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Behavioral change is the key to environmental sustainability

I will go ahead and make my case since the con has the first argument in each round. However, first I would like to lay down ground rules. The Pro (me) will have the responsibility of demonstrating why changes to behavior key to environmental sustainability, particularly in regards to However, first I would like to lay down ground rules. The Pro (me) will have the responsibility of demonstrating why changes to behavior key to environmental sustainability, particularly in regards to climate change, however I will touch on other areas. The con will have presumption. In the first and second rounds both teams may bring up new arguments, in the third and fourth rounds, no new arguments, no exceptions. Fourth round, both teams will respond to any final arguments made previously, and conclude their arguments and show why they should win the debate. Additionally we must define several terms before we begin. 1) Behavior shall refer to how individuals and society act and function. 2) Change shall be defined as an alteration 3) Environmental Sustainability shall refer to maintenence of the factors and practices that contribute to preserving the quality of the environment, and its ability to support human life, on a long term basis. Moving on to my arguments. First Argument: Mitigating Climate Change requires behavioral changes Climate change is by far the greatest environmental issue we face in our world today. Climate change is caused by rising global tempertrues (ie Global Warming) which is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases (chiefly CO2) in the atmostphere. Human activity has been linked to the accumulation of Greenhouse gases in the atmostphere, through our consumption of fossil fuels. According to the UN, humans must severly limit CO2 emissions in order to combat climate change. This will mean that humans will need to end the practice of burning fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy. This would be a behavioral change as fossil fuels have been used to power societies since the industrial revolution. http://www.theguardian.com... Second Argument: Over consumption harms biodiversity, Biodiversity is key In our world today, fish stocks are being rapdily depleted thanks to overfishing. It is belived 70% of fish stocks have been depleted or exhausted. Bluefin Tuna stocks alone have dropped 96%. This is havgin serious harmful impacts on marine biodiversity. Biodiversity is vital to earth's "life support systems", and losing it has severe consequences of the long term sustainability of life on earth. In order to stop this loss of biodiversity, we must curtail our consumption of fish, thereby reducing demand and allowing stocks to replinish. http://www.seaweb.org... http://www.un.org...