The problem of global warming has been in existence for quite long, yet it has only recently gained enough attention to warrant a change in global policies and regulations. Nonetheless, the issue remains urgent despite the numerous attempts at building awareness and promoting a global change. Therefore, there is the need to change the current environmental policies to encourage a more sensible approach toward the use of the available resources.
At present, there is a vast environmental crisis approaching the global community. The impact that people have had on the climate and the current changes in it are profound and mostly irreversible (European Commission, 2016).
Specifically, the rise in the levels of CO2 emission, as well as the subsequent greenhouse effect, should be seen as the key outcomes of the human activity on the environment. The specified change has had a profound impact on a range of processes within the Earth’s biosphere, thus causing vast alterations. Despite the drastic levels that the climate change process has reached, some of its negative effects still can be contained, which will require shaping the current policies toward resource management.
Problem/Context
Among the key roles that the human activities have on the climate change, the destruction of unique habitats and the subsequent extinction of endemic species should be mentioned first. Although the aftermath of the observed change might seem as barely noticeable at first, it gradually causes disastrous effects by altering crucial components of the setting in which various species live. As a result, these species face the imminent threat of extinction. While the climate change forces some of the elements of fauna to relocate in pursuit of a better environment, others become extinct due to rapid changes or the destruction of essential components that made their existence possible (Cloern et al., 2016). Human activities and climate variability drive fast‐paced change across the world’s estuarine–coastal ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 22(2), 513-529.).
For instance, over the past six decades, the following species have vanished from the face of the Earth forever: blue pike (1960ies), longjaw and shortnose cisco (1983 ad 1985), Sampson’s pearlymussel (1984), and Thismia americana (1995), to name a few (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2018). Therefore, urgent measures need to be taken in order to address the problem.
Due to the change in the habitat, the biodiversity rates are plummeting in the oceanic ecosystem drastically (Tornero & Hanke, 2016). The observed phenomenon is mostly due to the unreasonable use of ocean resources, although pollution also has its toll on the ocean environment (Elliott et al., 2017). “And DPSIR begat DAPSI (W) R (M)!”-A unifying framework for marine environmental management. Marine pollution bulletin, 118(1-2), 27-40.).
Since a range of species are on the verge of becoming extinct due to the described situation, changes to the current environmental policy must be made to address the concern. It is important to manage the current levels of climate change through changes in the environmental policy so that the process of sea habitat destruction could cease to develop (Serrano et al., 2016). The proposed approach will help localize the outcomes of global warming and inhibit its further aggravation.
Application of Principles/Theory
When managing the problem of preserving the habitats of the world ocean, one should utilize the appropriate theoretical framework that will help to introduce order to the process. In order to produce changes on an administrative level and shape the current policies toward managing the oceanic resources and its ecosystem, one should start with incorporating the ideas of environmental security into the context of the issue (Beamish, 2015).
Specifically, the problem of habitat destruction and the subsequent disappearance of species as a result of climate change should be viewed from the perspective of the Cultural Theory of Risk (CTR). Created by Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky, the proposed theoretical approach suggests that the responses that people produce when facing specific risks vary depending on sociocultural factors that define these responses (McNeeley & Lazrus, 2014).
CTR will help discover the factors that define people’s attitudes toward the existing guidelines for environmental safety and preservation. As a result, one will avoid the instances in which the existing standards of environmentalism are violated.
In addition, the Theory of Rational Choice (TRC) will be considered as the platform for designing the appropriate policy. The suggested theoretical approach will offer insight into the reasons for people to make specific choices associated with environmental protection. Thus, the motives of people causing environmental harm will be determined (Holifield, Chakraborty, & Walker, 2017).
When combined with CTR, TRC will be transformed into the foundation for building a profound environmental policy that will convince all stakeholders involved to address the problem of ecosystems’ destruction (Heyck, 2015). Furthermore, the theories will allow affecting not only individuals but also organizations by encouraging them to alter their waste management policies to reduce the negative impact on the ocean.
It is believed that the introduction of the two theories into the framework of an environmental policy will help to address the concern on both administrative and cultural levels. While rigid standards for waste management and disposal of resources will be defined clearly, the policy will also affect its target audiences on a cultural level, persuading them to shift to more environmentally-friendly approaches toward managing waste to preserve oceanic flora and fauna.
Conclusion/Reflections
Global warming remains a persistent threat to the well-being of the entire humankind. The process, while being admittedly slow, affects life on Erath in its every form and shape. Among the key alterations that the global warming process entails, the destruction of habitats and the subsequent extinction of its endemic species deserves to be mentioned as an important problem. The specified concern has vast effects on the environment since each and every element of the global ecosystem is interconnected with the rest. Therefore, preventing the destruction and disappearance of habitats, in general, and the management of the ocean ecosystem, in particular, has to be deemed as the focus of the current environmental policies.
References
Beamish, T. D. (2015). Community at risk: Biodefense and the collective search for security. Stanford, CT: Stanford University Press.
Cloern, J. E., Abreu, P. C., Carstensen, J., Chauvaud, L., Elmgren, R., Grall, J.,… Xu, J. (2016). Human activities and climate variability drive fast‐paced change across the world’s estuarine–coastal ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 22(2), 513-529. Web.
Elliott, M., Burdon, D., Atkins, J. P., Borja, A., Cormier, R., De Jonge, V. N., & Turner, R. K. (2017). “And DPSIR begat DAPSI (W) R (M)!”-A unifying framework for marine environmental management. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 118(1-2), 27-40. Web.
European Commission. (2016). Environment fact sheet: Protecting and conserving the marine environment. Web.
Heyck, H. (2015). Age of system: Understanding the development of modern social science. Baltimore, MD: JHU Press.
Holifield, R., Chakraborty, J., & Walker, G. (2017). The Routledge handbook of environmental justice. New York, NY: Routledge.
McNeeley, S. M., & Lazrus, H. (2014). The cultural theory of risk for climate change adaptation. Weather, Climate, and Society, 6(4), 506-519. Web.
Serrano, O., Lavery, P., Masque, P., Inostroza, K., Bongiovanni, J., & Duarte, C. (2016). Seagrass sediments reveal the long‐term deterioration of an estuarine ecosystem. Global Change Biology, 22(4), 1523-1531. Web.
Tornero, V., & Hanke, G. (2016). Chemical contaminants entering the marine environment from sea-based sources: A review with a focus on European seas. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 112(1-2), 17-38. Web.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (2018). Extinct species. Web.