Topic28: Some people think that human needs for farmland, housing, and industry are more important than saving land for endangered animals. Do you agree or disagree with this point of view? Why or why not?
Human society has developed for a long time. Through the process, we have sacrificed various things, such as nature, lives of wild animals, and natural resources. Now, we should think the value of these lost things again. And, of course, I oppose to the idea that human needs for farmland and housing are more important that lives of endangerd animals, because human don’t have authority to take over the living place of animals, and extinguishing animals affects human lives negataively, and we should notice the problem that we can’t continue to build new houses and factories.
First of all, human don’t have privilege to threaten other creatures’ lives. Of course, people may need new buildings and farmlands in order to live comfortably. However, it doesn’t mean that human may destroy land for endangered animals. This is beause other animals too have similar authority to live. Some people may not assent to this opinion. But, can they explain the reason why people are superior to animals? If they want to build new building rather than save endangered animals, they have to give the logical answer to the philosophical problem at least.
In addition, extinguishing animal gives human society bad effect. All creatures on earth relate to food chain. Altough this relation is not always clear, the extinction of specific creatures affects other species which rely on them seriously. If human don’t save the threatened animals in order to need for farmland, after all we also evetually may be damaged because of food chain.
Finally, we should think about a problem that it is difficult to continue to develop new places. Today, human’s population has increased more and more, and the current population is about 70 billion. Moreover, many scientists forecast that the number increase more for the future. Therefore, more people will need more housing and farmland. However, it means that human endanger more wild animals and sacrifice natural resources although they are finite. So, I think that people should think some solutions to reuse and recycle existing things and acquiring such new wisdom leads to co-exist with other animals.
In conclusion, human don’t have authority to destroy lives of animals, and such behavior damages us after all. Rather, we should create new solutions to live with other creatures together. Therefore, I think that saving place for endangerd speices is important than human needs.
TOEFL listening lectures: A university lecture by a professor of Anthropology