Same song, different verse

In today's society, we are faced with environmental problems that some people believe to be new. An ecological crisis has been among the human race since the 1000s, however problems have varied – which is where the “Same song, different verse” title has developed. One environmental issue that is perceived as being "new" is global warming. This is perceived as a recent issue because climatologists are just now noticing an increase in global temperature. To demonstrate how climate is tested and how scientists have realized there was a significant increase in temperature, ProcessingTrends.com explains: "...climatologists compare the mean for a base period with the annual mean. Differences between the annual mean and baseline mean are called anomalies. GISS uses the 1951 - 1980 period for their baseline period. They use the difference between the annual mean and the baseline mean to determine the global temperature anomaly for the year” (Shah, Anup, 2011). We may  have just recognized the problem, but we have been deteriorating our climate for many, many years now. Just like in Easter Island thousands of years ago, today’s problems are affecting the society. Easter Island is a prime example of the dependence of human societies on their environment and of the consequences of irreversibly damaging that environment. Just because we are not dealing with the exact same issues, does not mean we are not taking advantage of our current limited resources. An issue, such as waste, as always been around, it has just been worsened as years have passed and societies have grown.  However, because such a large amount of our resources are being used in an unsustainable fashion, we are facing major issues. Ecosystem Millennium Assessment explains, “…approximately 60% (15 out of 24) of the ecosystem services examined during the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are being degraded or used unsustainably, including fresh water, capture fisheries, air and water purification, and the regulation of regional and local climate, natural hazards, and pests” (World Resources Institute,2011). Although, these are recent findings, we, as a whole society, have been abusing unsustainable resources since the beginning of time. Because technological and other trends are constantly changing, our environmental issues are changing. However, in the end, the careless and reoccurring use of unsustainable resources is an invariable factor in the crisis.

Shah, Anup. (2011) “Climate Change and Global Warming Introduction.” Global Issues

World Resources Institute (2005) Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Ecosystems and human well-being : synthesis, 1-24