Overgrazing

Throughout history, numerous societies have dealt with many struggles and conflicts. Global pandemics and climate change are just two of these struggles that society still deals with today. History, particularly the historic backgrounds of ancient, medieval, and modern times, can educate people on solutions to these problems. First, Jared Diamond explains how climate change influences lifestyles of the ancient Maori and medieval Greenland Norse. Second, Richard A. Muller addresses the dangers of…

We, in the United States are meant eaters. Today’s news is often filled with the effects and causes of global warming, with the main focus being related to carbon gas (CO2) emissions, reducing oil-based and coal energy usage. By comparison, what is not well known or often reported, is the tremendous impact of raising farm animals, mostly cows and chicken, for food production, the strain on resources, carbon emission, and the corresponding toxic run-off, to name a few. By further investigating…

Environmental History is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time. Environmental history is a rather new discipline that came into being during the 1960’s and 1970’s. It came about as a direct consequence of the growing awareness of worldwide environmental problems. Some of important practitioners of environmental history are Donald Worster, Christian Pfister, and Peter Brimblecombe. Environmental history works by emphasizing the active role nature plays in influencing…

human activities, or both. Climate change like drought or deforestation, human activities like inappropriate agriculture. Some nomads have increased the size of their herds so that they have animals on limited grazing land. Loss of vegetation from overgrazing may also contribute to desertification. Most people in the Sahel use wood as…

devastating it is to consume meat and other animal products. Animal agriculture contributes the most greenhouse gases than any other human activity and uses a disproportionately large amount of land, water, and energy resources. Much of the blame for overgrazing goes to indigenous species, yet no one will oppose the meat industry by admitting that livestock is a major source of the problem. Those species are instead targeted as well as keystone predators that are hunted because of their threat…

Deforestation is one of the major global issues of the contemporary world. Humans and animals depend on trees for the production of oxygen so that they can breathe, yet universally, world annual deforestation is estimated at 13.7 million hectares a year. The annihilation of such immense quantities of forestland will have devastating consequences in the future, especially considering that fewer trees will result in a smaller intake of carbon dioxide, adding more emissions to the greenhouse effect…

of man and the hands of nature and has resulted in many longer term effects. Because of the Plains states’ successfully wheat business and harvest, thousands and thousands of farmers traveled to the area. However, this influx of farmers led to overgrazing and overplowing of the southern plains. Many of the farmers used a farming technique called dry land farming and destroyed the large areas of grassland. This, coupled with an incredible drought and Great Depression of the 1930s, led to the…

Australia is in the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean. It is composed of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and the overseas territories. Australia is in the southern hemisphere. Australia is located off the southeast coast of Asia, next to Russia, Canada, China, the United States, and Brazil. Its land is as large as about four-fifths of China. The coastline of 3,700 km has the Pacific Ocean to the East and the Indian Ocean to the West. It is also the only exclusive city state in…

Turkish nomadic groups managed to take-over and control much of central Asia and settlements in Persia, Anatolian and India. The Turkish nomads managed to acclimatize their societal needs to the landscape, climate, and ecology of the arid lands before them. Though their lifestyle was void of many comforts the Turkish nomads managed to carve a niche out of the harsh landscape for themselves. Like most groups of people the Turkish people turned to their religion for comfort and protection. They…

If you look at the original tragedy of the commons example of grazing cows, you understand that if every farmer tries to maximize their profits by buying another cow and, thus, overgrazing the land, eventually there will be no more grass for the cows to graze at all. In The Lorax, the Once-ler, who has profited tremendously off of selling items made of Truffula, comes face to face with a harsh reality when he looks outside and realizes…