Pumpkins are one of the most iconic crops in the United States. If properly cared for pumpkins can be used to make a variety of commodities such as jack-o’-lanterns and pumpkin pie. However, if not properly cared for, pumpkins will begin to rot and decompose over time. Like pumpkins, the Earth will also rot and decompose if not adequately treated. Evidence over the last century has pointed to the fact that the health of the Earth has been diminishing due to: human presence and activities, climate change and its effects, and the way resources are used. It is because of these factors that the over-all health of the Earth is diminishing. It is also because of these factors that serious change needs to occur. If not, the people of Earth, may not have a habitable planet to call home within the next few thousand years. 

One of the main factors of the Earth’s dilapidation is human presence and their activities. Human activities are one of the main reasons for negative planetary health; however, it wasn’t always such a main cause. In an article written by Phil Senter, an American environmental science professor, he says, “biology textbooks usually mention that the planet is ~4.6 billion years old but neither tell how that was determined nor give evidence that the method (radiometric dating) is reliable.” However, during these approximate 4.6 billion years, the Earth has seen many changes in regard to its environment, atmosphere, resources, and inhabitants. 

Changes such as: the gradual growth of life, multiple mass extinctions; an example being the extinction of the dinosaurs, vast changes in the climate such as the ice age, and the rise and fall of dominance of species; for example, humans. However, in terms of the geological time scale, these changes took thousands, if not millions of years to happen. What makes human influence on the health of the Earth so significant is that it’s only taken less than a couple hundred years to become evident. One of the things that humans have influenced is the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect are greenhouse gasses such as CO2 rise and are trapped in the atmosphere causing the Earth’s temperature to increase. In an article written by Sound Fi which is a credited science resource: “In essence, the Earth’s atmosphere is akin to the glass windows of a greenhouse and it warms the inside of the greenhouse with solar energy; it also warms the planet that is surrounded by the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, play a significant role.” Humans perform many different activities that yield more and more greenhouse gasses every day. One of these activities being deforestation. Unknown to many who aren’t science experts, deforestation is one of the many activities humans perform that yield an increase in greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. In an article titled “Deforestation Induced Climate Change: Effects of Spatial Scale”, written by Patrick Longobardi, he states “deforestation is also associated with CO2 emissions, as crops and marginal lands that usually replace trees after land clearing tend to hold less carbon per unit area than forests [11, 12].” This means that trees are able to hold more CO2 than most other plants. However, with the increasing efforts of deforestation around the world, higher amounts of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses are continuously trapped. This causes temperatures around the world to increase and causes changes in weather patterns and climate around the world. This can all be traced back to the fact that without human interference, there wouldn’t be as many greenhouse gasses being trapped in the atmosphere, thus the problem would be far less severe. Human activities are the root cause for the factor of degradation of the Earth’s health and is a very serious issue. In an article titled “Climate and Climate Change”, author G North sums up the perfect conclusion of the issue 

of increased greenhouse gasses and the health of the Earth. “Thus human emissions of different greenhouse gases can have very different impacts on the earth's climate. Climate change due to increasing concentration of greenhouse gases has significant implications for human welfare and for the natural world.”

Another important factor and key sign that the planet is in trouble is climate change. In the Earth’s history, the planets climate has changed more times than scientists could ever realize. However, the key point is it took tens of thousands, if not millions of years for the planets climate to change. The problem is that scientists are finding evidence that the climate is indeed changing once again; however, at an immaculately faster rate. The catalyst for this sudden and rapid change of climate being humans. As previously stated and explained, one of the main reasons for climate change is human activities which influence and magnify the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gasses cause the over-all temperature of the Earth to rise. The change of temperature causes a change in climate around the world. This change is not what causes the harmful side effects to the planet, but instead the consequences that occur because of the rise in temperature and climate change. One of the consequences is a rise in sea levels around the world. The increased amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere causes holes in the ozone which is what protects the Earth from the sun’s UV rays. These UV rays not only increase the temperature of the Earth, but is also a cause for the melting of the arctic ice caps. These UV rays usually reflect off the ice and usually reflect off clouds due the principle known as albedo. However, UV rays are reaching the waters surrounding the ice caps. As more and more UV rays reach the water, the water gradually gets warmer and warmer. The warming water causes more and more 

ice melt due to the water no being cold enough to maintain a frozen state. Thus, as more and more ice melts and turns into water, sea levels gradually begin to rise around the planet. The implications of rising sea levels around the world are not only costly to the planet, but to humans as well. The higher that sea levels rise, the more flooding is going to become a problem along the coasts of the world. An example would be Miami. In the last 20 years, Miami has experienced more flooding issues than it has ever seen before in its history. With no end in sight, Miami has had to make some costly decisions in order to keep up with the ever-growing issues of flooding. In an article titled “Adapting to Sea Level Rise: City of Miami Beach”, written by the American Planning Association, “The Florida city plans to spend up to $500 million to upgrade its infrastructure to prevent high tides from sending water from Biscayne Bay through the stormwater system and into the streets.” $500 million dollars just to try to brace themselves for the ever-growing issue of flooding and rising sea levels that is caused by climate change.  However, there are still some who believe that climate change isn’t a real issue and that the money being used for effects related to climate change are a waste. In tweet tweeted by President Trump, he says “When will our country stop wasting money on global warming and so many other truly "STUPID" things and begin to focus on lower taxes?” This is a shared opinion and view by many. However, there is an obvious example of that if more money and time was spent on a climate change issue, millions of dollars and thousands of lives would have been saved. This example is Hurricane Katrina. Another effect of climate change is the rise of extreme weather events such as hurricanes. As ocean temperatures rise, more warm water is mixed with t cold water thus creating the phenomenon known as El Nino. When El Nino occurs, the perfect 

conditions for extreme weather events are created. Thus as climate change continues to occur, the perfect conditions for extreme weather events also increases. In an article titled “Climate Change” and written and published by the American Meteorological Society, they say “Overall, in the United States, the researchers have found a slight upward trend in the number of extreme weather events.” This shows that researchers and scientists have found evidence that leads to the conclusion that extreme weather events are becoming more and more common. With that being said, maybe a national catastrophe could have been avoided if politicians would have payed a little more attention to environmental issues. In an article written by Ewan McCallum, an environmental scientist, he says “Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the USA around dawn (local time) on 29 August 2005, wreaking havoc to coastal communities through a combination of wind, torrential rain and storm surge. It is probably the most expensive natural disaster in US history and one of its deadliest since 1928.” The sea wall in New Orleans was not sufficient for handling the extra water from rising sea levels, nor the severity of the hurricane that it would ultimately succumb to. Perhaps if more money would have gone into making and designing the wall, and the city was a little bit more prepared, millions of dollars would have been saved, but more importantly thousands of lives would have also been saved. In total, extreme weather events and sea levels rising are current consequences of climate change which points to the fact the Earth’s health is diminishing and that overall planet conditions are becoming harsher. 

One of the last factors and major reasons why the health of the Earth is diminishing is the away that humans use the Earth’s resources. For centuries, humans have had the mentality that they are entitled to everything and they can take advantage of the resources of the Earth. This way of thinking has backfired because many of the planet’s resources are now in serious jeopardy. One of these resources that has been taken advantage of and is now in serious trouble is fresh water. People use freshwater exclusively for almost everything. One of the main things they use it for is agriculture. An absurd percentage of all underground fresh water systems are used for agriculture. An example would be the Ogallala aquifer which is the largest fresh water aquifer in the world. In an article written by Burke W. Griggs, an environmental scientist, he says “This drought is also more serious because the Ogallala depletion is permanent. Unlike the flows of the Colorado and other western rivers, which vary according to mountain snowpack and summer storms, the Ogallala is not coming back: across most of its range, it is effectively non-rechargeable.” The Ogallala aquifer is non-rechargeable and will soon be lost due to human selfishness over resources. Another example of humans taking advantage of resources is animal populations for food and in this case over fishing. In an article titled. “Predicting Overfishing and Extinction Threats in Multispecies Fisheries.”, it states “Many of the species most threatened by fishing are caught in multispecies fisheries, which can remain profitable even as populations of some species collapse.” Humans have over fished fish populations with absolutely no regards to the over-all health of the population, and now many species are on the verge of extinction due to this selfishness. It is through human selfishness about resources that affect and dwindle the over-all health of the Earth. 

In conclusion, the health of the Earth is diminishing due to factors that call all be traced back to humans. Human presence and activities has only caused multiple pollutants to be released into the atmosphere. Climate change is directly caused and influenced by human activities through the warming of the Earth due to the greenhouse effect which then directly causes significant problems such as rising sea levels and increasing occurrence of extreme weather events. Then there’s how humans abused the resources of the Earth and take them for granted with no regards with how it will affect the planet or all of it’s other inhabitants. In total, people are ruining the planet. The sooner that is accepted by all of the people of the world, the sooner conditions can begin to improve. Only through awareness of the issue can real change begin to happen amongst the people of the Earth. We all share the Earth together, let’s at least try to take care of it while it’s ours. 
