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Vickey Ho

22 April 2017

AP Language

Lanz

22 April 2067

Preserve Our World

Dear Masters of the environment,

Everything changed in the course of 50 years with new technologies being innovated

daily and a computer-based society, leaving the environment deteriorating within every minute.

Major industries created for our expanding society pollute our air, destroy habitats, and bring

species to extinction. Cities grew bigger, leaving less room for nature, causing a separation

between us and the environment. Because of our demand for efficiency and convenience, our use

of technology expanded until nature transformed into something we were not apart of. Currently,

Earth became something we profit off of, where we developed into the masters. We have

disrupted the Earth for generations, leaving it a place we use at our disposal.

Through every generation, people’s relationship with nature grows farther as they focus

on improving our society through more efficient technology. Our economy transformed into a

term of greed and exploitation, constantly using natural resources to satisfy our needs. Because

of our massive population, resources continue to deplete to fuel our expansion and sustain human

life. According to McKibben in The End of Nature, “We feel it our privilege to dominate nature

to our advantage” (McKibben 919). Although we attempt to live fully and happily, we begin

disrupting natural systems of the environment. Many environmentalists discover ways of

improving the environment, however, we ultimately ignore our role towards nature because of
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our desire of technologies and materials. As our relationship with the environment weakens, we

disregard trying to change our attitude. Thomas states in his excerpt, Natural Man, “The earth

was man’s personal property, a combination of garden, zoo, bank vault, and energy source,

placed at our disposal to be consumed, ornamented or pulled apart as we wished.” (Thomas 916).

Because of our new technology-based society, we forgot about our role in nature and continue

destroying it. The Earth adapted into our desires and we ultimately contained everything within

it. However, because of the growing population, we deplete natural resources daily. We may be

at the peak of technology and innovations, however, we are living in the peak of pollution and

chemicals.

After fifty years of innovations, the environment began deteriorating slowly until humans

became the one of the few species living on Earth. The impact of every generation on nature

increases, as we begin living in a world with few trees and few types of species left. In Silent

Spring by Carson, she states, “In this now universal contamination of the environment, chemicals

are sinister and little recognized partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world.”

(Carson 892). Carson portrays the effects of pesticides and insecticides for agriculture on our

environment. As the use of agricultural technologies increase and the demand of a stable food

supply, we use harmful items that contain a role in destroying our environment. Additionally, the

pollution in the air continues to grow as the industries burn up fossil fuels to meet our energy

demands. According to McKibben, “The end of nature is a plunge into the unknown, fearful as

much because it is unknown as because it might be hot or dry or whipped by hurricanes.”

(McKibben 919). The resulting consequences of our actions toward the environment remains

unknown to scientists. Because of the destruction of nature, every species can become extinct

due to the constant demand of resources. Fifty years of destruction from our society allowed
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more chemicals in the air, unabling us to breath in fresh air created by nature. In Silent Spring,

Carson announces, “To adjust to these chemicals would require time on the scale that is nature’s;

it would require not merely the years of a man’s life but the life of generations.” (Carson 889).

Our generation lives in a miserable environment due to past generations ignoring their role

towards nature. The chemicals and poisons being introduced through factories and industries

increase throughout each generation, leaving us in a dull environment containing only pollution

and humans.

To prevent the environment from deteriorating in the future, we must change our attitude

towards the environment and live as part of the system of nature, instead of trying to contain it.

According to Thomas, “The earth is a loosely formed, spherical organism, with all its working

parts linked in symbiosis.” (Thomas 916). Nature contains thousands of species, but mankind

continues to dominate nature insteading of helping it. Currently, as masters of the environment,

we must step down and live within nature and follow its natural systems. We must start now,

helping the environment and allowing every species to live together and prosper.