Student - 50

Summary:

• HOPE stands for Heal Our Planet Earth. Anthony Marr works in central India, among other places. Tigers are among the endangered. Since 1993, the tiger has been considered doomed.
• Tigers are not the only endangered species. Five out of the 8 bear species are endangered.
• Polar bears will be extinct in 20 years due to global warming and melting of the polar ice cap. Also, the South China tiger is on the brink of extinction, with only 10 left in the wild, if at all. India used to have 80,000 tigers and now has less than 2,000. The map of where tigers are located will be blank in 20 years if nothing is done to protect tiger habitat.
• Millions of women all over rural India carrying bundles of sticks and wood on their heads that weigh more than them. Due to deforestation and overgrazing, India is losing 6 billion tons of fertile soil every year, which is equal to 6 thousand super-tanker-loads, at 100,000 tons per super-tanker-load. India is becoming a desert like a Middle East.
• 35 million cows, 100 million pigs and 10 billion chickens are killed in the U.S. every year.

Opinion:

When Anthony Marr presented to our class, he was very knowledgeable about the subject. Also, he did a nice job of tying the different animals in, such as bears, tigers and monkeys. Some strengths include knowing the number of endangered animals, and using super-tankers to illustrate how much soil was lost from India every year due to deforestation and overgrazing. Also, he knew a lot about projections into the future. One weakness that Anthony Marr has was telling us his beliefs not only environmentally, but politically.

In all, I was persuaded to support his cause. I agree on the points in his presentation, especially that all are interconnected, and that the extinction of the tiger also means the extinction of other species. Also, the environmental has changed drastically from the way it used to be; now human societies have grown, and the number of wild animals has decreased due to losing their environment to society. There should be a limit of how much society can expand and how much wilderness we can exploit.

I feel that something needs to be done, and Mr. Marr telling us that teenagers and children can change the world is thrilling.

Mr. Marr did a great job at describing his views on the environment. However, one suggestion I have for him is to inform the class a little more about his belief on issues other than the environment.
 

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