What steps can we take to make sure our natural habitats remain untouched by humans?

Question

Besides national parks.

Answer 1

There is no single solution. The answer needs to come from the top down (government protection), but also from the bottom up (the average person recognizes natural habitat as having intrinsic rather than monetary value). Some of the things I think would do the most good may almost seem far removed from the actual problem:

1) Revitalization of communities and industrial areas: most of our best remaining farmland and remaining open space is being sold at an alarming rate to fund subdivided developments, which have some of the worst land use effects of any type of use. People have to be willing to live in closer proximity to each other and their work, transportation, etc. Revitalization can be cheap, but everyone in the community has to be on-board.

2) hands-on environmental education for children age 8-14: You grow up being supportive of what is important to you. Get kids outside, playing in dirt, and learning about the ecosystem in their backyard. Teach them where their water comes from, and why responsible land use is important. teach them about wetlands, not as an abstract concept, but by going to visit a wetland. Get them involved with conservation projects that prove they can make a difference.

3) Fund and legislate open space initiatives, and recognize the importance of each habitat type. Legislators need to know this is important to people!

4) Increase funding for public transportation, again, to help curb sprawl. More people would use public transportation if it were more affordable, reliable, and available. if there is going to be space for humans and wildlife, we have to find better ways to sustain a high standard of living.

5) Take environmental concerns into consideration when developing community zoning laws.

6) Encourage responsible land stewardship, and penalize irresponsible property owners. "Land ownership" is a myth- at best, we borrow it. People do not like being told what they can and cannot do but sometimes that is what it takes. Land use policies should involve as many different interest groups as possible, and we're back to the concept of community. Get out there and learn what's going on in yuor backyard!

Answer 2

Step 1. Cut a hole in the box

Step 2. Put your junk in that box

Step 3. Make her open the box

And that's how you do it

Answer 3

Vote for politicians who support ecologically sound practices; support a president who institutes natural habitate conservation.  Cut back on the human birthrate.  Change people's warped idea that everyone is entitled to a house of their own.  Support organizations that work for conservation and buy tracks of land to keep them from being developed into human habitates, offices, golf courses, hotels, etc.  Avoid buying from companies that are eating up wild land to put in things for humans.  If you're rich enough, go and buy your own chunks of land (make sure you get a lawyer to write up some papers as to what would happen to your holdings if you should die or become mentally incapacitated so no one sells them or turns them into developments,, etc.)

Answer 4

Simple. Make it uninhabitable, unprofitable, undesireable and unsafe for humans.

Answer 5

First you have to define what a natural habitat is. Most of our country is covered with secondary forests that have replaced the original forests that were clearcut a century or more ago. The current forests have a different makeup than the original. Which forest are you going to keep?

Answer 6

There is nothing you can do to guarentee but there are things that can be done now to bring hope. The best thing is for our children to be educated and taught to value nature and our environment as much as we value it. When I say "we," I know that some people could care less. To those people, the world will never have enough malls, golf courses, theme parks or parking lots. What we who care can do, is to support organiztions who lobby congress and actually do the hands on work--the Sierra Club, GreenPeace, etc. Plus, we can be more aware of how quickly we are using up the earth's resources and insist on mandatory recycling, automobile emissions standards to be more strict, Big Time Fines for anyone--individual or corporations-- found to be polluting our air and water or wasting natural resources like our forests, especially those inconsiderate jerks who think that our outdoors are their personal trashcans, and that includes cigarettes!! Show our children how to enjoy the wonders of nature and then leave her as you found her---no trash, taking of any plants or other items that were there when you came unless you come across some garbage left by idiots. Teach our children the importance of preservation of nature and the creatures who live in it and teach that the world doesn't have an unlimited amount of resources and that what they enjoy today could be gone for their children. Take your kids camping instead of to theme parks all of the time. Get your kids off of their rear ends and outside---take away the computers and cell phones once in a while. Turn off the TV and get them fishing or hiking so they can enjoy nature in person instead of watching other people enjoying it on TV.

Those are the only things I can think of that give the world and it's non-human inhabitants a chance. It takes everyone doing their part but there are always those who are going to leave it for someone else to do and then it may be too late.

Answer 7

the only way to preserve the forrest is to devellop eco tourism under strict control that has limited acces ,and use the local people in the concept as guides ,hotel staff and get them to start home industries of artifacts .

eco tourism is the only concept that profits by a healthy back ground with out harming it

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trees are coming down all the time ,

in My town trucks loaded with huge logs of exotic timber leave the mountains with permits bought from corrupt oficials almost nightly

we can only guess at the exact amount but from my house we can see many bare patches on the mountains and the river is constantly muddy in the last 3 years ,because topsoils, without the protection of the forrests , is washed into the rivers ,

this is just one place and this is happening all over Mexico ,the Market for the wood being the USA.

here is a general note on deforestation

CAN DEFORESTATION BE STOPPED

Almost impossible

the Indians or local people would cut everything down and burn the forrest to replace it with harmfull short term farming killing the soil in no time

expanding populations and expanding farming ,that has to keep pace with the expanding populations are very strong forces that encroach upon the rainforest's

clearing them for farming and settlement areas .

that and the giant networks of roads that have exchanged forests for asphalt all over the planet

In Mexico is a famous jungle that the Media has been trying to save for years

the Naturists ,and the government ,keep watch .laws are made for protection the wild and to forbid logging.

TV put out a series of documentaries

there are campaigns in the News papers

and all of this has not made the slightest difference

Rainforest's always are in third world countries and always in third world countries corruption and the need for money s highest

the jungle gets smaller by the day

more and more farmers move in .and burn the trees

it is an impossible situation

as long as there is poverty and an increasing birth rate in these regions the destruction will continue

they are too easily tempted to sell of exotic animals to the unscroupelous people who buy them.for the market that exists in the USA.

REFORRESTATION

we must reforrest and at the same time reduce our carbon emissions.

most governments are aware of these and many first world countries now include programs to reduce their carbon emissions.

the world bank pays large subsidies for farmers to plant trees especially a tree called Paulownia elongate carolinia,because it is one of the better ones that capture carbon.

IN THE PAST

the sahara used to be forrests

arabia ,irak ,iran used to be fertile lands in biblical times

Ghengas Kahn burned all the forrests here and filled the well with water and so turning vast lands into dessert.

the Spanish Armada deforested Spain

.the Phoenician fleet deforested Lebanon

Madagascar a botanic paradise is now destroyed

the exotic animals sold or killed ,the forest slash and burned for agriculture ,the coastal water poluted by topsoils washed fronm the denuded moutains by the rains.

many many countries in Africa (because of poverty and war as well as greedy farming )

Borneo because of the expensive timber

india ,China ,Mexico ,South Americas Amazonia,

Europe because of civilization,USA,Japan because of overpopulation,

NOTE

1000 trees that are replanted do not come anywhere near as producing the same effect or fullfilling the same function ,as far as carbon absorbtion ,production of humidity,climatic effects as the absorbtion or release of heat ,as ONE SINGLE FULLY GROWN TREE.

people keep saying we are good we cut down a thousand trees and replanted 20 thousand more

This means nothing in terms of environmental effects.

it takes at least 10 to 20 years before one of these replanted trees makes the same impact as the ones that are removed Source(s) read a planet under stress ,plan B --by Lester E Brown.

it is in an Adobe print out as well on the net.

http://byderule.spaces.live.com...

Answer 8

hug a tree.

Answer 9

"our" natual hibitats, isn't that a contradiction, we should use them, not abuse them

Answer 10

Well, there is a flaw in what you pointed out. National Parks are touched every day, visited by thousands of people.

However, the best steps we can take to prevent the damage of natural ecosystems is to 1) Increase awareness on how natural habitats benefit the human (fresh air, exercise, the appreciation of beauty). 2) Increased use of renewable energies (using these decreases our need to find new sources of fossil fuels thus preserving the natural landscapes that are often turned into desolate wastelands as a result of mining, or drilling.). 3) Increased sustainability practices in industrial manufacturing (recycling, forest replanting, factories that function off of the waste of other factories, or hunting and fishing practices that prevent the complete depletion of the species.)

Answer 11

Reduce the population of the Earth to 1M people and keep it there.