Is it ok to exploit our environment for economic gain?

[God]

Is it ok to exploit our environment for economic gain?

Lately it has become apparent to me that we are abusing our planet.

The Canadian Oil Sands in Alberta is a great point to this. The fact the size of this project is destroying the area equivalent to the state of Florida is appalling. Yet it's legal due to the reason they're is a predicted 1.2 Trillion Canadian Dollars ( ₤ 647 955 600 000.00) of Oil predicted to be mined in a 35 year span.

To be honest, for anyone who thinks this is a good Idea, please just take a hint.






And Lastly these last few photos sum everything up.






So the Question is: Is it ok to exploit our environment for economic gain?

You Explain below.

[Empired]

Of course not.

I think a lot of humans forget that actually we're just monkeys in shoes sometimes. We share our planet with so many other species yet we steal their homes, their food, their offspring and their safety for our own benefit. If it were the other way around and, say, eagles (just an example!!) were crushing our houses, stealing our food and killing our children we would definitely have something to say about it. So I don't understand why it's okay for us to take stuff from them?

Also we do seem to have realised that the way we're living isn't anywhere near sustainable yet we still don't seem to be doing anything about it. I'm not sure if it's because we just don't care about future generations, or if it's because we're just too stupid to fully understand that our actions have consequences, or maybe even that we just think if we keep ignoring it this problem will go away.

Anyway at the same time scientists really are trying to come up with more sustainable solutions. Solar power, wind power, electric cars, paying for plastic bags, etc. are all beginning to be put in place so we can still live comfortably but keep our way of living going for longer as well. It's just a shame that we need time we don't have to develop new sustainable ideas..

[Eric]

yes, we exploit environment for necessities and luxuries. It's supply and demand. Natural resources are utilized to provide housing, food, electricity, clothing, and etc unless you live in a cave eating berries and fishes. The electricity used to power your laptop and internet are generated by burning coal too. And the smartphone you're using is manufactured using minerals obtained from mining.

Of course not.

I think a lot of humans forget that actually we're just monkeys in shoes sometimes. We share our planet with so many other species yet we steal their homes, their food, their offspring and their safety for our own benefit. If it were the other way around and, say, eagles (just an example!!) were crushing our houses, stealing our food and killing our children we would definitely have something to say about it. So I don't understand why it's okay for us to take stuff from them?

Also we do seem to have realised that the way we're living isn't anywhere near sustainable yet we still don't seem to be doing anything about it. I'm not sure if it's because we just don't care about future generations, or if it's because we're just too stupid to fully understand that our actions have consequences, or maybe even that we just think if we keep ignoring it this problem will go away.

Anyway at the same time scientists really are trying to come up with more sustainable solutions. Solar power, wind power, electric cars, paying for plastic bags, etc. are all beginning to be put in place so we can still live comfortably but keep our way of living going for longer as well. It's just a shame that we need time we don't have to develop new sustainable ideas..

It's the circle of life, the resources are there for us to utilize. same goes to the eagles, they build nests and eat rabbits.

the only thing we should do is ease on our luxuries and dwindle on the exploitation of resources and develop sustainability, make more environmentally friendly products, reducing the wider impacts on environment, ecosystem and humans. and sustainability is not just about environment, it's about society too

[Empired]

yes, we exploit environment for necessities and luxuries. It's supply and demand. Natural resources are utilized to provide housing, food, electricity, clothing, and etc unless you live in a cave eating berries and fishes. The electricity used to power your laptop and internet are generated by burning coal too. And the smartphone you're using is manufactured using minerals obtained from mining.



It's the circle of life, the resources are there for us to utilize. same goes to the eagles, they build nests and eat rabbits.

the only thing we should do is ease on our luxuries and dwindle on the exploitation of resources and develop sustainability, make more environmentally friendly products, reducing the wider impacts on environment, ecosystem and humans. and sustainability is not just about environment, it's about society too

That's what I was trying to say I think, not sure how well I said it though

I meant I know I'm burning coal and using unsustainable resources but I'm using them because there aren't any other options at the moment. We need more sustainable ways of living but they just haven't been invented properly yet!

[-:Undertaker:-]

To be honest, for anyone who thinks this is a good Idea, please just take a hint.

I probably do more for the environment than most on here so I won't be told that I do not care about nature.

Yes it is okay to 'exploit' our environment for economic gain. The Canadian tar sands have greatly helped Canada's economy by providing cheap, home-sourced energy. The oil wells of the Arabian Gulf have created paradises and welfare states for the UAE, Dubai and Qatar that had previously been economic backwaters - the people benefit greatly. The same can be said for mining in China, or the great dams that have been built that have flooded huge areas of forest. Energy does not come from thin air.

Obviously I am not saying KILL KILL KILL EVERYTHING - but you've got to be practical. If you want to live in a first world nation with a first world lifestyle, then the environment will be sacrified so you can enjoy such a lifestyle. Coal and oil are there to be used. In any case, many areas which are destroyed by mining, oil slicks and so forth recover in a decade or two very quickly - nature is an amazing thing and if humans disappeared off the planet tommorow, come back in a hundred years and you'll hardly notice we were ever here. Look at Chernobyl and the Red Forest in Ukraine, despite being one of the most radioactive places on earth.... after 30 or so years it's now a wildlife haven.

[God]

I probably do more for the environment than most on here so I won't be told that I do not care about nature.

Yes it is okay to 'exploit' our environment for economic gain. The Canadian tar sands have greatly helped Canada's economy by providing cheap, home-sourced energy. The oil wells of the Arabian Gulf have created paradises and welfare states for the UAE, Dubai and Qatar that had previously been economic backwaters - the people benefit greatly. The same can be said for mining in China, or the great dams that have been built that have flooded huge areas of forest. Energy does not come from thin air.

Obviously I am not saying KILL KILL KILL EVERYTHING - but you've got to be practical. If you want to live in a first world nation with a first world lifestyle, then the environment will be sacrified so you can enjoy such a lifestyle. Coal and oil are there to be used. In any case, many areas which are destroyed by mining, oil slicks and so forth recover in a decade or two very quickly - nature is an amazing thing and if humans disappeared off the planet tommorow, come back in a hundred years and you'll hardly notice we were ever here. Look at Chernobyl and the Red Forest in Ukraine, despite being one of the most radioactive places on earth.... after 30 or so years it's now a wildlife haven.

Thing is, the sun is beaming down the same amount of energy of all the natural gasses/oil/ect. we have discovered, in 20 minutes.
The winds will be here forever, and the Tides will continue to flow in, and out every 12 hours for the rest of the time we have the moon. Sun, Wind, Water. These all can provide the world with enough energy if we just make the amount of Green Energy plants that would supply the demand.

Thing is in most cases, the earth is able to restore it's self, mostly in isolated areas. Considering what we are doing to our whole planet, if we don't make immediate changes, we will go past this tipping point.

A few things I've come across off the internet:

"Growth for the sake of Growth, is the Ideology of the Cancer Cell." ~ Edward Abbey

Why do we treat our planet like we have another one to go to? There is not Planet B.

[Eric]

Thing is, the sun is beaming down the same amount of energy of all the natural gasses/oil/ect. we have discovered, in 20 minutes.
The winds will be here forever, and the Tides will continue to flow in, and out every 12 hours for the rest of the time we have the moon. Sun, Wind, Water. These all can provide the world with enough energy if we just make the amount of Green Energy plants that would supply the demand.

Thing is in most cases, the earth is able to restore it's self, mostly in isolated areas. Considering what we are doing to our whole planet, if we don't make immediate changes, we will go past this tipping point.

A few things I've come across off the internet:

"Growth for the sake of Growth, is the Ideology of the Cancer Cell." ~ Edward Abbey

Why do we treat our planet like we have another one to go to? There is not Planet B.

yea but solar systems can't generate power at night, dams could flood cities and won't last long, wind power could have environment impact. The problem is there are constraints with the use of renewable energy too but considering we're reaching a peak of petroleum extraction and climate change have brought attention to new renewable technologies limiting future impacts on the environment and the climate and ensuring clean and cost-efficient delivery of energy.

even the tiniest human actions could alter the environment. what we can do is consume less, care more and vote the right thing

and mars is actually another planet we can go to but it's yet to be terraformed and has too much radiation

- - - Updated - - -

and it takes a lot to actually destroy earth itself

[Landon]

We are becoming careless.
We need to actually start saving what is precious. Forests, landforms, maintain them! They are beautiful things!

Say in Canada, you cut down the wilderness. That is killing our animals, plants, and resources that are important to us.
Who cares that it will gain 1.2 trillion dollars, I am sure there are more ways we can do this without destroying the world first

Just my opinion.
~Landon

[Empired]

Thing is, the sun is beaming down the same amount of energy of all the natural gasses/oil/ect. we have discovered, in 20 minutes.
The winds will be here forever, and the Tides will continue to flow in, and out every 12 hours for the rest of the time we have the moon. Sun, Wind, Water. These all can provide the world with enough energy if we just make the amount of Green Energy plants that would supply the demand.

Thing is in most cases, the earth is able to restore it's self, mostly in isolated areas. Considering what we are doing to our whole planet, if we don't make immediate changes, we will go past this tipping point.

A few things I've come across off the internet:

"Growth for the sake of Growth, is the Ideology of the Cancer Cell." ~ Edward Abbey

Why do we treat our planet like we have another one to go to? There is not Planet B.

That sounds great on paper but just can't work in reality. Earth is far too unreliable for us to be able to just use solar energy, wind power, etc all the time. As said above, we can't use solar panels at night because there is no sun. And in a lot of places it's more cloudy that it is sunny so they just wouldn't generate enough energy.

These do not supply us with enough energy unless we were to cover huge (can't even begin to imagine the scale) areas of land with solar panels and build massive dams (which isn't safe anyway). But this is just a waste of space and we would still have to clear enough area (probably through deforestation) to have anywhere to put this equipment.

These methods are useful but we cannot purely rely on them because they don't supply us with the amount of energy we need.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Thing is, the sun is beaming down the same amount of energy of all the natural gasses/oil/ect. we have discovered, in 20 minutes.
The winds will be here forever, and the Tides will continue to flow in, and out every 12 hours for the rest of the time we have the moon. Sun, Wind, Water. These all can provide the world with enough energy if we just make the amount of Green Energy plants that would supply the demand.

Thing is in most cases, the earth is able to restore it's self, mostly in isolated areas. Considering what we are doing to our whole planet, if we don't make immediate changes, we will go past this tipping point.

A few things I've come across off the internet:

"Growth for the sake of Growth, is the Ideology of the Cancer Cell." ~ Edward Abbey

Why do we treat our planet like we have another one to go to? There is not Planet B.

Most renewables are costly and simply do not work. You can never have a national grid based on wind for example because the wind doesn't always blow, and thus you then need coal and gas fired power stations on standby... and the process of starting up a coal or gas station actually costs more and pollutes more than if you kept it running 24/7 (from what I have read).

I'm all for hydro power though provided it's cheap & we actually have sites to do it. However, I think that the future in terms of energy is going to be more nuclear based with the continued advancements made in cleaning up and using coal/gas/oil more efficently. As somebody who wants cleaner energy (who doesn't?) but who doesn't believe the world is going to end by driving SUVs around, i'm laid back about it.