What do we mean when we speak of “environment”?
The environment is, simply put, the environment in which life sustains, grows, reproduces. All forms of life, no matter how small or complex they may be, exist in a continuous relationship with their surroundings: they feed on available resources, defend themselves from threats and eventually join the environment, when they die, providing it with matter and energy to other living beings that in turn take advantage of it. Life, therefore, consists of a complex series of physical, chemical and biotic exchanges between organisms and their environment, that is, their environment.
Seen this way, the environment is much more than the place we inhabit. The environment is of key importance to well-being and the continuity of life, and that is why throughout the history of the planet drastic changes in the environment have repercussions, often dire, on life in general.
For example, all the mass extinctions that took place in prehistory have their explanation in environmental changes, which occurred so quickly or violently that most of the living species could not adapt in time, and they disappeared. This is what happened, for example, with the fall of the meteorite that extinguished the dinosaurs and 75% of life on the planet 65 million years ago.
Environmental damage
The environment is not, as we have seen, something static and permanent but can change as a result of the appearance of new substances, or of the same substances as always but in different proportions. For example, the eruption of a volcano not only casts lava towards its surroundings, forming new layers of rock as it solidifies, but also releases gases and tons of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, whose composition and properties are different from those of the region before that the volcano exploded. And this sudden appearance of gases and substances has a detrimental effect on nearby ecosystems, as it irreparably damages the life around them.
But volcanic eruptions are very sporadic and last a limited time, so, given enough time, life regains lost ground and things go back to more or less the way they were. Or even if they don’t do it again, new life forms, adapted to the new environment, will emerge and thrive if given enough time.
On the other hand, the damage caused to the environment by humanity has much more damaging effects in the long term, although in the short term it may appear less harmful than the eruption of a volcano. The discharge of polluting gases into the atmosphere, of dirty waters in the seas or of plastics and garbage throughout the world are terrible and constant factors for the environment.
And although humanity depends, as much as other animals, on its environment being more or less stable, Homo sapiens we are the only species that in a short period of existence (barely 400,000 years or so) has altered the environment in a drastic and often unpredictable way. We have not only created new environments and discovered materials that did not exist before, but we have also caused the extinction of entire species and, according to some sectors of society, we could be turning the planet into an inhospitable place for ourselves.
Defense of the environment
The environmental defense groups, also known as environmentalists or environmentalistsThey have been around in the West since the mid-20th century, more or less. These political, social and economic movements are fighting for a more harmonious coexistence between human beings and the environment, and they warn about the dangers of not taking active responsibility for the environmental damage that our way of life produces.
In the final decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, these voices have multiplied and have echoed the serious warnings of science regarding the immediate future of humanity, if pertinent measures are not taken to reduce the damage we do. to the environment. Warnings that, on the other hand, some question, claiming that it is an interpretation only of natural cycles in which the human being has little to do.
There is, however, incontrovertible evidence regarding the environmental damage caused by human industries. Climate change, microplastic pollution and the loss of biodiversity are three examples of this that could cost future generations dearly, but whose solution is difficult as it contradicts current economic models. That is why, according to environmental voices, we are obliged to undertake a change in the production model on the entire planet, before the consequences are terrible and irreversible.
References:
- “Expository text” in Wikipedia.
- “Natural environment” in Wikipedia.
- “Environment (biology)” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- “How to take care of the environment? (video) in Smile and Learn Spanish.
What is an expository text?
A expositive text It is a type of writing whose essential mission is to provide the reader, in an objective way, specific and specific information on a specific topic. In this it differs from other textual types, such as the argumentative text or the narrative text, since the expository text does not contain arguments or opinions in favor of a perspective, nor does it contain any kind of story or narrative.
Expository texts focus above all on information, so they are usually impersonal and rigorous in their approach to the subject. They are texts in which data, observations, textual citations and other resources predominate in order, as the name implies, to expose an aspect of reality to the reader.
To write an expository text, we must first of all document ourselves on the desired topic and then reproduce the ideas, from the most general to the most specific (or vice versa), without involving our own points of view in this regard, but sticking to the strictly informative.