Humans: Earths most harmful parasite
Humans benefit at the expense of other organisms around the world.
When you wake up do you think about how many ecosystems have been damaged just so you could have the energy to turn on the light, brush your teeth, cook your breakfast, and drive to work? No, the average person doesn’t realize how those few luxuries that humans enjoy in the first few hours of the day were produced. This is just the first few hours of the day, the destruction continues for at least 12 more hours while the human is awake tending to their day.
One of the ways humans are the most harmful parasite to planet earth, is through the stripping away of natural ecosystems in order to collect fossil fuels. One of the projects around the world is the rapid and unprecedented proliferation of oil and gas concessions threatening the ecosystems, and idegious people within the Peruvian Amazon. According to Science Centric collected data from a study done by Marti Orta and Matt Finer, researchers at ICTA and Save America’s Forests “…data reveals an extensive hydrocarbon history for one of the greatest rainforests on Earth- well over 100,000 km of seismic lines and nearly 700 wells have resulted in the extraction of nearly 1 billion barrels of oil over the past 70 years from the Peruvian Amazon”. This is a result of the first major hydrocarbon exploration boom that took place there in the early 1970’s. Today, they are planning the second hydrocarbon boom in the Peruvian Amazon.
When you wake up do you think about how many ecosystems have been damaged just so you could have the energy to turn on the light, brush your teeth, cook your breakfast, and drive to work? No, the average person doesn’t realize how those few luxuries that humans enjoy in the first few hours of the day were produced. This is just the first few hours of the day, the destruction continues for at least 12 more hours while the human is awake tending to their day.
One of the ways humans are the most harmful parasite to planet earth, is through the stripping away of natural ecosystems in order to collect fossil fuels. One of the projects around the world is the rapid and unprecedented proliferation of oil and gas concessions threatening the ecosystems, and idegious people within the Peruvian Amazon. According to Science Centric collected data from a study done by Marti Orta and Matt Finer, researchers at ICTA and Save America’s Forests “…data reveals an extensive hydrocarbon history for one of the greatest rainforests on Earth- well over 100,000 km of seismic lines and nearly 700 wells have resulted in the extraction of nearly 1 billion barrels of oil over the past 70 years from the Peruvian Amazon”. This is a result of the first major hydrocarbon exploration boom that took place there in the early 1970’s. Today, they are planning the second hydrocarbon boom in the Peruvian Amazon.
Many areas in the Peruvian Amazon are official stare natural protected areas and indigenous land. Oil producers found that over 60% of the protected area which house voluntarily isolated indigenous people and some of the last remote and pristine rainforests in the Amazon are covered by hydrocarbon concessions. The new boom will expand into these remote areas not only ruining the natural rainforest ecosystem, but also the natural ecosystem of these indengious people.
Saving lives and ecosystems begins with the realization of how each individuals actions affect other people and places around the world. When you begin to realize this you begin to understand how humans have become the most harmful parasite on earth.
For more information on the second hydrocarbon boom threatening the Peruvian Amazon visit: http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/10022284-a-second-hydrocarbon-boom-threatens-the-peruvian-amazon.html
Created by Robin Beckmon
Created by Robin Beckmon
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