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ANTH-2281
Some of the major global problems that humans must face today include; habitat
destruction, loss of biodiversity and global climate change. The main thing that all of these
threats have in common is that the severity of each is only elevated by human actions. Without
human intervention, there would be essentially no habitat destruction (besides that of natural
events), meaning not as severe a loss of biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variety of life in the
world or in a habitat or ecosystem. Therefore, a loss of biodiversity would entail that too many
species are going extinct leaving the earth with less diverse ecosystems. To correct this issue
humans need to work on their conservation techniques. This means that humans would have to
put action towards conserving the ecosystems around them and all the plants and animals within
destruction of habitat would be referred to as sustainability. This is because taking these actions
would help to ensure that no further damage is done to species or their homes and therefore
sustaining the level which they are already at. For any of these steps forward in conserving and
sustaining our global ecosystem to be successful humans need to act with more environmentally
responsible behavior. Each and every individual needs to act with this ERB within their own
communities if progress is every hoped to be made towards solving this issue. ERB refers to
actions that reflect caring about and for the natural environment, often involving resource
conservation. One of the most heavily impacted types of animals biodiversity is that of
monkeys, lemurs, and tarsiers (primates). The major threats facing these creatures a causing this
biodiversity loss are all human inflicted, habitat destruction being the leading cause followed by
over exploration and hunting. A third to a half of all primate species are endangered because of
overexploitation and habitat destruction. As an estimate, it's maybe at 42% right now, but it'll go
needs to be corrected quickly or the earth will end up with a remarkable un-diverse group of
At the Salt Lake Community College in Utah students are offered courses in the field of
life sciences that teach a great deal about humans connection to the natural world. On the SLCC
website under the description of the Life Sciences field it states, the fundamental objective is to
provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary for informed and responsible
beneficial program to offer because it teaches students modern methods of conservation and
sustainability that the world needs. They are taught about the issues that our ecosystems are
being faced with and then have to use their knowledge gained about the natural world to come up
with solutions. Along with this field of study offered at SLCC the school itself is taking
responsibility in becoming more sustainable and leaving a smaller carbon footprint. For example,
5 major campus parking lot lights have been upgraded to save approximately 600,000 kWH/year
of energy along with many other lights saving even more energy per year. They have also
upgraded all of the water outputs to low flow faucet aerators 0.5 GPM to help conserve water.
This is only two of the many eco upgrades that have been made at the various SLCC campuses
environment and the effect that the citizens within it have on it. There are many programs that
have started in SLC within the last 10 years that are making progress towards a greener city and
therefore greener planet. One of these programs that actually encompasses many more eco
continue to help us conserve resources, reduce pollution, slow climate change and ensure a
healthy sustainable future for Salt Lake City (https://www.slcgreen.com). One of the programs
under SLCgreen is the Salt Lake City Open Space Lands Program and their purpose is to help
maintain vast amount of natural lands in SLC. Not only do they maintain the land itself but they
also practice sustainability for native vegetation, water quality and aquatic and terrestrial wildlife
and their habitat. Taking this step in sustaining the ecosystems that we have in our own city is
just one piece to solving our global ecological issues. The water in Salt Lake is sustained and
conserved by the Department of Public Utilities. They protect SLCs environment by maintaining
high-quality drinking water, managing flood control and treating wastewater to EPA standards
(www.slcgov.com/utilities). To reduce Salt Lakes carbon footprint as a whole they are beginning
to install electric vehicle charging stations. Electric vehicles are one of the newer and very
promising solutions to global climate change as a whole. For Salt Lake to take this progressive
step forward really shows their support for electric cars and therefore shows their support for the
Utah has never been referred to as the most progressive state in the U.S, however it does
have a lot of organizations pushing to change that view. Just like for Salt Lake with the
SLCgreen program, Utah has an overarching organization that holds many others within it. One
of the many beneficial organizations is CSA Utah and their goal is to provide a one-stop
recourse for those interested in Community Supported Agriculture
local agriculture they are able to teach them the most efficient ways to use land for farming as
well as info on looking for fresh local food. Helping to encourage people to buy local and even
grow their own produce is very beneficial because it can drastically cut down on food waste,
pesticide use and food delivery. Cutting down on the amount of driving that is required to deliver
produce would be extremely helpful because it would make Utahs air cleaner. Breath Utah is
actually the organization that is responsible for knowing the various aspects of Utahs air. They
are seeking solutions to Utahs air problem by looking at the effects that it has on citizens health
as well as the overall quality of the air. They accomplish this by focusing on education outreach,
multi-stakeholder collaboration, and policy change. The air quality in Utah is one of the lowest
out of all of the U.S states and Salt Lake City is the number one lowest out of all of the Cities.
This is a very large issue especially due to the fact that the air quality is having an impact on
peoples health and therefore their overall wellbeing. With organizations like these two and many
others within the state of Utah, the future of our local ecosystems looks much brighter.
Although all of these steps taken by school, city and state seem very small scale in
comparison to global issues, they have an enormous effect. These practices are needed right now
and will be even more crucially as the human race advances and evolves. The global issues that
we face today such as biodiversity loss, habitat destruction and global climate change are only
going to worsen if action is not taken by every individual around the world. They are global
issues so they have global effects meaning that they will affect every person on this earth and
therefore people need to take responsibility for their actions and push for conservation. Major
issues such as biodiversity loss and lack of conservation and sustainability are threating to all
living beings, however they are taking a serious toll on primates. Primates are one of the most
heavily impacted animals by human action, the most devastating being habitat destruction. It is
teaches students how they can do their part in their own community to reduce the loss of
biodiversity. After researching the practices and procedures that SLCC, Salt Lake and Utah as a
whole are taking to aid in the global ecological crisis it made me realize that there were some
simples actions I could take as an everyday citizen to help. Some behaviors I could change
would be upgrading appliances/lights etc. around my house to make them more energy and water
conscious. I can also avoid driving as much as possibly reduce the amount of CO2 emissions that
I am putting into the air as well as buying local produce and even growing my own.
References:
personal.umich.edu/~phyl/anthro/conserve.html
"SLCC Catalog." Program of Study: Life Sciences (LS) - Salt Lake Community College -
http://catalog.slcc.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=6&poid=1323
SLCgreen | Salt Lake City's Sustainability Department. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
https://www.slcgreen.com
"CSA Utah." Sustain Utah. N.p., 16 Sept. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
http://www.sustainutah.org/orgs/csa-utah/