Ecologists identify poverty as one of the underlying reasons for habitat destruction. Places with high numbers of people living in poverty affect the environment in a variety of negative ways. Areas suffering poverty usually have inadequate sanitation, contaminated drinking water, and poorly managed waste, and the people living in these dire circumstances have crucial concerns in finding water, having enough food to eat, and keeping warm. By trying to fulfill these three basic needs for staying alive, humans threaten habitats and thus biodiversity.
Impoverished areas threaten animal and ecosystem biodiversity in the following ways:
- removal of forests for agriculture
- removal of trees and plants for income
- forest destruction for fuel for heating and cooking
- killing animals for food
- removing animals for exotic animal trade
- poaching endangered animals for animal parts
- overfishing
- destruction of coral reefs for marine animal removal
Environmental ethicists confront the divergent needs of endangered species and impoverished communities. Many ethicists feel the root of the problem lies in an affluent society addicted to consumption, or more specifically, overconsumption. Overconsumption is a behavior in which society buys and uses more resources than it needs for a comfortable life. For example, a crab fisherman working the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland uses a rowboat to do his work, but using a 50-foot (15 m) yacht would be a case of overconsumption. In WorldChanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, the problem is described thusly: “. . . we often adapt to our overabundance of choices by picking things haphazardly and acquiring more than we need. The more we own, the more we get used to all the stuff
surrounding us, and the less special it feels.” Overconsumption can lead to debt, which affects morale, which many people feel can be alleviated by more consumption. As this cycle continues, excess waste pours out and natural resources disappear.
Sustainable lifestyles may provide the best hope for breaking the overconsumption- poverty-habitat loss cycle. New green technologies help consumers reduce their consumption, but a very big part of the solution will be a change in behavior. This rethinking of the standard business model means redirecting economies away from consumerism toward the mission of ending poverty.
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