Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (12:00 p.m.) Happiness Group Completed Project | Page 11

Pollution
By: Spencer Sharp
T
he scene on the nature
side is a beautiful one,
filled with happiness
and joy as nature is able to
take its course free of any
major altercations or inter-
ferences by humanity. Hu-
mans can be seen taking
precaution to only have a
positive impact on the wild-
life by taking action to make
minor improvements whenever pos-
sible and wherever necessary. Deer
hydrate themselves with good, clean
water at a pond that was once pol-
luted with garbage but has since
been cleaned by humans. Ducks,
who were once covered completely in
oil from a spill, can be seen being
cleaned by volunteers, allowing the
animals to go about their lives nor-
mally again. Birds who had their
homes taken away from them by
corporations needing the wood now
happily reside in man-made bird
houses, ensuring the babies have a
safe home until they are older and
able to fend for themselves. This
theme of humans only stepping in
when necessary to solely improve
nature’s conditions can be seen
throughout the piece on the nature
side, improving the happiness of
both the wildlife and the humans as
the animals are able to go about
their lives undisturbed and for the
humans as they are able to witness
nature in perfect harmony.
On the materialistic side, the
greediness of humanity greatly out-
weighs society’s care for the environ-
ment. Noxious gas pours into the air
from factories that produce cars that
further pollute the air. The trees
along with the birds that inhibit them
are the ones that feel the effect of
this pollution. The trees become
weak and brittle, no longer able to
provide a secure and safe home for
the birds. Humans act with little care
for the environment, constantly
throwing garbage on the ground that
finds its way into the lakes and other
bodies of water. Fish die as they mis-
take the litter as food, consuming
the toxic garbage. Turtles find them-
selves tangled up in the litter, unable
to free themselves from it, causing
their bodies to grow around it. This
creates unnatural and unhealthy ab-
normalities for the turtle, greatly de-
creasing its way of life. Mother Na-
ture is not the only one feeling the
effect of humanity’s carelessness.
Human’s way of life is also being
negatively impacted by the pollution
created by themselves. The main
source of water in less privileged ar-
eas is now undrinkable due to the
toxins released into it by corpora-
tions, leaving the people with no
clean source of water. All across the
board, the happiness levels of all of
Earth’s inhabitants is visibly de-
creased by the carelessness and
greed brought on by the materialistic
aspect of Humanity.
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