Human Activity Harms Environment
Anyone who is concerned about the environment probably wonders what the earth will look like in five hundred years. Is it possible that one day human beings will have to leave the earth because the resources have been used up? This potential future can become reality if human beings continue to damage the earth. Earth is the only land that human beings can rely on, but during these years with the population growth, human activities are rapidly changing our homeland. In the book One Earth, One Future: Our Changing Global Environment, Cheryl Simon Silver states: “ It is abundantly clear that human activities—burning fossil fuels, emitting pollutants from industry, and clearing forests that are habitats for plant and animal species, for example—now match or even surpass natural process as agents of change in the planetary environment”(1).
Human activity still harms the environment in many different ways. The main human activities that bring damage to the environment, as mentioned in the article “8 Most Dangerous Human Activities Which Harm The Environment” by Aromal Karuvath are the following: “Deforestation, extreme level of carbon emission, over exploitation of minerals and resources, stone mining, sand mining, paddy field filling, hill leveling, over use of plastics”. In the article “How Do Humans Affect the Environment”, Jean Scheid also enumerates such harmful activities as, “landfills, water pollution, noise pollution and even smoking”. However, only the most significant ones from the above mentioned list are considered in detail in the present paper. With the world population growing, environmental pollution is unavoidable. Now, it is the time for humans to protect the environment. Humans should change their behaviors, and students should take a bigger role in attempting to protect the environment.
How Human Activity Harms Environment
How does twenty-first-century human activity affect the environment? What kinds of problems are caused by this activity? Nowadays, our environment approaches the critical juncture. In his book Environmental Change and Human Development: Controlling Nature?, Christopher J. Barrow states, “Human response to environmental change is affected by its frequency, severity and extent; past experience is important, as are the goals, attitudes, social pressures of the people involved” (166). This statement shows that the way human activities have impacted the environment, such as climate change, rising sea levels, bacteria spreading, and lots of disasters, affect the way humans respond to change.
Earth is the only land that human beings can rely on. If we imagine a hundred years ago, before the modern human beings appeared, the earth was just like a blue crystal ball with few defects. Humans, animals, and plants existed in harmony and in a stable environment where there was no heavy air pollution, greenhouse gases, or climate changes caused by anthropogenic factors. However, in the 19th century, the industrial age began. With the commencement of this period, people began to create more powerful weapons and build up factories. Meanwhile, people’s lives and environment were rapidly changed. Life was filled with conflicts and pollution. Because of fighting and industry development, the countries needed to absorb more people in the armies and factories. Thus, the population during this period also increased at an amazing speed. In accordance with Walter Kennedy Dodds’ statement from his book Humanity’s Footprint: Momentum, Impact, and Our global Environment, “in 150 years after the beginning of the 19th century, global population doubled, and during the period from 1950 till 2000, it increased more than threefold” (13). With the world population growing, the environment was getting worse.
Human activity impacts the environment and leads to rapid climate change. As mentioned in the article “Scientists: Climate change is real” by Chris Gayomali, “Climatologists almost unanimously believe that climate change is directly related to human-made carbon emissions.” According to the article, researchers examined more than 12,000 scientific papers from 1991 to 2011 which were peer-reviewed. They included almost two thousand journals and the works of almost 30 thousand scientists. The analysis showed that about 97 per cent of the authors believe that global warming caused by humans exists. In the article “Causes of Climate Change”, it mentions, “There are other elements that contribute to climate change indirectly. Everything, from furniture to computers, from clothes to carpets, all use energy when it is produced and transported – and this causes carbon emissions to be released.” Leaders around the world meet together to figure out what the countries can do to protect the environment, but it is too late for some parts of Asian countries. As for Asia, people in Bangladesh live in a water world because climate changes have caused catastrophes where water covered most parts of the country. Moreover, global warming is not only disturbing the environment but also affecting energy. As Paul Driessen mentions in “The Real Climate Change Morality Crisis: Climate Change Initiatives Perpetuate Poverty, Disease and Premature Death,” “Climate change may cause delays or prevent construction of a large number of electronic project” (765). After all, human activity not only destroys the balance of the environment and uses up resources, but it also impacts people’s regular lives. Human activity leads to rapid climate change, and climate change impacts the environment and energy. If people continue to emit large amounts of waste gas, they will suffer more climate and natural disasters. Today, some companies emit large amounts of carbon dioxide in order to become more competitive on the market and match the high pace of production. What is more, with the high-paced development of modern life, more and more people own their own cars, and this exhaust also contributes to destroying our environment. In her One Earth, One Future : Our Changing Global Environment, Silver states, “Because of the increase, the gases are expected to trap more energy at the earth’s surface and in the lower atmosphere, in turn causing increases in temperature, changes in precipitation patterns, and other as yet unpredictable changes in the global climate” (78). These emissions directly cause global warming. Human activity leads to more emissions, and this causes climate change.
With the sharp increase in industrial capacity, many people focus on benefits from productions rather than on exhaust emissions by these new “creations”. According to data represented by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, chlorofluorocarbon is one of the most important gases that destroy the ozone layer. The refrigerator was invented by human beings several decades ago. However, we did not see that the new invention, which releases chlorofluorocarbons, would bring such a huge damage to the environment.
Our environment is facing a cruel situation. Human activity influences the environment step by step, and many people are not aware of the dangers if they continue to damage it; for example, during the last year, sea levels have risen faster than ever before. According to Silver’s One Earth, One Future: Our Changing Global Environment, “Scientists estimate that in this century, sea level has risen by about 0.15 meter or more” (91). Rising sea levels may be one of the most widely felt and easily recognized consequences of a warmer global climate. According to Silver’s statement, “If human activity continues to affect temperature increase, as many researchers predict, the task of keeping sea levels at bay will become more difficult, and urgent” (49). We cannot overindulge ourselves and see our environment become worse and worse day by day. Some people may think that these phenomena are not obvious because we cannot see whether sea levels have risen or whether the temperature has become warmer every day. Moments like the 2008 earthquake in Si Chuan province and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti are unforgettable. They not only shook the earth but also deeply shocked everyone’s heart. With the increase in human activity, the crustal plates become more active.
According to the article Can We Cause Earthquakes? Is There any Way to Prevent Earthquakes?, the main cause of earthquakes provoked by human activity is injection of fluids into deep wells for waste disposal and secondary recovery of oil, and the use of reservoirs for water supplies. Although the earthquakes of anthropogenic origin are not very essential, who can provide a guarantee that, one day, one of such earthquakes will not be as powerful and destructive as the above mentioned ones in Haiti and Si Chuan? For example, according to Claiborne Ray’s article “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, some earthquakes caused by human activity are a great threat and can be quite disastrous as the earthquake associated with the Koyna Dam, which occurred in 1967 in India, was. Nowadays, human activities are not only destroying forests or plants but also changing the form of crustal plates and then cause the motion of rocks under the ground. Human activities already lead to a lot of impacts to the earth; now it is time to protect it.
People destroy natural areas in order to extend cities and towns, overuse natural resources that cannot be replaced, and cause many kinds of species to become extinct one by one. In South American countries, there is a large amount of tropical forests. Deforestation makes a great number of animals lose their homelands, and even their lives. As Leakey and Lewin state in The Sixth Extinction, “Our planet has been shaken by five major extinctions in the four billion year history of life.” If people continue to treat the environment in this way, finally the sixth extinction will occur. The sixth extinction is “the next annihilation of vast numbers of species. It is happening now, and we, the human race, are its cause”, explains Dr. Richard Leakey, the world’s most famous paleoanthropologist. Human activity has really broken the balance of nature and humans. Many people believe that these activities will make the earth a better place. Actually, we cannot ignore the fact that our lives are becoming more convenient and efficient. However, these “conveniences” have destroyed the harmony and balance of nature. Compared with that damage, the so called “better” life is without value, and it is not worth damaging our mother earth. Human activities have caused a lot of impacts on the environment. They lead to climate change, rising sea levels and earthquakes. Several disasters caused by anthropogenic factor have happened. More and more often such disasters occur, many people, their families, and animals die because of the destruction.
However, not only humans may negatively affect the environment. For example, there are some species of animals which also can make some contribution into the environment damage. Some species also emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and amount of these gases is not unsafe. Also, in accordance with the article “What is The Impact of Animal Production on the Environment?”, “Animals can negatively affect water quality by having free access to water sources where they are able to deposit waste and cause the water to become cloudy from stirring up mud. Waste from animals can be dangerous because it carries harmful bacteria”. Yet, the influence of animals is not as critically dangerous as human affection is. Although many disasters occur being caused not by humans, people should remember that the destructive power of such disasters may be strong enough to bring destruction of horrible proportions. Therefore, people should be prepared for them and not create new anthropogenic risks for the environment and for themselves.
What can university students do to protect the environment?
As it follows from the last part, human activity harms environment very seriously. There have been a lot of effects that are already seen. Climate change, forests disappearing, and earthquake. People do not often consider what they can do for protecting the environment, and people need to seriously consider what they can do for their common environment now.
To protect the environment is our responsibility, but not everyone has to make a great contribution. Although people cannot control the factories to stop emitting exhaust or decrease the rate of population growth, students can appeal to others to focus on environmental issues. They can make some presentations to tell citizens that protection of our home land is people’s primary aim; nothing can be more important than that. They can organize an environmental association to let more students participate in the action of saving the earth. There are a lot of different ways for people to choose to protect the environment.
Students can do some small things in their daily lives to protect the environment. For example, as United State Environment Protection Agency recommends in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such simple measures as changing light bulbs and properly inflating tires are necessary. These things are not difficult – everyone can do that in their life, especially university students. Lots of people ignore that things they can do because they think it is just a small thing and cannot be a help. If everyone does the small things, it will ensue in a measurable improvement. Doing the small things, which can protect the environment in daily life, is not difficult for everyone.
There are some other measures that students can undertake. They can make a significant contribution into decreasing greenhouse gas emissions at their educational institutions by decreasing their emissions from the energy they waste in dormitories. Students can also create different programs for school administrators. These programs should be directed towards increasing energy effectiveness within a campus using green power to decrease school’s emissions of greenhouse gas, compose a campus plan concerning climate action, or make a report about school’s greenhouse gas emissions. It is also an easy thing for every person to do. If a person is not in the room, he or she can turn off the air conditioner. Also, students can encourage their friends and family members to do things together. If everyone turns off the air conditioner when they are not inside, many greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced. Everyone can start doing it right now; it does not require a lot of time and efforts, however, it will help the environment a lot.
Recycling is another important thing that is easy to do for everyone. According to United State Environment Protection Agency,
Recycle school or classroom paper, newspapers, beverage containers, electronic equipment and batteries. Reducing, reusing and recycling at school and in the classroom helps conserve energy reduce pollution and greenhouse gases from resource extraction, manufacturing and disposal. You can reduce, reuse and recycle at school or in the classroom by using two-sided printing and copying; buying supplies made with recycled content; and recycling used printer cartridges. (“Climate Change- What You Can Do.”)
Everyone reads the newspapers every day, uses electronic equipment and batteries everywhere, drinks every day, but most people do not recycle these things. On campus, there are always two trashes present; one is ‘recycle’, and another one is ‘trash’. When students finish using those things which can be recycled, they can get it to the trash which can recycle. It is very convenient if students have class in the school. They just need to bring it to the school and throw them away. It is very easy and helpful to recycle things which can be recycled.
A healthy environment for people means that human beings can live or exist for one more day. Currently, the majority of people just cares about the benefit from their work and may not think about the consequences of their actions they make to obtain the benefits. People cannot choose the immediate small interest rather than the human beings’ future. However, to protect the environment does not mean we do not need to develop industry or business. Our society will develop much faster if everyone has a better quality of the environment. According to the article by Leiserowitz and Fernandez “Towards a new Consciousness: Values to Sustain Human and Natural Communities”, a very important step towards improving people’s understanding of the problem of relations between humans and nature is changing people’s perception of their role in these relations and understanding that all people do with the earth will have consequences. People should recognize that they are a part of nature and cannot prevail over it, believing that they can use nature’s welfare without any restrictions and consequences. Therefore, special programs should be elaborated by students to make the appropriate changes in people’s consciousness occur.
Let us imagine the future of descendants of people. Everyone may want their descendants see the beautiful sea; see the animals not only on the TV, but also in their real life; see the forest and play in the nature not just inside with computer. What will be with environment in the future, if people do not protect it now? It can be stated with certainty, that there will be nothing satisfactory. Students can do a lot of small things in their daily life. They can turn off the light and air conditioner when they leave the room or office and encourage their friends to do so also. They can separate the garbage from the recycling. All of these are small things; these are easy for students to do. In order to give their descendants a beautiful environment in the future, people should start to protect the environment now.
Conclusion
In recent years, with several people utilizing resources and chasing after high pace development, we are less concerned about our environment. Moreover, people forgot the essentials of living which is having a good environment. Nowadays, environmental issues are becoming a hot topic among all the countries. Human activity is dramatically changing in our daily lives. It has caused many terrible problems such as: climate change, global warming, destruction of the ozone layer, changing sea levels, frequent earthquakes, spreading of diseases, and species extinction. As university students, we should try our best to protect our environment, such as organizing an environment association to let more students participate in the action of saving earth and appealing to society to concentrate more on environmental issues.
Today, the power of human activity cannot be underestimated. It has brought many negative effects, which are mentioned above. Faced with all these problems, we should seriously think about our future. Human activity brings a great deal of damage to our earth. We have just one earth and we should try our best to protect it. Protecting our earth means protecting our future.
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