do we obtain land? First off, we as humans need land for planting and reusing the materials that need to be put back into the earth for growth. The land provides use to build homes for our families and also provides us our necessary needs, like food and water. On earth, we have more than 70 percent land use, managed and directed by humans. The rest of the land is inhabitable, meaning nature runs how to use that specific piece of land with no life on it. There are limitations on how much land use we operate. The issue of over population, food, water, and security are some of the major problems that our planet is facing and it's disappointing to be living in a world with all of this happening all at once.
There are key environmental impacts that this issue is currently going through. Louis Verchot explains that "as the biosphere gets warmer, we increase evaporation." He goes on to say "as we increase evaporation, ecosystems dry out and burn when the normally don't do that." Heat waves around the world are longer, hotter, and more common now a days. Most of the deserts are expanding towards the poles, while zones of colder weather are shrinking. Evidence suggests that every year since the early 60's to 2013, and additional one percent of the worlds driest lands are slightly slipping into a dramatic drought. With all the climate change that is occurring around the globe, has a huge impact on the resources that we get from our precious earth. It has an impact on the food, health, economic growth, migration, and our drinking water. Without all these small things that we to survive, we would be nowhere.
Human health can also have an impact on how much land we use, not just in the United States but in other countries around the globe. Being an American at heart, one of our main source of income is the farming in the mid west. Farmers depend on the frequent rainfall to help grow their crops but with the air being dry, the farmers cannot grow their crops. The environmental impact on agriculture causes major problems, not just in the United States but in other countries where food is limited. Some of those problems are; heat stress, an increase in waterborne diseases, poor air quality, and diseases transmitted by insects and rodents. Crops in Europe are suffering from this past summers under successive heat wave. Our earth is currently facing high risk of food shortages, mass thirst, and tremendous wildfires in California. The land that we take each step on, warms quicker and faster than the whole planet does. We as humans must put in extraordinary effort to hold warming to a manageable level for all.
There are a lot of Human Industries that the earth is using, and more land to address climate change. Some of the human industries include agriculture, logging, or mining, etc. The one that I will be focussing on is logging. What does logging have to do with the land use on earth? First of, logging is controversial because of all the environmental impacts it takes on. Some of the impacts include species composition, the structure of the forest, and can cause nutrient depletion. Results of deforestation are major changes to the earth landscape and diminishing wildlife. Longer-range results of deforestation, including unrestrained commercial logging, may include damage to Earth's atmosphere and the unbalancing of living ecosystems. Forests help to remove carbon dioxide from the air. Through the process of photosynthesis, forests release oxygen into the air. A single acre of temperate forest releases more than six tons of oxygen into the atmosphere every year. The accumulation of gasses are leading to a gradual increase in earth's surface temperature. It has been estimated that almost 96% of North America's has been lost due to logging and deforestation that occurs in the most rural parts of our continent. Logging can also increase the waters temperature. In the end, we need to make a plan that works for all.



A picture of Logging in North America

With all the weather changing and impacting the environment, there are more problems than we know. Along with climate change but more specifically the land, the lack of resources that we humans need is an issue at hand. Without the land, how can planters grow their crops or even herd cattle? Even though we have the land to grow these specific crops, we cannot grow the crops to make a living. Global warming has created shifts in the climate zones in many world regions. This led to changes in precipitation patterns. Some of the patterns include wildfires, rainfall, and heat waves. Not just in the United States, climate change has resulted in lower animal growth rates and productivity in Africa. Most of the indigenous people confirm that climate change is affecting food security in dry lands in Africa and high mountain regions in Asia. Robert Mendelsohn estimates by the year 2100 the range of global temperature rise will be between 2 and 6 celsius. In the United States, between one-third and two-thirds of total damages will be caused by water shortages, sea-level rise, tropical cyclones, extinction of species, and productivity losses in agriculture, forestry, and outdoor recreation. Agriculture is very sensitive to climate because it makes a small impact on a huge world that needs these resources. Over the next couple decades, warmer weather in low-magnitude regions will increase the likelihood of a drought. 

(This is an image of a what a drought would look like if we don't take action)

Here at Keene, the effects of rainfall are ruining the land use we need to grow our crops. Ever since the year 2007, there has been an average of just over 3 inches of rainfall monthly. This is preventing the local planters from bringing their produce to the nearby college. Around campus, you can barren spots in the grass on the athletic fields at Owl Stadium. Thankfully the wonderful staff we have here at Keene State College can take care of these issues for us. Most of what there job consists of is taking care of the lawns that are around the college. Always making sure the grass on the Fiske Quad is always presentable whenever the students walk up and down the Appian Way. Even when it begins to snow outside, the crew is making sure that the sidewalks and walkways are plowed for the students. On a bright and beautiful day, they are making sure that the grass is water, the trees are trimmed, and always giving the flowers the right nutrients for survival. Doesn’t this put a smile on your face when you see this? It makes me smile every time I see the right people always make sure that our landscape on campus is proper. They are always making sure that the land on and off campus is watered and the grass is trimmed. On campus, this will lead to a huge impact on the environments future and how Keene State College takes an approach to this situation.

Picture of the Owl Athletic Complex, located on the campus of Keene State College