If you ignore the environment will it really just go away?

Question

Sort of an open topic for debate. I thought about because of the recent political tantrums over drilling for oil in Alaska and the constant mail outs I get from the Sierra Club over logging in the Sequoia National Forest. Why do we care? Oh yeah because one day my kids and my grandkids will be on this planet and I don't want them to just see natural beauty preserved in museums and old pictures.

Answer 1

Yup... Just like your teeth...

Answer 2

Yes, the environment that sustains human life as we are accustomed to it will probably go away if we ignore it. Or, put another way, the environment won't go away, but it may change and as a result human civilisation may collapse as the climate alters. In other words, we might "go away", but the environment will go on without us either way.

Answer 3

Unless you are a solipsist (only your mind exists) the answer would have to be no.

This reminds me of the philosophic question that if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it does it really make a sound? Yes it makes sound waves however their is no instrument to measure it.

Yes, reality exists outside ourselves no matter how many oil barrons act otherwise.

Answer 4

The lumber companys plant MORE trees than they take. Nothing is being ignored, there are laws you know.

Answer 5

what environment