Man-made disaster

‘We have now reached a stage where continuing on our present course would threaten the entirety of human civilization,’ said Al Gore, Former Vice President of the United States. His statement obviously implies that we human beings are doing great harms to our own human society and our mother earth. More noticeably, he also conveys the underlying meaning that various disasters happening nowadays around the world are manmade. What human activities cause such disasters and what disasters are so severe to be mentioned? According to scientists and experts, there is a great deal of evidence in which wars, deforestation, and air pollution are the three significant factors to show that the forces of destruction on human society come from human themselves.

The first obvious man-made disaster that has left a dreadful scar in human history is “WAR”. Basically, wars are consequences of human being’s ambition to control and to expand their power over the others and the lack of communication with each other. Wars have arisen since the primary time of the establishment of human society – the hunting and gathering society – and have continued existing till the present time (such as the Korean War). The effects of the wars are disastrous. World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) are the real examples to illustrate. By the end the World War I in 1918, nearly 10 million troops had died and about 21 million soldiers had been wounded (Davies II, 2009). In addition, 32 nations involved in the Great War also faced an enormous recovery challenge after four years of financial loss, economic deprivation, and material destruction (Keylor, 2009). Nevertheless, the aftermaths of World War II were even more devastating than those of World War I. It is estimated that there were approximately 55 million deaths—25 million in the military and 30 million civilians, and that more than $1 trillion had been spend in the war (Ziemke, 2009).

Deforestation is also an undeniable evidence to show that the force of destruction on human society comes from human themselves. For many years, people have been clearing forest for trees for building materials, furniture and paper products; and land for doing agriculture and building infrastructure. Amazon rainforest in Brazil, for example, has been under destruction since 1970, and over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of the forest have been destroyed for livestock pasture land (World Bank Working Paper No. 22, 2004). Deforestation has more effects on the environment such as soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, global warming, climate change, flooding and drought, all of which are disastrous to human beings. According to Jerry James Stone (2009), “deforestation peaked in 2004 …flooding the Amazon is a bit of a FAIL. Flooding such a huge area will hamper the planet’s ability to rid the atmosphere of greenhouse gases. Not only that, it will really suck for the 19,000 people who will lose their land and homes…wipe out the livelihoods of many more, killing their main food sources and destroying their raw materials.”

Another disaster in contemporary human society is air pollution. Nowadays, people seem to ignore the effects of air pollution, while in fact, it has detrimental effects on wildlife, human habitations, and quality of life in the affected areas, and particularly on climate change. Air pollution results from a wide variety of sources from human activities and human development. The increasing number of vehicles is one which has led to an increase in air pollution due to the emission of harmful gases like Carbon Monoxide (http//:www. greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Main_page). Manufacturing exhaust also causes air pollution, while building construction or demolition is also a remarkable factor. Based on a report on Pollution and Society of University of Michigan, each year, developed countries generate billions of tons of pollutants. Many pollutants come directly from identifiable sources (such as chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs) which are harshly destroying the ozone layer. Annually, the concentration of the ozone layer over the South Pole is already fifty percent of its natural concentration.

The opponent of man-made disasters may say that a great amount of destruction on human society is from natural disasters that have struck the human society since the existence of the earth, such as drought, flood, typhoon, earthquakes, landslide, and erosion. This point is may be right to some extent in the hunting and gathering society or the pastoral and horticultural society. However, if we think more deeply, we will notice that most disasters considered natural catastrophes in the contemporary society are in fact caused by human activities. Since the revolution of agricultural society, humans have started to clear forest, extract natural resources, build factories, produce a lot of waste affecting environment as a whole and lead to such disasters.

To sum up, man-made disasters have always been around. We have precisely seen millions of deaths and injuries and incredible amount of damage to our property resulting from wars, deforestation, and air pollution which are all created by man – by his greed, his ignorance, and his neglect. People, local government and international bodies must pay more attention to their own activities and must work hand-in-hand to mitigate those adverse impacts. It is time to take action from now on before it is too late.

By Veng Rachana


Reference
Davies, E. J. II. (n. d.). Global Consequences of World War I. Microsoft® Student 2009
[DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
Hake, T. (2009, February 19). Al Gore urges scientists to be political to face a threat to ‘ the
entirety of human civilization’. Retrieved November 26, 2006, from
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Marglis, S. (2004). Causes of deforestation of the Brazilian [World Bank Working Paper No.
22]. Retrieved November 26, 2006, from World Bank database.
Keylor, W. R. (n. d.). World War I. Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA:
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Ziemke, E. F. (n. d.). World War II. Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA:
Microsoft Corporation, 2008.