I feel that all life in proper balance serves to keep the planet hospitable. Human beings, animals, and plants all work together in an ecological balance to make sure that the planet runs smoothly. However, in the past few decades, I do feel that human beings have been disrupting this delicate balance.

In general, I feel that human beings are often quite wasteful and selfish. The need for more money and greed has made human beings do things that are not good for our earth. First off, the amount of garbage that we throw away is appalling. There is something known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” It consists of miles and miles of garbage that floats in the Pacific Ocean. This is not good for animals, especially sea life. Water pollution and dumping of chemicals in water bodies has also killed our fish. Fish now contain more mercury that ever before.

We have seen the first hand effects of what happens when things get out of balance. Pollution has created the problem of global warming and has interfered with the ozone layer. We now have odd weather patterns and more frequent natural disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and mudslides. People have more respiratory illnesses than they once did, such as asthma.

Human beings’ need to create large structures, such as shopping malls and to build more houses and condos has taken away animals’ land. Many animals have become displaced, which means that they have to feed elsewhere. Plants are not being consumed at the same rates. More and more bears are coming into towns and cities to eat. Hunting has also killed too many animals. Several animals have become extinct. Fracking, which extracts oil out of the ground is also harmful. It may contaminate our water sources and farm land. The way that we treat farm animals, such as cows, as they stand in their own feces and are in cramped spaces, endangers humans. These conditions increase the chances of contracting E coli and getting food poisoning.

Human beings are slowly destroying the delicate balance of the planet. We need to take care of our animals and world, so we do not destroy our earth.