Summary on Ships in the Desert

Summary on Ships in the Desert In the story Ships in the Desert,author Al Gore presents the idea that because of human’s behaviors,the relationship between humankind and the earth has been transformed. In other words,human civilization is now affecting or destroying the entire global environment. When the author was traveling around the world to examine and study the destruction,he found that the Aral sea,which used to be the fourth largest inland sea in the world,is disappearing because of ill-considered irrigation. In fact,there are many images of destruction. In Antarctic,levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is still picking up speed. In Arctic,the thickness of the polar ice cap is thinning as a result of global warming. In Brazil,billowing clouds of smoke regularly blacken the sky above the immense but now threatened Amazon rain forest. In high northern latitudes,the noctilucent cloud occasionally appears in the evening darkness. These images of destruction are physical manifestations of the violent collision between human civilization and earth. So people must launch a massive effort to save the environment instead of focusing on convenient and less painful distraction. As people are now capable of affecting the entire global environment,not just a particular area,so they should know the large impact they have on the environment. Then humankind has to discard the current assumption and takes actions to establish the new relationship to the environment. So what are the causes of the environment destruction? Global warming,ozone depletion,the loss of living species,deforestation--they all have a common cause:the new relationship between human civilization and the earth’s natural balance. The two key factors that define the physical reality of our relationship to the earth are a sudden and startling surge in human population and a sudden acceleration of the scientific and technological revolution.These contribute to the