Extra Credit #3

An article by Segun Ogungbemi called "An African Perspective on the Environmental Crisis" along with a video by Jane Goodall [http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jane_goodall_at_tedglobal_07.html] on helping animals and humans living together opened my eyes to some of the environmental problems in poor countries in Africa. It was interesting to find out that Africans want the Western modern lifestyle and how they are destroying the ecosystem by doing anything and everything to achieve that kind of life. It’s was also disturbing to hear how human activities have greatly affected the simple things in life like land, water and air. This idea is reinforced in Jane Goodall’s presentation. She explained how they are cutting down trees and using as much resources as they can find which leaves little or no resources and chimpanzees without their natural habitat. I think developing countries should know the negatives or problems associated with the Western lifestyle so they stop desiring it and save themselves from the destruction of the environment. That is another problem that I find unbelievable. Many people in Africa are poor and uneducated so they don’t understand what is affecting what in the environment. This is unfortunate because education can help with a lot of issues. In regards to population, I think Jane Goodall mentioned how as women became educated, the birth rates dropped. If more woman continue to be educated, then this will help with the issue of overpopulation and in turn control the rapid destruction of the environment.