Should the Endangered Species Act be Strengthend Essay

Should the Endangered Species Act be Strengthend - Essay Example Species have an indescribable amount of benefits to humans-with some not yet discovered. â€Å"An antibiotic was discovered in the soils of the threatened New Jersey Pine Barrens Natural Area, a species of perennial corn was found in Mexico; it is resistant to several diseases of corn and an insect was discovered that when frightened produces an excellent insect-repelling chemical.† (Regina Bailey, about.com) The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 in order to control the fast rate of extinction for a variety of beneficial reasons discussed further in the paper. The Endangered Species Act In order to foster the Protection and conservation of endangered species, the Endangered Species Act was passed on December 28, 1973 by Richard Nixon. Presently, the Act is administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). According to the National Wildlife Federation, since 2009, 1361 plants and animals in th e US have been listed as endangered or threatened. The FWS carries out a multiple research on different species and they are organization responsible for listing a species as endangered. For a specie to be considered endangered, a number of factors are considered such as; the amount of its habitat destroyed, is it being over-consumed, is it being threatened by disease or other predation or are there other man made factors affecting its survival. The Endangered Act of 1973; authorizes the determination and listing of listing species as endangered and threatened. It prohibits the unauthorized taking, possession, sale and transport of endangered species. It provides authority to acquire land for the conservation of listed species, using land and water conservation funds; it authorizes the establishment of cooperative agreements and grants-in-aid to states that establish and maintain active and adequate programs for endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; it authorizes the assess ment of civil and criminal penalties for violating the Act or regulations; and authorizes the payment of rewards to anyone furnishing information leading to arrest and conviction for any violation of the Act or any regulation issued hereunder. (Cited from Fws.gov, May 7, 2011) Should the Endangered Species Act be strengthened? It is seen by some non-environmentalists as a weapon used by radical environmentalists and is the most wasteful and counterproductive laws in the books. In addition to that, they believe that it practically turned into a tool exerting political leverage. Some are even vouching for cancellation of the ‘critical habitat’ designation which limits development in the habitat of endangered species. With reference to some consulted literature- the majority of persons wanting to trash the 1973 legislation is more than the amount who want to strengthen the Act by 9%. The researcher is in total disagreement with the persons who want to the Act to be demolis hed and considers these actions selfish. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the most important laws passed in America of all time. It’s had many successes and undoubtedly will have far greater success if and when strengthened. America has a fast rate of extinction and should the Act not be strengthened or demolished we will all be faced with the consequences. Considering all the benefits discussed in this paper, there should be enough reason for the act to be strengthened. There are

Solve A Propblem Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Solve A Propblem - Research Paper Example There is a lot of hue and cry on global warming because warming brings climate changes in the form of drought or torrential rains in some part of Earth, melts glaciers, lengthens seasons, develops cyclones and large scale disruption in variety of ways. Global warming is entirely a human creation and it needs to be resolved accordingly. If Earth keeps getting warmer, it is quite likely that about 25 percent of our plants and species on Earth could go extinct by end of this century. Our ecosystem is in danger because each plant or species acts as a predator, a source of food, a source of shelter or a pollinator and loosing even one of them affects whole chain in ecosystem. Causes of Global Warming While going into the root cause or causes of global warming, the pertinent question arises how and why does global warming take place? Scientists state that it occurs because humans have begun burning fossil fuels in large quantities in last one hundred year or so and the burning goes on in i ndustries, power stations, and vehicles uninterruptedly. Burning generates carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide gases that go to atmosphere. Oceans do absorb greenhouse gases and maintain a delicate balance; however, load of emissions are now so high that nature cannot clear them on its own. Can Clean Energy Stop Global Warming? Energy is the most crucial and strategic resource necessary for economic development and more than 80 percent of the current energy needs are met with fossil fuels. The moot question is can we replace fossil fuels with some other sources of energy that are clean in nature and do not generate any harmful emissions? Certainly, there are clean sources of energy such as wind, solar, hydro, biofuel, hydrogen and many more that can be used to generate electricity to meet our requirement. Let us, time being, assume that all these technologies have reached to a level where it is feasible to replace fossil fuels completely and now there is no release of greenhouse gases any more – then, does this mean that world will become free from the global warming completely? Apparently, it may seem so but that is far from truth! It has been established that pre-industrial carbon dioxide concentration was 280 parts per million (PPM) that has gone past 380 PPM in 2010 – a rise of over 30 percent after the process of industrialization that began in 1850. Unless carbon dioxide level falls back to the pre-industrial level of 280 PPM, global warming will continue on this planet (Effects of Changing the Carbon Cycle, 2013). Why? It is worth noting that about 30 percent of the carbon dioxide that humans have emitted into the atmosphere has been taken away by the ocean. In the process of dissolving carbon dioxide in the ocean water forms carbonic acid reducing pH (the measure of acidity) of the water by 0.1 – almost 30 percent increase in acidity of the ocean water. Experts state that ‘coral reefs’ that provide habitat to fish a nd other creatures in the ocean will get vanished in increased ocean acidity (Global Climate Change, 2013). Its impact will be severely felt in coming years in terms of lost food web that joins all oceanic creatures. Moreover, warmer oceans, due to greenhouse effect, would have impact on the growth of phytoplankton and sea grasses because they grow better in cool waters. This eventually reduces the