Environmental Crisis.
Humanity has faced numerous problems along with the rapid development, moreover, this rapid growth of population and herculean industrialization are the very reasons of the ongoing problems faced by the human population, such as widespread poverty all over the globe, especially in African, Asian and Latin American regions, depletion of natural resources, gradual decrease in flora and fauna all over the world and much more. For example, the growing population causes problems with poverty, which in turn causes exploitation of natural resources leading to damaging both flora and fauna over the world, contributing to environmental pollution. All these logical connections can be termed as environmental crisis, and it is not the negative prognosis for the next few years, as it is the most current and ongoing problem at the global level. And what are the major concerns associated with the global environmental crisis and the most evident consequences for humanity on Earth?
One of the key concerns in environmental crisis is the climate change, this climate change is the result of anthropogenic factors, mainly greenhouse gasses, the modern technological processes that heavily rely on burning fossil fuels at factories, agricultural facilities and pastorals are the major contributors of greenhouse gasses to the environment. Human factor also contributes to the destruction of green forests, which results in flooding, poor quality of the air and disruption of the natural ecological systems. These observable results of the climate change are the changes in global mean surface temperature, ocean circulation, sea level, species distribution, and precipitation patterns.
Another concern associated with the climate change is the degraded air quality. The key air pollutants are the particulate matter (soot), Nitrogen and Sulphur oxides, troposphere ozone and aromatic compounds (benzene). This degraded air quality affects people and contributes to many diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory diseases. Approximately 1 billion of people live in industrial areas with poor air quality. The most affected territories are India, China, and Western-Pacific region. In these regions, approximately 6 million deaths are attributed to the air pollution annually. Besides, the changes caused by air pollution result in low productivity of the land.
One more aspect of the environmental crisis is the destruction of the flora that is often termed as deforestation. Forests make the entire existence of the human race possible. Even if the forests are lost in some location, the result is significant for the entire system. The problem of deforestation does not have borders and limits. Forests are said to be the “lungs of the Earth” that absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen which is the necessary element for human breathing. Another important aspect of forests is that they regulate the change in climate. Forests make sure that the amount carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is just right for the activity of the ecosystem and whenever forests are cut down, there is no control over the amount of the carbon dioxide being absorbed. Forests are also big water factories. So, deforestation has a substantial negative effect on our ecosystem. The act of deforestation occurs due to a number of reasons. The primary reason is that forests are cut to release the territories for agricultural and pastoral purposes. For instance, it is a case of tropical forests. However, people have to know that tropical forests cover around 6% of the Earth territory being the home for 90% of the world’s animal species. Other reasons include the charcoal production and destruction for timber production.
Scientists have observed the terrifying picture of animals’ population. The study of the World Wildlife Fund suggested that people have killed half of the world’s wildlife since 1970. In less than a century, humans have managed to wipe out an already staggering number of wild animals, including mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians and fish. The calculations have suggested that the world’s vertebrate animals’ population has decreased by 52% since 1970. The land populations have been declining each year, and have declined by 30% since 1970, the marine population has declined by 38%, but it is the fresh water species that are vanishing at horrifying rates. The populations of freshwater fish, frogs and shorebirds have declined by 76% since 1970. The picture is scaring, and the most obvious reason for this picture is the rapid technological growth in recent years
The other major concerns associated with the global environmental crisis are the degraded water quality, scarcity of fresh water, stratospheric ozone depletion, land contamination, soil erosion and degradation as well as habitat and biodiversity losses, extinction of many species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish. Large territories of Earth have been contaminated with chemical and radioactive pollution. Water pollution has resulted in human health problems, degradation of soil, extinction of fresh water animals, low productivity of agricultural crops and insufficient amounts of drink water. Those are just a few sentences about the austerity of the ecological crisis issues whereas the true effects of the ongoing problems may be felt later by our off springs.
What are the most evident consequences of the global environmental crisis for humanity on Earth?
A study funded by NASA suggested that the possible effect of the environmental crisis might be the irreversible fall of the civilization. The study was based on modeling of the current societal structure and environmental structure. The model though being theoretical had credible results. The study suggested that the collapse of the civilization could be prevented if the humanity managed to reduce the economic inequality and if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is minimized to a substantial rate.
The environmental crisis is one of the major problems for civilization. It is a problem that has no boundaries and immunity. The concerns associated with the environmental crisis are the degraded air quality, climate change, deforestation, the decrease of animal population, land pollution, soil erosion, scarcity of fresh water and biodiversity losses. All these issues have affected and will be effecting the civilization in negative ways, including the health problems, unequal distribution of economic resources (poverty problems) and low agricultural productivity. The studies of the NASA suggest that the only possible alternative to avoid civilization collapse is the reduction of economic inequality across nations and per capita depletion of nature to the minimum sustainable level. The governments of all countries should combine their efforts in order to overcome the common challenge, the challenge of survival the human civilization on Earth.