Progress – its benefits and harms pptx
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Progress – its benefits and harms
Progress normally means improvement, that is, a
movement towards something better than what it is. It is
undoubted that progress does make living easier for
mankind. It is also undoubted that we have to pay a price
for progress. Thus progress has its benefits as well as its
undesirable companion, harms.
The town I live in is undergoing great changes. A few
years back there was greenery all around the town. Now
the hills and forests are quickly removed for building
houses. I admit that the houses are urgently required for
the ever expanding population and the building of these
houses certainly do benefit the residents. If these houses
are not built then the result will be that illegal squatters will
spring up and make matters worse.
However, progress for us has to be paid with a terrible
price. The price of this is the loss of the hills and forests,
and together with it the natural habitat of the flora and
fauna that cannot say anything in protest. So a benefit for
human beings results in harm to the natural environment.
Which is more important, human benefit or natural
preservation? I really cannot answer that.
This trend of progress whereby it is beneficial to man and
harmful to the environment is evident everywhere. The
likelihood is that this trend will continue and probably get
more intense. Look anywhere in the world where man has
chosen to make progress and the evidence of
environment destruction is plain to see.
For instance, the construction of supper highways is
definitely necessary for the old system of roads simply
cannot cater for the number of vehicles using them. These
highways are of great benefit and convenience to human
beings. To the environment, however, the highways are
like great dividing lines that cut the hand into many
sections. No animal, and for that matter, human being, is
allowed to cross from one side of the road to the other. In
other words, physical contact between both sides of the
road is restricted. An animal cannot go from one side to
the other without the risk of being run over. Carcasses of
such creatures can be seen daily on these highways.
These dumb creatures do not know any traffic rule. So
they get killed needlessly.
So the factories and other human constructions continue
to eat into the natural environment. We human beings
benefit each day as we grow in wealth and power. Our
living becomes easier and more convenient as we invent
more and more gadgets to do our chores for us. We enjoy
the fruits of our progress.
The Earth, however, has to provide us with all our
comforts and as such, the natural world has to be
denuded. So far the Earth can still cope with the unnatural
demands of human beings. One day when we have
exhausted our natural resources, we may find that, despite
all our modern conveniences, and because of them, our
world is no longer fit to live in. We would have destroyed it.
