Global Environmental Degradation – Problems and Solutions Miss. Parit Sunanda Ram[1]
sunanda.parit@rediffmail.com
Mobile: 9960058012
Abstract
Environmental degradation is one of the ‘10 Threats’ identified by the High Level Threat Panel1 of the United Nations. Degradation of the environment refers to deterioration of the environmental condition by the depletion of natural resources such as water, air and soil, as well as the destruction of habitats and loss of biodiversity. Such degradation, such as pollution, leads to global warming – the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s surface.
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All these pose problems to the future of the earth as they affect fundamentally the ecosystems that have been part of planet earth.
4. Global Warming: Similarly, the constant increase of the earth’s surface temperature – global warming - is continuously threatening the safety and lives of all living beings on earth. Most prominently, global warming, which is the result of the continuous emission of greenhouse gases is done by humans through rapid industrialization and development over the past century.
III) Psychological Consequences of Environmental Problems: The very real and well-documented environmental problems we face, both locally and globally, also have psychological consequences. This is one of the foundations of ecopsychology and recognizing the depth and closeness of human-nature relationships. This section outlines some of these consequences, drawing on environmental psychology research.
We can identity three categories of environmental problems: Natural disasters, technological catastrophes, and long-term environmental degradation. It is important to point out how these categories are increasingly overlapping. Many natural disasters, if not caused outright by human intervention, are worsened by human factors. Global warming seems to be causing an increase in
Global warming -- and climate change -- have long-term and short-term impacts on our environment. Caused by air pollutants such as carbon dioxide and methane, global warming is the gradual increase of air temperature across the globe. The rise in air temperatures can lead to higher extinction rates, increased risk of disease and political repercussions, such as wars over available resources. Understanding the possible short-term and long-term effects can help humans better prepare for the consequences of global warming.
The carbon dioxide levels in the 20th century have been highest in 650,000 years. Till 1950, the levels rose by 11% and recently the levels have risen by 40%. Arctic ice is melting rapidly. It is estimated that by 2040 the region is to have a completely ice free summer, or even earlier. More than 1 million species have become extinct due to disappearing habitats caused due to global warming. Sea levels have risen about 7 inches in the last 100 years, which is more than the previous 2000 years combined. The rising sea levels due to global warming could threaten the lives of people living along the coastal areas. The consumption of fossil fuels in last few decades has contributed much to the destruction of our environment. Global warming, climate
The first main problem is climate change. This phrase is everywhere, but a lot of people don’t really understand the connection between these words and their lives. Due to large global climate changes, this will threaten the natural biosphere as well as civilization. This issue is important because climate change is already occurring due to greenhouse
Problems include; land degradation, air pollution, water pollution and loss of biodiversity. These harmful impacts to the environment need to be addressed with urgency (Djekic and Tomasevic, 2016).
Never in the history of the human species have we been in such a rapidly changing environment. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, we have been making social, economical, scientific, and environmental changes and advancements at an unprecedented rate. Societal advancements, while much appreciated by the average Joe, have been detrimental to our environment. Every days forests are cut, rivers polluted, and once ecologically important areas are cemented over to compensate for our rapidly growing population. As the status of our natural world becomes more critical by the year it is important that we look at the driving factors and reasons for this destruction of the natural world. While pollutants and globalization are the driving
According to our book Environmental Science for a Changing World, written by W.H. Freeman the environmental problems can be tremendously complex, and they are inclined to have numerous causes and each of them are challenging to approach. Therefore, when one party tries to give a response to an environmental problem, this will generate a different reaction to the other party, and our book called this as a “wicked problems”. Consequently, a wicked problem is a problem that is impossible to solve because of opposing ideas, and points of view of a determinate problem that are often hard to recognize. Moreover, our book stated that the biologist Jared Diamond identifies five factors that determine whether a society will succeed or fail these factors
The first challenge in this essay is to shift the way people think about some of the biggest environmental problems that are affecting humanity in a global level, rather to see them as independent and isolated problems to view them as a whole, as a part of a system and as a consequence of other different problems that are being faced in other parts of the world.
Environmental degradation is the depletion of the earth’s natural capital at an increasing rate. Three examples include: clearing rainforests, polluting oceans, and polluting
As time goes on, the environment alternates its patterns to conform with the needs of it habitants. A variety of things that can damage the environment can be as small as throwing a piece of paper on the floor, to owning a company which pumps harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. Most of these affecting factors are caused by people, but some can be caused by things like natural disasters, which can't really be avoided. Others can be due to people poisoning the atmosphere which, over time, causes great damage towards our habitats. All through history, and even today, there are many factors in which causes damage to the earth and create a large, worldwide, issue.
In recent years, the controversial subject of global warming has been more predominantly brought to our attention. Is the threat of global warming real? Is it man-made or is this just a natural cycle of earth? Does it really affect earth’s inhabitants? Should action be taken against it? If so, what kind and to what extent? It cannot be only a coincidence that the alarmingly rapid climate change coincides perfectly with the increased amount of pollutants that humans release into the environment. The once stable climate has in recent years begun to skyrocket, thus altering the delicate structure of earthly life. This proves to be hazardous to the future of the planet; some people worry that many of the resources the environment provides that
White’s thesis in The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis states that in order to confront the expanding environmental crises, humans must begin to analyze and alter their treatment and attitudes towards nature. The slow destruction of the environment derives from the Western scientific and technological advancements made since the Medieval time period. “What people do about their ecology depends on what they think about themselves in relation to things around them” (RON p.7). Technology and science alone will not be able to save humans until we adjust the way of thinking and suppress the old ideas of humans power above nature. Instead, we need to learn how to think of ourselves as being
The decline of the environment due to natural and human exertion is known as the degradation of the environment. The natural weather occurrences such as heavy rain, flooding, storms, earthquakes, volcanoes etc. are not administered under human control. These meteorological phenomenon’s wreak devastation on the environment from time to time causing the land to become unsuitable to cultivate. On this subject matter, the human population does not contain the power to stop the wrath of Mother Nature. Rather, we are forced to sit back and watch. Nevertheless, humans engage in a crucial role towards the degradation of the environment in which we live in. Unavoidably, the degradation of the environment is a rising and utmost worldwide subject. I accept that the root cause to environmental degradation is the excessive use of resources on our land utilized by the processes under capitalism. As Jensen wrote in Endgame, “The global industrial economy is the engine for massive environmental degradation and massive human and (nonhuman) impoverishment.
The paper will critically analyze three chosen articles related to the field of environmental psychology. Important facts highlighted in the article, the week and strong points of the article and most importantly the impact that the article has on the field of environmental psychology will be discussed in the paper.
Global Warming is the number one concern threatening the very existence of humans and everything within the environment today. The human race is to blame for the destruction of the natural world. The environmental issues that are threatening all human and non-human life today, started in the industrial revolution and the discovery of oil The need to improve the quality of life resulted in the construction of factories to mass produce products for consumers. These factories were powered by fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. The combustion of these fossil fuels emitted great quantities of pollutants that remain in the Earths atmosphere to this day and is the number one cause of global warming. However, in ethics one cannot evaluate just one thing. In ethics, as in nature, everything is connected to everything else (Partridge, 1998).
We as a society have reached one of the most crucial time periods in the history of our world. Due to the way we have used the resources on this earth we have created a situation in which our climate is drastically changing. The burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil has caused gases like carbon dioxide to become trapped in the atmosphere causing a natural greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect has caused the earth’s average temperature to rise and has resulted in arctic glaciers melting. These glaciers had gases trapped inside them that are now being released into the atmosphere further raising the earth's temperature. Due to the way we are polluting our air we have caused global warming. This global warming has caused stronger natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires putting our society in more danger than ever before.