c00lcatz1982
Oct 4, 2010
Undergraduate / "to save a crucial ecosystem" - issue of importance [3]
Choose an issue of importance to you-the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope-and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.
Wetlands are an essential part of our ecosystem. They protect against floods, and purify surface water. They are unique and are home to a diversity of animals. Wetlands remain the last native home to many endangered species. With a country growing more and more urban, wetlands continue to shrink, and the endangered animals who rely on these wetlands for their livelihood are reaching a critical low in their population. Steps need to be implemented if we hope to save a crucial ecosystem to our world for future generations.
Wetlands are all around us. Any land that relies on hydrology to enable its natural plant and animal life to exist is considered a wetland. This includes: bogs, swamps, and marshes. Wetlands are home to several endangered and threatened animals that rely on the land for breeding, feeding, nesting, and resting purposes, such as wood ducks and muskrat. Without wetlands, they would not exist.
One hundred years ago, before people understood the importance of wetlands in the United States; over half of them were destroyed, only to become landfills. Just recently was it discovered that wetlands do, indeed, have a valuable purpose, a purpose besides emitting a horrid odor and attracting mosquitoes. Wetlands purify water, control flooding for surrounding areas, and provide habitats to animals. In fact, wetlands are so important that without places like the Congaree Bottomland Hardwood Swamp in South Carolina, a five million dollar water treatment plan would have to take its place. Without wetlands, one third of the United States' endangered and threatened animals would disappear forever.
Due to human intervention in nature, the ground coverage wetlands once held, has shrunk. The result ends in wetlands surrounded by urban areas; a minute, green island swallowed by a desolate and barren world. Animals that require large areas have nowhere to migrate, and start inbreeding, creating a genetically insufficient animal population. In a world of "the survival of the fittest", they die because they are not strong enough. In some cases, where the wetlands remain their last home, they become extinct.
Wetland destruction affects me personally. This saturated ecosystem has been a source of recreation, as well education for me and my family for years. With each time I spent canoeing, fishing, feeding the wildlife, and skipping rocks across its pristine waters, I learned how essential wetlands are, and will always remain. Upon hearing wetlands are endangered because people thought they are useless, I was appalled. How could people not see, how something so small, can achieve so much? At a young age, I grew a natural affinity for wetlands, and began to love each form of life wetlands contained, along with every function it encompassed. Wetlands became a part of my life, something I will not give up.
Wetlands are eradicated every year because people are ignorant of the importance wetlands hold. Wetlands are burned, and suburban houses take their place. People need to be educated, or we may lose a biome as productive as the rain forest, and everything it possesses. If we hope to hold onto a natural world, we need to contain our waste and destruction that continues to ruin our green globe. If we do not act now, a wasteland could be our future environment.
Choose an issue of importance to you-the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope-and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.
Wetlands are an essential part of our ecosystem. They protect against floods, and purify surface water. They are unique and are home to a diversity of animals. Wetlands remain the last native home to many endangered species. With a country growing more and more urban, wetlands continue to shrink, and the endangered animals who rely on these wetlands for their livelihood are reaching a critical low in their population. Steps need to be implemented if we hope to save a crucial ecosystem to our world for future generations.
Wetlands are all around us. Any land that relies on hydrology to enable its natural plant and animal life to exist is considered a wetland. This includes: bogs, swamps, and marshes. Wetlands are home to several endangered and threatened animals that rely on the land for breeding, feeding, nesting, and resting purposes, such as wood ducks and muskrat. Without wetlands, they would not exist.
One hundred years ago, before people understood the importance of wetlands in the United States; over half of them were destroyed, only to become landfills. Just recently was it discovered that wetlands do, indeed, have a valuable purpose, a purpose besides emitting a horrid odor and attracting mosquitoes. Wetlands purify water, control flooding for surrounding areas, and provide habitats to animals. In fact, wetlands are so important that without places like the Congaree Bottomland Hardwood Swamp in South Carolina, a five million dollar water treatment plan would have to take its place. Without wetlands, one third of the United States' endangered and threatened animals would disappear forever.
Due to human intervention in nature, the ground coverage wetlands once held, has shrunk. The result ends in wetlands surrounded by urban areas; a minute, green island swallowed by a desolate and barren world. Animals that require large areas have nowhere to migrate, and start inbreeding, creating a genetically insufficient animal population. In a world of "the survival of the fittest", they die because they are not strong enough. In some cases, where the wetlands remain their last home, they become extinct.
Wetland destruction affects me personally. This saturated ecosystem has been a source of recreation, as well education for me and my family for years. With each time I spent canoeing, fishing, feeding the wildlife, and skipping rocks across its pristine waters, I learned how essential wetlands are, and will always remain. Upon hearing wetlands are endangered because people thought they are useless, I was appalled. How could people not see, how something so small, can achieve so much? At a young age, I grew a natural affinity for wetlands, and began to love each form of life wetlands contained, along with every function it encompassed. Wetlands became a part of my life, something I will not give up.
Wetlands are eradicated every year because people are ignorant of the importance wetlands hold. Wetlands are burned, and suburban houses take their place. People need to be educated, or we may lose a biome as productive as the rain forest, and everything it possesses. If we hope to hold onto a natural world, we need to contain our waste and destruction that continues to ruin our green globe. If we do not act now, a wasteland could be our future environment.