Journal Entry #1

Since, the beginning of time the earth was created to self-regulate. For example, microorganisms have created the planet's environment which is crucial to life. In Shiva's (2011) article she goes on to explain how photosynthetic cyanobacteria produces oxygen, which without it  life would be nonexistent. With the progression of human kind the earth has slowly but surely deteriorated due to the use of pesticides, bio hazardous chemicals and other by- products of human development. The erosion of the earth has caused mutation in genes, disability, and diseases in humans and animals. According to Shiva (2011) progress comes with it setbacks. The introduction of fossil fuels, synthetic drug, agrichemicals has been beneficial to people, but harmful to the earth. It has created climate changes and the synthetic drug have sometimes fatal side effects. To begin the healing of the earth we need human dedication, which entails government and private resources, education, and the indomitable human spirit. Goodall (2011) points out that mankind is making a consorted effort by the following examples: The listing of the short-nosed sturgeon on the endangered list in 1972 led to the cleaning of the Hudson River. Now the short-nosed sturgeon population has increased by 400 percent. Another example is a village where Goodall visited. Women there demonstrated a cooking stove that did not need much firewood. The women got their wood from fast growing trees instead of hacking away at the stumps of old trees that once grew on the hillside. The once bare hillside is now covered with trees that grew twenty to thirty feet tall, in merely five years. These are some examples of how mankind can restore the earth's integrity through knowledge, resources, and indomitable spirit.