ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND ITS EFFECTS.
Abstract.
This article discusses the different environmental issues that there is, such as pollution which is seen in different forms like air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, etc. We have different types of environmental issues which shall be discussed below. Researchers and scientists have tried coming up with different solutions that may bring an end to these environmental issues.
Keywords: Environmental issues, biophysical environment, pollution.
Environmental Issues, Effects and Solutions.
Environmental issues are the problems caused by human activities that affect the biophysical environment. According to Kemp, David Walker (1998), a biophysical environment is the biotic and abiotic surroundings of an organism or a population. It can vary from microscopic to global in extent. The biophysical environment can be sub-divided into different attributes or components which are; The Atmosphere. It includes the gases that are around the earth and everything that happens in them such as weather, heat from the sun, smog and haze, climate and acid rain. The Hydrosphere. This is the portion of the earth that contains water in all forms like ice, running water, and vapour. The Lithosphere. It refers to the rocks and soils on the crust of the earth and how our continents form and wear away. The Biosphere. This is the zone of the earth and the adjoining parts of the atmosphere in which plants and animals exist. They all differ considering every living organism has its own environment.
These types of environmental issues include;
- Global Warming- this is the increase of the world’s temperature due to burning of
- fossil fuels, emissions from automobiles etc., causing environmental changes.
- Climate Change- the major cause of climatic change is greenhouse gases. These climatic changes have a negative impact, such as change in seasons and epidemics.
- Deforestation- due to the depletion of trees and forests for commercial purposes, there has been a drastic change in the earth’s climate, and a decrease in the number of plants and animals biodiversity.
- Pollution and its Types- any undesirable change in environment, soil, air, water, land etc. These types of pollution are,
- Air pollution; this is as a result of emissions from industries, automobiles and increasing use of fossil fuel. These emissions have led to an increase in the earth’s temperature and led to the increased risk of diseases in people.
- Water Pollution; the introduction of harmful substances to the rivers, oceans, lakes and ponds changes the physical, chemical and biological state of water. This leads to the lack of oxygen and so the living organisms in water die.
- Ozone Layer Depletion- this is a layer of concentrated ozone gas and it protects us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. The layer gets destroyed by the chloroflourocarbons which are emitted by industries.
- Solid Waste Management- this is the discipline in regard to generation, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing, and disposal of solid waste in a manner that is harmful to the environment.
- Overpopulation- the drastic increase in population has led to the decrease in resources. This increase might also be associated with issues like pollution, waste management, deforestation, climate change and global-warming.
Environmental issues are a warning of the upcoming disaster and there will soon be no life on earth if not controlled by some of the most common solutions such as; conserving water and electricity, replacing disposal items with reusable items, avoiding the use of paper, recycling the waste to conserve natural resources and supporting environmental friendly practices.
Majorly, sustainability is the key to prevent and reduce environmental issues. Scientists have proven that humanity is living with unsustainability and an effort needs to be put to return the natural use of human resource. Concerns for the environment have prompted the formation of green parties, these are political parties that seek to address the environmental issues. Initially the parties were formed in Australia, New Zealand, and Germany but are now present in many other countries. There is also a number of films being produced on the environmental issues, especially on climatic change and global Warming to try and curb the effects of these environmental issues.
References.
Kemp, David Walker (1998). Environment Dictionary.
Timothy Searchinger, Ralph Heimlich, R. A Houghton, and Fengxia Dong (2008). Science vol 319. 1238-1240.
JA Foley, N Ramankutty, KA Brauman, ES Cassidy, and JS Gerber(2011). Nature 478, 337-342.