Over the past century the United States have drastically had a negative impact on the ecosystem. We have put a hole in the ozone by burning fossil fuels to run our cars and light our houses. We have torn down countless forest to build highways and housing projects. We have littered the oceans and road sides. We have even run some species to or near extinction. However, with all of these negative impacts we have had, we have learned and adapted as we realize the fallacy in our ways. We now have numerous ways that we positively impact the ecosystem. We have open space laws, environmental regulations, recycling systems, waste regulations, national parks, reforestation plans, developed clean energy, and even protect endangered species. For every …show more content…
As we protect some forests through national parks we have to find other places to cut down trees and destroy those forests. This seems like a system that ends with the only trees left being in national parks and that was how it was looking for a while; however, we eventually decided we had no intentions of letting that happen. There is a movement that has been happening for the past century which is called reforestation. Reforestation is a concept where we try to replace the trees we cut down. Not all companies do this, however many do. Reforestation is good for the environment for many reasons. One being that when trees are cut down in large amounts from a small area near watershed the natural flow of the river gets messed up. Disruption in the flow of water can lead to the deaths on many flora including the trees themselves. Furthermore, when we harm one part of the environment, it has a domino effect where everything in the surrounding environment is affected including us. This damage may be at a small scale where it is not very noticeable, but over time would be drastic. Another reason reforestation is positively impacting the ecosystem is that it gives back at least a little to the wildlife. During DEforestation we take away the homes of wildlife, however, during REforestation we give it back. It does, however, take time for the forest to grow into its prior glory, but what we are …show more content…
That carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere. However, that is only one way we create electricity. We have developed numerous clean (environmentally friendly) energy sources that are coming to popularity. Nuclear, hydroelectric, geothermal, wind powered, and fuel cell are all clean sources of energy. Nuclear energy uses nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Hydroelectric, or water powered, energy is just as the name implies. The energy from the currents in rivers is harvested into power by either dams or water wheels. Geothermal energy plants use the heat produced under the earth’s crust to produce energy. Wind powered energy uses the currents in the air to turn huge turbines that when turned conduct electricity. Last and certainly not the most simple is fuel cells. Inside a fuel cell electrochemical reactions occur that produce electricity. This method does not produce much power, however, it, like the other clean energy sources, produces almost zero emissions. It is amazing that we have all of these sources of energy that do very little harm to the environment. We are slowly transitioning to using only clean energy systems. If things go as they are in a few decades or so our human made carbon dioxide emissions will be nonexistent. This will prevent the increase in earth’s atmospheric