Sustainability - Quint B

Sustainability is the earth’s capacity to survive and evolve based on ever-changing environmental conditions. These conditions can be altered by many different processes. Quite possibly the most important and damaging process is that of human evolution and advancement. However, despite the fact that humans cause some of the most harm to the earth and its ability to sustain itself, they also have to power to fix and change the problems they create and ways of life, respectively.

One such problem created by humans is desertification. “Desertification is the degradation of land in arid and dry sub-humid areas, resulting primarily from man-made activities and influenced by climatic variations.” (“Desertification”, Wikipedia). Areas affected by desertification are usually in areas where there is poor soil health. This is brought around by overgrazing of livestock, overuse of fields for farming resulting in nutrient exhaustion, and also the overall lack of flora which “anchors” the soil in place. Without anchors, soil is eroded easily and sand dunes eventually form; a tell-tale sign of desertification.

There are ways to fix, and maybe even reverse the process of desertification though. If people are educated about the effects of farming methods, such as slash-and-burn farming and not using field rotation, and how to better treat their land as well as increase their overall yield by implementing different techniques such as field rotation, for instance. Another way to counter the effects of desertification is by planting trees, shrubs, grasses, etc. to help anchor the remaining soil as well as to help replenish the lack nutrients in the soil.

Citations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertification