Space for Species

A long time ago, a very influential man named John F. Kennedy made a speech about how everyone around the world had to live and work together because there is only one planet Earth, and we all have to do our best to take care of it. Kennedy wanted the world to have peace, and unfortunately his ideals lead to his early death at the hands of an assassin in 1963. However, Kennedy was right, and everyone should do what they can to clean up the world and help protect the planet, and here are some ways in which that can happen.

Easy Ways To Do Your Part

• Saving water: Every year, people spend about 25 thousand gallons of water every year every time they step into the shower. Showering can help save water if people take shorter ones, and doing things while taking showers like turning the water off while people soap up their bodies and put shampoo in their hair, can also make a big difference in how much water is used. Also, if people do turn the water down to make the force of it lighter, then they will be saving hundreds of gallons of water every month.
• Stay away from disposable items: People like to use something like paper plates and plastic cups because it is easy to take them out, use them, and then toss them into the trash without having to do things like wash dishes by hand or run the dishwasher. However, paper plates and plastic cups are actually adding to the trash problem that the world has, and doing things like taking the time to use regular plates is actually the more environmentally-friendly option.
• Recycle everything possible: When people think of recycling they instantly think of things like newspapers and junk mail, but many other things in the world can be recycled. Bigger bulk items like car rims can actually be recycled too because they are made of metal, and also, there is even a new type of Honda factory building things like Civic car rims made from recycled materials. By recycling their garbage, and using perishable garbage like peels, rinds, egg shells, and coffee grounds as compost, people will be actually throwing away a lot less than they used to.
• Use bicycle power: Everyone loves to drive, but gas-powered vehicles can cause pollution, and with the price of gas these days, but there are other modes of transportation that people can rely on including the bus, subways, and even riding bicycles. People who choose to ride bikes are not only doing their part to care for the planet, but are also going to get in really good shape from all the exercise they will be getting. With the weather turning warm now, people are going to want to spend more times outdoors anyways, and a bike is a great way to do that.

There Are Many Ways People Can Care For the Earth

Like the famous John F. Kennedy said, there is only one planet that all of its inhabitants have to live on and take care of. However, there are some very specific ways that people can do their part, and by doing things like taking shorter showers, stop using disposable items like paper plates and plastic cups, and by trying other modes of transportation, people can do wonders for the planet. People also need to remember that their children are going to need a place to live when they reach adulthood, and no other planets are colonized at the present. Though it may seem difficult or a major inconvenience to sort trash and recycle items, the truth is that it really does make a big difference when it comes to keeping the environment clean and the planet healthy for thousands of years to come.

There are many ways of growing fruits, and traditionally, most companies have always been focused on producing as many fruits as possible. Such was a natural goal at least on a short term economic basis. The equation was very easy to understand—more fruits means more profit.

But the traditional ways of growing fruits has proven to be problematic. For one, the emphasis on profit may have tempted some fruit companies to ignore the rights of its workers for just wages and safe working conditions. Companies may have also used too much chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and these products may have triggered unintended consequences as well.

These chemicals may have endangered the health of the farm workers, caused some health problems for their customers, and even damaged the environment. But these concerns may be addressed by incorporating the concepts of sustainability in growing fruits, which offers a lot of benefits all around:

1. It protects the environment.

While in the past some companies may have scoffed at “tree-huggers” as impractical idealists, many of them are now singing a different tune. It turns out that protecting the environment is a crucial aspect of profitable business.

By polluting the environment, the soils which the companies used to grow fruit are becoming less productive, and that can affect their bottom line. Now the old practices which used to improve production but damaged the environment (such as massive deforestation, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, genetic modifications, and excessive waste production) are now being abandoned for more sustainable methods.

The wisdom of this investment in sustainable farming has become more apparent now that the consequences of irresponsible farming have shown themselves.

2. It protects the consumers.

One of the main reasons why “organic” fruits (which are fruits grown through sustainable means) have become more popular is that they have absorbed far less dangerous chemicals and pesticides than their conventionally grown counterparts.

Everyone knows that chemical pesticides are dangerous, and overexposure to such chemicals have affected the health of workers. But they are obviously dangerous to ingest as well, and conventionally grown fruits have absorbed a lot of these chemicals.

Studies have also shown that organic fruits retain much of the substances that make them healthy for people. Evidence has been uncovered that shows these organic fruits contain more nutrients and antioxidants. Part of the reason for this is that industrially produced fruits are picked unripe, and then are ripened artificially. This process decreases the levels of nutrients such as vitamin C in the fruits.

So every time you buy a fruit for its health benefits, you may want to consider buying organic fruits instead. For example, the graviola fruit has a lot of wonderful health benefits, and it is also known to help fight off cancer. Yet its cancer-fighting abilities may have been reduced or even eliminated if it was not grown naturally at all.

It may not even be worth it to buy graviola fruit for the taste if it is conventionally grown, because the taste will have been affected by the chemicals it has absorbed. In fact, your health may be harmed instead of improved when you buy conventionally grown fruits.

3. It protects the farm workers.

Finally, sustainably grown fruits have been cultivated by workers which have been granted their basic rights. Now you don’t have to have your conscience troubled by thinking that you are enjoying fruits grown by unfairly treated workers. You can rest easy knowing that they also enjoy fair wages and safe working conditions while they worked hard so you can enjoy the “fruits of their labor.”

Have you ever heard of Toms? Well, Tom’s shoes have a day where they promote walking around barefoot. This is called “One Day Without Shoes.” They advise all of their loyal followers to walk around barefoot for one day to relate to those around the world who do not have shoes. This is a great marketing campaign, and it causes us to think a little bigger about the issues around the world.

However, what if I told you there was a “counter-culture” of people who choose to live there live without wearing shoes. The culture has been a bit sporadic, a lot of times people get judged for their choice to go barefoot everyday, year round, in their lives.

One example was a Russian immigrant named Samuel Sugarman in the 1950′s. Sam lived in Hartford, Connecticut. We were infamous around town because he wouldn’t wear shoes year round, even while playing sports, in ice or snow.

Survival. He was very well known on the show because he would go into every survival situation without wearing shoes, or even just playing tennis. Not only that, but he actually lives his life without shoes and has for the past 20 years!

Going barefoot does have its appeals, but it can also be harmful if the right precautions are not taken. Going barefoot in the cold or snow can cause frostbite. Additionally, even if the weather conditions are fine, there is still a risk of hookworm, which can be very uncomfortable. It’s pretty common in the modern era to wear shoes to protect us from wounds given from rocks, nails, glass etc. However, if you go your life without wearing shoes, your feet build up a tolerance to the outdoor conditions.

It does have to be noted that our cave dwelling ancestors went millions of years without wearing shoes. So it is certainly more natural for us to go without shoes. In fact, some people even believe that shoes harm the natural habit of our feet. There have been tons of studies that compare modern humans to 2,000-year-old skeletons, and they basically concluded that before the introduction of shoes, humans had much healthier feet than they do now. Additionally, there have been studies that concluded that children who wore shoes were much more likely to develop flat feet than those who didn’t wear shoes. So we can clearly see where there has been an arguably negative effect on modern feet that only occurred after the intervention of shoes.

Overall, the choice is clearly yours. Most of the people who would be reading this have been brought up in a culture where people wear shoes to protect our feet. However, there is certainly a counter culture of people in the world who might be benefiting from the benefits associated with forgoing the use of shoes to protect our feet.

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to drop us a comment!

As a young adult or parent, you probably have noticed the difficulty that most children face growing up in today’s culture and environment. Activities have transitioned from outdoors to indoors, teens are more likely to use drugs and alcohol, and the close community that once was a shelter for these youth has now become a group of loose ends with no clear ties. This type of model needs to change, and it needs to change fast. One of the most promising ways to reestablish a community in your area and to coax teenagers and children into a healthier environment is to show them the possibilities and opportunities that exist outside of the home. There are a number of ways to do this, such as to introduce them to outdoor activities, volunteer services, and possible career choices. In terms of possible career choices, you want to introduce them to a model, or someone that they look up to. This particular post will delve into this endeavor for those that are interested in medical field role models.

The Right Community Role Model

Choosing the right role model for your community’s youth can be very difficult. Kids need someone that they can look up to, whose qualities they can identify with, and someone that reflects a personality that one would wish upon themselves one day. One particular community role model that is an excellent choice is an EMT or paramedic. These individuals have many outstanding qualities that can help the youth in your community establish a healthy and environmentally conscious outlook.

Community Health

Every day, an EMT is credited with saving a life. These emergency care service providers embody the meaning of health and wellness. Their goal is to care for individuals through focusing on the health and wellness of that person when relocating them to a hospital. Sometimes, they perform CPR, carry individuals into the ambulance, offer support and a sense of calm, and track the individual’s level of heath and ensure that everything will be ok. In order to bring your community together and to inspire the community’s youth, consider introducing them to an EMT, explaining the responsibilities of an EMT, and even introducing how an EMT can help them in the future, should such a situation arise.

Get the Community Excited

This particular section applies more to children and teenagers, but one rad way to encourage your community’s youth is to host an event and see if you can get an emergency care service to introduce themselves and to bring an emergency vehicle with them. Young children will immediately be interested in the vehicle, the lights, the responsibility involved, and the outfits of the EMT’s and paramedics. In addition, you can ask the EMT’s to do a presentation about their job to introduce the community to a different type of career and maybe even inspire them to pursue a career in the field. This type of event would also work well during a “Career Day” in your community.

The Environment

Another way that introducing your community to an EMT’s career and job duties benefits the community is that it can also lead to a more environmentally conscious community. This can be done by having the EMT introduce the main types of environmental problems that cause accidents. Making your community aware of these issues can protect the environment and even create a safer community.

Overall, there will clearly be individuals interested in the EMT career path, and directing them is easy. There are an abundance of resources available online, many of which detail exactly what the processes are and how one can succeed.

There’s a fair bit of debate, which can sometimes get quite heated, about whether or not e-books, e-book readers, and tablet computers, are better for the environment than traditional paper books.

The headline news with e-readers and e-books of course is the fact that they don’t use paper. No paper means no dead trees, rather obviously perhaps. It also means that the chemicals, dyes, and energy used in the paper production process aren’t required.

What is equally important, and possibly a little less obvious, is the fact that e-books, being digital rather than physical products, don’t need to be delivered by road, rail or air freight. As a rule, transportation of physical books more than doubles their carbon footprint.

On the other hand, e-readers and tablets both consume materials and energy in their manufacture and both need to be transported to the end user. That’s a “one off” event of course – but both devices also require electricity in order to function.

E-readers use special e-ink technology displays which are both excellent for reading on and very energy efficient. Most e-readers will go for several weeks on a single battery charge, so it’s not a major consideration.

Tablet computers are a slightly different proposition. The best value tablets have increased in power over the last few months which, coupled with their touch-screen color displays, means that they use a lot more power. You’ll be lucky to get a few hours out of a tablet computer, even if you’re just reading books rather than playing games or watching video.

Obviously it’s not a simple equation; it will depend upon how many new books you read each year and how often you tend to replace your e-reader or tablet.

However, even if you are able to make a reasonably estimate of your own usage, it’s still hard to find exact numbers of the “breakeven” point where e-readers and/or tablets become the most environmentally friendly option. I’ve seen estimates as low as 14 books per annum to make the e-reader greener, but I’ve also seen estimates as high as 50 books.

Based upon the slightly higher power usage, I would have to guess that the breakeven point for tablets will be a little higher than that for e-readers.

Personally speaking, I don’t have much doubt that an e-reader is the best option for me. I tend to read about a book a week, and I don’t replace my e-reader all that often.

I’ve had my current Kindle 4, the basic entry level model, for over two years now. I would guess that e-reader owners tend to replace their devices a lot less frequently than tablet computer users do.

Unlike tablets, readers are fairly simple devices, so there isn’t the same advance in power and functionality every year. As long as you’re happy with your reader – and I certainly am – there’s a lot less reason to upgrade.

I can certainly imagine using my basic little Kindle for at least another couple of years yet – so I think I’m bound to be better off, in environmental terms, than reading traditional dead tree books. I also have a lot more space in my house as there are no piles of books about the place any more!

Space heaters are one of the best devices you can use to warm your room with no need to turn on the thermostat. These portable and small sized heaters are suitable in almost all areas in the house as long as no situated near flammable materials. When used in conjunction with your entire home’s heat source, these space heaters could possibly reduce your electricity bill significantly. Although such devices also take up electricity, the tradeoff will actually result in total savings later on.

Space heaters are available in various forms like the radiant or infrared space heaters as well as the convection and combination type. These are pretty cheap, so buying one does not mean emptying out your wallet. But then, before you go out and make a purchase, it is highly recommended that you take some tine to learn about the different types of space heaters since this will help you make an informed decision.

Different Types of Space Heaters

Space heaters come in a variety of forms and it is vital to know about each type to determine which one suits your needs best. Here are some of them:

1. Infrared or Radiant Heaters

Radiant or infrared-type heaters are among the most affordable option if you wish to heat a small space with inadequate insulation. These heaters provide warmth by through the use of reflective place or heated element that delivers the infrared radiation throughout the room or space. The radiation produce by these heaters is harmless and it can even warm the body when it comes in contact despite when the air in the surrounding is cool.

With this type of heater, you can stay warm for a long period of time. In fact, you can turn it off when you already feel comfortable and keep yourself warm throughout the night. These works very quick, but one thing is that the temperature is directed in one direction only. These infrared heaters are very beneficial in heating single room making them one of the best potable space heaters around.

2. Convection Heaters

These heaters can heat up an entire room faster than radiant heaters. These works perfectly when there is a great number of a person in the room. There are convection heaters that have fans that circulate air throughout the room while there are some without fans. These heaters utilize different heating elements like ceramic discs that are pretty expensive. However, there are also convection heater units that are filled with water and oil and these can be very efficient. These units utilize oil or water similar to the typical water heaters. The oil or water inside the units remains warm heating up the air in the surrounding.

3. Combination Heaters

If you cannot decide between infrared and convection heaters, you might want to look at some hybrid space heaters. These units are a combination of the first two types and are highly energy efficient. It can be a good thing to have space heaters with both convection and radiant elements.

Some of the Best Models

Space heaters come in different models and each of these is energy efficient. However, there are some subtle differences, so take a look at a few of the well-liked units:

1. Dr Infrared Quartz

This infrared space heater is known for its potency and attractiveness. It looks so pretty, big but not so huge and offers magnanimous heat without consuming tons of power. The main technology in this heater is infrared heat as with the name “Dr Quartz”. Infrared heaters usually utilize quartz tubes or discs to produce heat.

It comes with highly precise thermostat and timer set at 12 hour. What makes it so popular is its capability to warm up as much as 1000 square feet of space. Plus, it can actually supply heat throughout the entire room instead of simply blasting heat in only one direction. It is among the most efficient space heaters available that looks really great too!

2. Dyson Hot and Cool

This space heater is a combination time and is very versatile. This unit can be a bit pricey, but it comes with a very smart design, impressive power and great aesthetics too. This can be used as a hater and fan depending on the season, so there is no need to keep it in your basement since you will be using it all year long.

It comes with “air multiplier” technology which means that air is not pushed through, but drawn throughout the surrounding resulting to a very relaxing airflow than the typical fan. Plus, it oscillates and tilts producing high air volume so it can heat up a huge space very quickly. Also, it does not consume high juice volumes, so your electricity will not be much affected.

3. DeLonghi Safeheat Oil Radiator

The best features of this space heater are the following: power and inexpensiveness. This unit is highly recommended if you need constant heat within a small spice since it is among the highly energy efficient space heaters available on the market.

The great thing with this heater is that the oil works pretty well in retaining heat. Once your space is all heated up, you can have the option to lower or turn off the heat and you will continue to experience convection warmth all over the space throughout a very long period of time.

It is also very quiet and comes with amazing features like its “automatic on” feature when the temperature inside the room drops under 44 F.

It is relatively easy to find out if you are pregnant these days but it hasn’t always been that way. Over hundreds of years, people have tried some pretty strange techniques to try to find out whether or not a woman is with child. Most of these techniques did not and some of them even caused major ecological disaster.

Even though most women eventually figure out on their own that they are pregnant, they still wanted to know as early as possible so they could start planning for their future. Next time you go to the store to pick out the best pregnancy test, consider the long and strange scientific process it took to create that test.

Before Scientific Discovery

In ancient times, before scientists took on the subject of pregnancy, there were many unscientific techniques floating around. The Egyptians would have a woman pee on a bag of wheat and barley. If the wheat starting growing, the baby was a girl but if barely started growing, the baby was a boy. The woman was not pregnant if nothing grew. Of course, this method was just a bunch of hogwash.

The Greeks thought that you could tell if a woman was pregnant by putting perfume on her genitals. If her breath smelled like the perfume, then she was pregnant. I have no idea how they came up with this crazy method.

Medieval doctors got close to finding the source of pregnancy when they started to experiment with urine. They had the woman pee on a needle. If the need started to rust, then she was said to be pregnant. The closest they came to a pregnancy test as the ones seen today was when they mixed urine with wine. The wine would react with the urine if the woman was pregnant because of the proteins found in a pregnant woman’s urine.

Animal Testing

In the early 1900′s, scientist began looking at animals as a way to tell if a woman was pregnant. They started to study hormones found in the human body and noticed that a woman’s hCG would spike when she was pregnant. They needed to find a way to easily measure the hCG in a woman in order to tell if she was pregnant. The scientists started by injecting a pregnant women’s urine into rats. It sounds gross but the urine would make the rats horny. Next, they tried the same thing with rabbits; however, the rabbits not get horny. Instead the rabbits died.

After the failure of the rabbit experiment, scientists decided to try the experiment on frogs. They imported hundreds of frogs into the lab where the frogs ended up catching a fungus. Some of the diseased frogs escaped into the wild and the fungus is still threatening the world’s amphibians today. The frog experiment was too expensive and clearly did not work.

Peeing on a Stick

After the animal testing, scientists were getting closer at developing the modern day pregnancy test. In the 1960′s, scientists began experimenting with antibodies. When the hCG hormone in a pregnant woman’s urine was combined with antibodies, the cells would clump together. It took a few hours to get the results but could only be performed by scientists in a lab. They still got a lot of false positives.

The first home pregnancy test was invented in the 1970′s when scientists found a way to assemble the proteins in the hormone in a particular pattern that would indicate pregnancy and nothing else. It started to make an appearance on store shelves in 1978 and contained water, an eye dropper, a test tube, a mirror and sheep’s blood. It was difficult to use but was extremely accurate.

Pregnancy test sticks were first seen in the 1980′s and digital tests hit store shelves in the 1990′s. You can now find out if you are pregnant up to two weeks before your missed period or eight days after ovulation and results show up in minutes. The tests used today are much more accurate than peeing on a bag of wheat.

Tips And Trends On Environmental Conservancy

The environment is what you see around you when you are outside. It is what provides a platform for everything that you can see. In simple terms it is nature and what surrounds us. Since it is a lot of things and without it we are non-existence, it is crucial that we do our very best to protect all its parts. Unfortunately, as the world becomes more modernized, there are a lot of emissions and refuse that result from our daily activities that damage the same environment we depend on so much. Below are a few tips on things we should do to conserve the environment and maintain a perfect balance of nature.

Reduce Waste

It is alarming how wasteful we are. There are a lot of things we do that we do not need and at the end of the day, they are a waste and harm to the environment. A simple thing such as leaving your car engine running might appear like a normal thing but it is a waste of fuel and will also pollute the environment. Ensure that you turn off the car engine, switch off the lights in rooms not in use or during the day when there is natural light, turn off the taps when not in use and use water in an environmentally friendly manner, and instead of driving for short distances, ride a fixies style bike to work each day.

Reuse

There are a lot of reusable items that people ignore and use only once and throw them away. This contributes to the large amount of garbage that has to be eliminated and the process poisons the environment. Things such as used clothes can be used to make other fashionable items or stuffing while plastic containers can be used in storing different items at home. To reduce the carbon footprints, it is crucial to choose used items over new items.

Recycle

Recycling is the name given to the process whereby finished items that have already been used are put through a manufacturing process to come up with the same item or a different product. Recycling is one of the best ways to save the environment. For instance, paper recycling means that paper that has been use in books or news papers can be recycled to carton boxes, hard covers boards and many other products. This greatly reduces the amount of trees that are cut for paper making. Plastic recycling reduces the amount of plastics dumped or burned. Glass can also be recycled to reduce the manufacturing cost and save the environment from the negative effects of mining

Renewable Energy

Recent times have seen the emphasis of the use of renewable energy and there are many reasons behind this. Renewable energy such a hydroelectric power, geothermal power, solar energy and wind energy will help in reducing the burning of fossil fuels and significantly reduce pollution.

And on a personal level, it’s as simple as choosing an environmentally friendly mode of transport such as hoping on a mountain bike or a fixies style bike for the city commuter when short distances are involved. This will save you a boatload of money normally used in fuel, you will be part of the green movement of conserving the environment and you might even get fitter. Plus you really got to check out how hip and cool these bikes really are.

Sustainability is the act of preserving Earth’s natural resources by an individual or a society as a whole. The individual practicing sustainable living tries to minimize their carbon footprints by modifying their methods of energy consumption, diet, and transportation. Sustainability strikes a balance between the philosophy of ecological living and its implementation in one’s life. Sustainability in the twenty first century can be implemented by switching from depleting natural resources to renewable energy resources. Change needs to be adopted by the future generations for the prosperity of the human race.

Earth has only 2% fresh water out of its 70% covered by water bodies. Out of this only one percent of the total water available on earth is suited for human consumption. Thus water is a critical natural resource which should be conserved and treated with more respect. We are already suffering due to lack of clean water and if we want to sustain humanity on this planet this water conservation issue should be dealt with seriously by each individual. There are many innovative water conservation methods and solutions available with us. Each individual living in any part of the planet needs to take responsibility and start water conservation from home. Other areas of improvement may be irrigation in agriculture and in industries. Water conservation not only saves money and energy but it also improves the environment and ensures our well-being. As an example, selecting the best water efficient pressure washer can save up to 30% of your annual water consumption cleaning the backyard, each year. The efficiency of human body decreases with the drop in water level in the body. A normal human being cannot sustain more than 10 days without water.

Every individual can contribute to water conservation by taking some initiative at home. The general efforts which can be made by an individual are such as:
1. Find any hidden water leaks at home and fix it.
2. Keep in mind while buying the appliances using water, they should be water efficient.
3. To avoid wastage of water due to any pipe burst, turn the water supply off before leaving home for vocation.
4. Always find ways to reuse old water may be to water the plants.
5. The exposed water pipes can be winterized to prevent them from breaking and freezing.
6. Showerheads in the bathroom can be regulated for low flow which can save up to 75% water instead of having power washer type units.
7. Shower time can be reduced to take shorter shower and while you lather shut the shower off which saves up to two third amount of water.
8. The frequency of shower and head wash can be reduced if avoidable
9. Composting toilets use little water so they can be given a try.
10. In the kitchen try the practices such as running the dishwasher only when it is full, do not pre rinse the dishes in running water, rather fill a bowl of water and use it to rinse the dishes. This bowl water can further be used in the garden or compost.
11. Try to reuse the dishes if possible and avoid unnecessary washing. Designate one container for water or beverages each day.
12. Do not wash your clothes too much and prefer a front load washing machine over a top load machine as front load uses 40% of the water used by top load washer. Use full load cycles and adjust the water level settings accordingly.
13. Grey water recycling is using the virtually clean water, this practice if adopted can save considerable amount of water.
14. Rain water can be captured by installing gutters on the roof top and collecting the water which can be used in garden. Half gallon water can be collected from one inch rain on one square foot. Even if you are unable to collect whole of this water, it can be diverted directly to your garden or pool.
15. Do not water the plants in rain and a rain sensor can be used for this purpose. It is better to water plants in morning or evening during sunny days to avoid evaporation of water in heat.
16. A nozzle in the hose will protect the hose from bursting due to pressure. Always remember to turn the hose off.
17. Grass should only be fed by rain water as it is a water hog and mostly useless. Let the grass die in summer time and watered by rainfall. This reduces the need of outdoor watering.
18. It is better to plant trees in groups to conserve water. Home composting decreases evaporation and retains moisture.
19. Spread water conservation education and start with your children. Support the local farmers and explain them the water conservation model.

Hunting has existed since the beginning of time and has served as an integral component to human survival and evolution. But is there a time where hunting becomes no longer relevant? In this article we will explore the pros and cons of hunting and see whether it helps or hurts the environment.

Benefits of hunting

Firstly, hunting provides a great economic benefit to society though various hunting equipment taxes, license sales, and all of the hunting trips that help circulate money yearly. Most hunters choose to hunt small game with air rifles such as the Benjamin discovery, while bigger game such as deer and coyotes are hunted with
firearms. Personally, I like to stick to small game hunting using my favorite pellet gun. The sales of these air rifles and air rifle accessories also adds to the economical benefit of hunting.

In terms of benefiting the environment, hunting definitely has some perks. A lot of the time small animals can act as pests and prohibit the growth of agricultural land which in turn can affect the habitat and ecosystem as a whole. Eliminating pests through hunting is a way to make sure their population does not get out of hand and to keep the ecosystem in a healthy balance.

Another benefit hunting can provide is protecting rare and endangered species. Many wildlife conservation programs use foothold traps as a way to capture rare or endangered species to reestablish their habitats in a safer environment. While trapping is not hunting in of itself, it is still a part of the process.

Hunters are also generally experienced at their crafts and do not allow the animal to suffer. Using headshots is a good way to ensure a humane death of the prey.

Downsides of hunting

While hunting may have some upsides, there is also a big debate on its effect on the environment. It can be argued that hunting played an important role in human survival during prehistoric times, but sportsman style hunting in the modern days is a bit cruel. Hunting is allowed on 60 percent of U.S. public lands according to the IDAUSA.

Hunters generally argue that the populations of prey species need to be controlled in order to maintain a balance in the ecosystem. This however is not always the case since instead of targeting the weaker and less developed prey; hunters target the stronger and healthier animals. This can act as a reverse in natural selection and slow down the evolution of the species.

Another downside is hunting can and in the past has been the cause of extinction of certain species. In fact the quagga, Zanzibar leopard, sea mink, and the toolache wallaby have all suffered extinction due to hunting.

Poaching also known as illegal hunting is also a major concern and downside. In some regions of the world the concept of poaching is even considered an environmental crime since it is a violation of hunting laws and regulations concerning wildlife management.

In conclusion it is evident that hunting has both its benefits and downsides for the environment and it will continue to remain a controversial topic.