Helen Simpson Animals
In recent years, animal life activists and government officials have teamed up to develop plans to keep endangered animals from going extinct and to limit deforestation. Although their diligent work has shown security for animal and plant lives, they have yet to target the underlying problem which is climate change due to human involvement making it harder to protect all species of plants and animals. In Helen Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, Simpson makes it clear to the audience that nearly all animal life is extinct other than a select few. Simpson’s short story describes a future that involves humans having to rely on food that is readily available which does not include many animals allowing it to be easier to suffer from starvation.
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Simpson utilizes the theme of extinction in a way that the audience can understand how climate change not only effects the lives of humans but also the lives of animals. Helen Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year demonstrates how human involvement plays a significant role in how climate change can so easily cause extinction among many animal species and killing among plant life. Plant life is critical to humans through means of oxygen production and food when animal meat may not be available. In Helen Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, she describes a land with grass that is nearly already gone and trees that are continuously dying. Human activity such as driving cars or the burning of fossil fuels have polluted the atmosphere which makes the air quality and breathing conditions poor also things only get worse if people do not have plants around to release oxygen into the air. An article by Elena Zvereva and Mikhail Kozlov showed that, “Trees suffered from industrial emissions independently of the pollution impact on soil pH, but other vegetation layers differed in their responses to acidifying and alkalifying emissions” (2593). The experiments and research that Zvereva and Kozlov completed supports Simpson’s idea that human pollutants contribute to the death of many plant lives especially those of trees. These industrial pollutants that are released into the atmosphere help to contribute to climate change as a whole and eventually causing bigger problems other than just poor air quality. Zvereva and Kozlov’s experiments also showed that contamination of the soil by heavy metals decreased the overall nutrient quality and value of the plants while air pollutants showed more effect of the upper-canopy of forests (2594-2592). This experiment shows that air pollutants from cars or power plants are not the sole contributors to climate change and the negative effects that occur with plant life. The data and evidence that has been gathered helps to prove that we are hurting the soil through our actions and that Simpson’s short story is what the life of many plants may look like in our near future. Although pollutants have taken a toll on plants, the extinction of animals has become a topic of interest since there are many animals that have been placed on the endangered species list in recent years. In Diary of an Interesting Year, Helen Simpson describes how in the year 2040, only a small amount of animals still exist even though they are scarce and not easy to find but there is an abundance of insects. The recent warming temperatures have caused many droughts which make it more difficult for animals to find a source of water for survival and to find other animals and plants for food. An article by Elvire Bestion states “because their body temperature, and hence their basic physiological functions, directly depend on environmental conditions, ectotherms are particularly at risk with climate change (2). Due to the rise of temperatures caused by climate change, animals such as alligators and lizards, find it hard to survive through extreme hot days. Bestion’s helps support Simpson’s scenario that among the animals that are still alive, none of them are reptiles because the heat has caused them to go extinct. This idea of a gradual increase in temperatures is connected to global warming which goes back to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. With many of these animals dying, the animals that have survived are not capable of reproducing fast enough to make up for the many deaths which in time means that that certain animal species will be expected to become extinct. One other article by Damien A. Fordham discusses how “human-induced climate change” will cause some animals to adapt better than others to the temperature changes (3-5). If some animals adapt better than others than we can expect to see a dramatic shift in the relationships between the animals and how they interact with one another. The idea of extinction is based on a huge chain reaction that is can be led back to climate change and the human interactions on the planet. The extinction of animals and plants can only effect humans in a negative way because without plants or animals much of our food supply vanishes.
In Helen Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, the audience is placed into the future where everything is corrupt and the food supply is based what the government supplying it to the people. Humans have come to greatly depend on plants and animals for various reasons such as clothing, oxygen to breathe, and of course food. In an article by Joshua Frank, he states “The high levels of meat consumption prevalent in Western nations have a wide range of negative consequences at both an individual and social level” (322). Although Frank’s argument that it should not be socially acceptable to eat animals if we can find alternative food with the same nutritional value seems morally correct, this is not very realistic. This idea is not plausible because it would take a bigger quantity of a different food, such as beans, to match up to the amount of protein gained by only a small portion of meat. Even if humans were to stop eating animal meat all together, we would still be using these animals such as sheep and silkworms for clothing. Although it may be morally wrong, humans also need animals for medical research and advancements. With humans causing climate change to be more noticeable, it only means that the extinction of certain animals is closer than ever meaning that humans will suffer from plant and animal loss. Extinction of plants and animals means we would be living in a world without viable sources of food, loss of needed knowledge, and even loss of currency. If humans continue to feed into climate change by greenhouse gases then our future may look similar to the situations faced in Simpson’s short
story. While certain human actions can cause more harm to either plants or animals, deforestation causes harm to both the lives of plants and lives of animals. In Helen Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, the audience knows that almost all animals have gone extinct, but we may be able to place some blame on the act of deforestation not just climate change. The act of deforestation kills all plant life within a certain region while also destroying many animal’s habitat. An article by Jose Manuel Ochoa-Quintero shows results that “The expansion of agriculture in recent decades has led to a loss of approximately 41% of the original forest (2 million ha) in the study region during the last 40 years” (444). With human population continuously increasing, forests are being destroying to make room for more agriculture and space for the many needs of humans. Ochoa-Quintero’s research has proven that possibly within the next couple of decades portions of the Amazon Rainforest could be wiped out completely if humans continue to grow in population and continue to be in need of more agricultural land. If human population continues to expand, deforestation could be one of the things we may be least worried about. Expansion within the cities will flow into the country sides causing more industrialization and pollution to occur and eventually pushing animals away from their adapted habitat and destroying of many plants. In Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, the audience can make a connection between deforestation and the lack of plant life with the amount of animals that have gone extinct. Without a place for many of these animals to live, finding other organisms to gain food from or finding shelter to stay for harsh weather makes it difficult for these animals to survive for long periods of time. The results and figures from Ochoa-Quintero’s research depict how the continuous rate of deforestation can cause chaos amongst animals who are in need of finding a new home that they may or may not be able to adapt to. While the release of carbon dioxide effects the lives of plants and animals on land, other human actions along with climate change effects marine life as well. The rise of temperature harms all marine life by causing the animals to have to adapt and hopefully survive the warmer waters. In Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, she does not mention that there is any marine life left so the audience can assume that most if not all marine animals are gone (109). Climate change has shown significant effects on coral reefs and even the polar ice caps in recent years. The coral reefs cannot adapt well to changes in the temperatures nor do they react positively to the amount of carbon dioxide from human pollution that the ocean absorbs. In an article by Daniela Storch, it states “In today’s warmest oceans, plants, microalgae, and animals thus operate at the limits of their domain, which, being set by complexity, cannot be overcome by acclimatization or evolutionary adaptation” (3064). Storch’s argument proves that marine animals and plants all have limitations that they cannot surpass even if they are given many years because the rate at which temperatures are rising is much greater than their adaptation capabilities. The amount of polar ice caps that have melted has caused sea levels to rise and has affected the habitats of animals such as polar bears. The melting of these polar ice caps is a result from global warming that could possibly cause extinction among the animals living within these regions. Even if these animals are capable of migrating elsewhere, other climates may not be sustainable enough for the animals to live in these environments for a long time period. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes more harm than to just plants and animals living on land, it causes harm within the whole marine ecosystem. The whole idea of climate change plays a significant role in not only humans’ lives but also plants and animals as well which means humans have plenty of control as to whether or not plants and animals will survive in the future. From alligators to polar bears, the effects climate change caused by air pollutants, humans are a big contribution to why animal habitats are being destroyed and why over time it has become harder to these animals to adapt to significant changes. Our role in plant life is vital as well because rising temperatures and droughts make it difficult for plants to gain the nutrients they need in order to sustain life on earth. Humans are the reason why there are such drastic changes occurring within the climate because of our life style and choices of either driving cars to get to work or burning down forests for lumber. Past generations and the generations to come will eventually find out that their actions may cause the extinction of many plants and animals and that no matter how they try to reverse these problems it will be too late to save plant and animal life. In the years to follow, human interaction with the environment and their relationship with plants and animals will be critical to gaining more insight into how much longer our plants and animals can last if climate change continues to become more present.
Simpson utilizes the theme of extinction in a way that the audience can understand how climate change not only effects the lives of humans but also the lives of animals. Helen Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year demonstrates how human involvement plays a significant role in how climate change can so easily cause extinction among many animal species and killing among plant life. Plant life is critical to humans through means of oxygen production and food when animal meat may not be available. In Helen Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, she describes a land with grass that is nearly already gone and trees that are continuously dying. Human activity such as driving cars or the burning of fossil fuels have polluted the atmosphere which makes the air quality and breathing conditions poor also things only get worse if people do not have plants around to release oxygen into the air. An article by Elena Zvereva and Mikhail Kozlov showed that, “Trees suffered from industrial emissions independently of the pollution impact on soil pH, but other vegetation layers differed in their responses to acidifying and alkalifying emissions” (2593). The experiments and research that Zvereva and Kozlov completed supports Simpson’s idea that human pollutants contribute to the death of many plant lives especially those of trees. These industrial pollutants that are released into the atmosphere help to contribute to climate change as a whole and eventually causing bigger problems other than just poor air quality. Zvereva and Kozlov’s experiments also showed that contamination of the soil by heavy metals decreased the overall nutrient quality and value of the plants while air pollutants showed more effect of the upper-canopy of forests (2594-2592). This experiment shows that air pollutants from cars or power plants are not the sole contributors to climate change and the negative effects that occur with plant life. The data and evidence that has been gathered helps to prove that we are hurting the soil through our actions and that Simpson’s short story is what the life of many plants may look like in our near future. Although pollutants have taken a toll on plants, the extinction of animals has become a topic of interest since there are many animals that have been placed on the endangered species list in recent years. In Diary of an Interesting Year, Helen Simpson describes how in the year 2040, only a small amount of animals still exist even though they are scarce and not easy to find but there is an abundance of insects. The recent warming temperatures have caused many droughts which make it more difficult for animals to find a source of water for survival and to find other animals and plants for food. An article by Elvire Bestion states “because their body temperature, and hence their basic physiological functions, directly depend on environmental conditions, ectotherms are particularly at risk with climate change (2). Due to the rise of temperatures caused by climate change, animals such as alligators and lizards, find it hard to survive through extreme hot days. Bestion’s helps support Simpson’s scenario that among the animals that are still alive, none of them are reptiles because the heat has caused them to go extinct. This idea of a gradual increase in temperatures is connected to global warming which goes back to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. With many of these animals dying, the animals that have survived are not capable of reproducing fast enough to make up for the many deaths which in time means that that certain animal species will be expected to become extinct. One other article by Damien A. Fordham discusses how “human-induced climate change” will cause some animals to adapt better than others to the temperature changes (3-5). If some animals adapt better than others than we can expect to see a dramatic shift in the relationships between the animals and how they interact with one another. The idea of extinction is based on a huge chain reaction that is can be led back to climate change and the human interactions on the planet. The extinction of animals and plants can only effect humans in a negative way because without plants or animals much of our food supply vanishes.
In Helen Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, the audience is placed into the future where everything is corrupt and the food supply is based what the government supplying it to the people. Humans have come to greatly depend on plants and animals for various reasons such as clothing, oxygen to breathe, and of course food. In an article by Joshua Frank, he states “The high levels of meat consumption prevalent in Western nations have a wide range of negative consequences at both an individual and social level” (322). Although Frank’s argument that it should not be socially acceptable to eat animals if we can find alternative food with the same nutritional value seems morally correct, this is not very realistic. This idea is not plausible because it would take a bigger quantity of a different food, such as beans, to match up to the amount of protein gained by only a small portion of meat. Even if humans were to stop eating animal meat all together, we would still be using these animals such as sheep and silkworms for clothing. Although it may be morally wrong, humans also need animals for medical research and advancements. With humans causing climate change to be more noticeable, it only means that the extinction of certain animals is closer than ever meaning that humans will suffer from plant and animal loss. Extinction of plants and animals means we would be living in a world without viable sources of food, loss of needed knowledge, and even loss of currency. If humans continue to feed into climate change by greenhouse gases then our future may look similar to the situations faced in Simpson’s short
story. While certain human actions can cause more harm to either plants or animals, deforestation causes harm to both the lives of plants and lives of animals. In Helen Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, the audience knows that almost all animals have gone extinct, but we may be able to place some blame on the act of deforestation not just climate change. The act of deforestation kills all plant life within a certain region while also destroying many animal’s habitat. An article by Jose Manuel Ochoa-Quintero shows results that “The expansion of agriculture in recent decades has led to a loss of approximately 41% of the original forest (2 million ha) in the study region during the last 40 years” (444). With human population continuously increasing, forests are being destroying to make room for more agriculture and space for the many needs of humans. Ochoa-Quintero’s research has proven that possibly within the next couple of decades portions of the Amazon Rainforest could be wiped out completely if humans continue to grow in population and continue to be in need of more agricultural land. If human population continues to expand, deforestation could be one of the things we may be least worried about. Expansion within the cities will flow into the country sides causing more industrialization and pollution to occur and eventually pushing animals away from their adapted habitat and destroying of many plants. In Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, the audience can make a connection between deforestation and the lack of plant life with the amount of animals that have gone extinct. Without a place for many of these animals to live, finding other organisms to gain food from or finding shelter to stay for harsh weather makes it difficult for these animals to survive for long periods of time. The results and figures from Ochoa-Quintero’s research depict how the continuous rate of deforestation can cause chaos amongst animals who are in need of finding a new home that they may or may not be able to adapt to. While the release of carbon dioxide effects the lives of plants and animals on land, other human actions along with climate change effects marine life as well. The rise of temperature harms all marine life by causing the animals to have to adapt and hopefully survive the warmer waters. In Simpson’s Diary of an Interesting Year, she does not mention that there is any marine life left so the audience can assume that most if not all marine animals are gone (109). Climate change has shown significant effects on coral reefs and even the polar ice caps in recent years. The coral reefs cannot adapt well to changes in the temperatures nor do they react positively to the amount of carbon dioxide from human pollution that the ocean absorbs. In an article by Daniela Storch, it states “In today’s warmest oceans, plants, microalgae, and animals thus operate at the limits of their domain, which, being set by complexity, cannot be overcome by acclimatization or evolutionary adaptation” (3064). Storch’s argument proves that marine animals and plants all have limitations that they cannot surpass even if they are given many years because the rate at which temperatures are rising is much greater than their adaptation capabilities. The amount of polar ice caps that have melted has caused sea levels to rise and has affected the habitats of animals such as polar bears. The melting of these polar ice caps is a result from global warming that could possibly cause extinction among the animals living within these regions. Even if these animals are capable of migrating elsewhere, other climates may not be sustainable enough for the animals to live in these environments for a long time period. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes more harm than to just plants and animals living on land, it causes harm within the whole marine ecosystem. The whole idea of climate change plays a significant role in not only humans’ lives but also plants and animals as well which means humans have plenty of control as to whether or not plants and animals will survive in the future. From alligators to polar bears, the effects climate change caused by air pollutants, humans are a big contribution to why animal habitats are being destroyed and why over time it has become harder to these animals to adapt to significant changes. Our role in plant life is vital as well because rising temperatures and droughts make it difficult for plants to gain the nutrients they need in order to sustain life on earth. Humans are the reason why there are such drastic changes occurring within the climate because of our life style and choices of either driving cars to get to work or burning down forests for lumber. Past generations and the generations to come will eventually find out that their actions may cause the extinction of many plants and animals and that no matter how they try to reverse these problems it will be too late to save plant and animal life. In the years to follow, human interaction with the environment and their relationship with plants and animals will be critical to gaining more insight into how much longer our plants and animals can last if climate change continues to become more present.