Biodiversity is very important to our ever changing world. It also allows for different parts of the world to remain unique in their own ways and is vital in making the world as amazing as it is. Cultural diversity does much of the same thing. Cultural diversity provides for different perspectives on life and different treatments of the environment. Cultural diversity also helps with keeping biodiversity strong and different cultures understand their surroundings better than others, which is important for understanding the environment in different areas. Thus, the threats to cultural diversity affect biodiversity as well. The ideas of industrializing or making a culture “civilized” threaten to demolish cultural diversity and the understanding those cultures that are “uncivilized,” have about the biologically diverse environment they live in. With this being the case the government should protect both biodiversity and cultural diversity.
Living in the United States there are many things the average person would not know about the plants and animals in different parts of the world. With the internet, discovery of new plants and animals that we have never heard of is incredibly possible, but it is not a common thing for a person to look up a new animal foreign to where that person lives. There are many “remote” civilizations that exist in different parts of the world and they know much more about the animals and plants that surround them than anyone else. They grew up in the environment they live in and know which plants to avoid, what animals to look out for, and much more. With the loss of different cultures we lose the knowledge of these unfamiliar biological features. Some may argue that, even if we all became one culture, we would still grow up in these environments and experience these different biological features and therefore we would still have the knowledge. However, this is very untrue. Different cultures know about their surroundings because of how they interact with them. If every culture became like the western culture we have in the United States and England, which is one of the cultures that is forcing itself on other cultures the most, we would lose out on a lot of interaction with the environment around us and true understanding of different parts of the environment. Take the Native Americans for example, we tried to westernize their culture and just about succeeded at it. The western culture is wide spread from California to Maine. However, where is the understanding of the different animals and plants that the Native Americans had? We spend most of our times indoors, unless it’s for a leisurely activity. The average person knows only the basics about the wild animals, if there are any that roam in the area they live in. Such as deer will stare into the headlights of cars and not run away. But where is the deeper understanding of the biologically diverse environment we live in?
The argument that there are still people who understand the environment around them in these westernized cultures can be made to refute my argument, and it would be true. There are still people dedicated to understanding nature and the way it lives and they study it intensely. However, look at what western civilization has done to our biologically diverse world. Where are the vast forests, and wild animals that roamed our land? What do you see when you look at pictures of United States and England? You see streets, cars, and buildings. Where are the wild animals that were unique to these lands? The threat of one civilization not only affects the knowledge of the diverse world around us but also the existence of the diverse biological world.
The government's role in general is to protect the rights of the people, our natural rights, and to keep order in society. If we take away another group of people's culture that is violating their natural rights. The government's duty is to protect these rights and therefore there should be some government policy on the protection of cultural diversity. Along with this in order and help sustain life the government would need to make policies protecting biological diversity. Some people may argue that government's role has nothing to do with the environment but everything to do with people. This may be true but the environment affects how people act. Also biodiversity aids with keep a country in good economic standing. If the country isn't able to produce goods that are biologically diverse and needed by other countries the country will suffer. The economy suffering would cause things to become out of order and the government would then need to fix them. Thus the biodiversity should be under governmental rule at some level.
Living in the United States there are many things the average person would not know about the plants and animals in different parts of the world. With the internet, discovery of new plants and animals that we have never heard of is incredibly possible, but it is not a common thing for a person to look up a new animal foreign to where that person lives. There are many “remote” civilizations that exist in different parts of the world and they know much more about the animals and plants that surround them than anyone else. They grew up in the environment they live in and know which plants to avoid, what animals to look out for, and much more. With the loss of different cultures we lose the knowledge of these unfamiliar biological features. Some may argue that, even if we all became one culture, we would still grow up in these environments and experience these different biological features and therefore we would still have the knowledge. However, this is very untrue. Different cultures know about their surroundings because of how they interact with them. If every culture became like the western culture we have in the United States and England, which is one of the cultures that is forcing itself on other cultures the most, we would lose out on a lot of interaction with the environment around us and true understanding of different parts of the environment. Take the Native Americans for example, we tried to westernize their culture and just about succeeded at it. The western culture is wide spread from California to Maine. However, where is the understanding of the different animals and plants that the Native Americans had? We spend most of our times indoors, unless it’s for a leisurely activity. The average person knows only the basics about the wild animals, if there are any that roam in the area they live in. Such as deer will stare into the headlights of cars and not run away. But where is the deeper understanding of the biologically diverse environment we live in?
The argument that there are still people who understand the environment around them in these westernized cultures can be made to refute my argument, and it would be true. There are still people dedicated to understanding nature and the way it lives and they study it intensely. However, look at what western civilization has done to our biologically diverse world. Where are the vast forests, and wild animals that roamed our land? What do you see when you look at pictures of United States and England? You see streets, cars, and buildings. Where are the wild animals that were unique to these lands? The threat of one civilization not only affects the knowledge of the diverse world around us but also the existence of the diverse biological world.
The government's role in general is to protect the rights of the people, our natural rights, and to keep order in society. If we take away another group of people's culture that is violating their natural rights. The government's duty is to protect these rights and therefore there should be some government policy on the protection of cultural diversity. Along with this in order and help sustain life the government would need to make policies protecting biological diversity. Some people may argue that government's role has nothing to do with the environment but everything to do with people. This may be true but the environment affects how people act. Also biodiversity aids with keep a country in good economic standing. If the country isn't able to produce goods that are biologically diverse and needed by other countries the country will suffer. The economy suffering would cause things to become out of order and the government would then need to fix them. Thus the biodiversity should be under governmental rule at some level.