The Environmental Impact of Our Everyday Lives

For the past few decades, human interest in modern day luxury has ski-rocked. People have embraced and become depended on modern luxuries in almost every sector of life. Unlike before, today there are more fuel-guzzling modern cars, environmentally modern house, and even different types of unrecycled cases. While everyone is focused on attaining this luxuries, very few people seem to be concerned about their impact on the environment. According to Bala et al., 2012, humans have caused the more extinction of different animal and plant species than what natural the natural extinctions has done in its millions of years it has existed. Human advancement, particularly in the 21 st century, has impacted the environment in unprecedented ways.

There are several things that we can do to have an impact on the environment. The impact can either help the environment recover (positive impact) or deteriorate it farther (negative impact). One of this things is changing our modes of transport. Over the years, humans have increasingly become independent on vehicles to travel from their homes to schools, work or other places of their choice. This dependence on vehicles has seen more and more people buy cars and embark on private transport as cars have become a necessity in this modern world (Ornetzeder et al., 2008). The more cars we use, the more gas emission is released to the environment. This not only results to air pollution, but also, these gases have a greenhouse effect when they reach the ozone layer. The result is an increased temperature that not only has caused droughts all over the world, but also in the melting of the ice caps raising the sea level and subsequently resulting to serious flooding in some low-lying areas such as Bangladesh (Bala et al., 2012). Reducing the number of vehicles in the daily transport can impact the environment in a great way. For instance, we can avoid solo trips and embrace other public transport or carpooling. The use of public transport reduces the volume of gas emission which implies that the effects will be also reduced. Better yet, we could adopt green modes of transport such as walking or cycling. This will be good for human health and the environment since there are zero emissions.

Secondly, reducing waste and increasing recycling will positively impact the environment all over the world. Today, one of the main environmental challenges is non-recyclable wastes that we are releasing to the environment at an alarming rate. Much of the plastics we use end up finding their way into our water bodies causing serious environmental degradation. According to Robinson, 2009, more than 8 million tons of garbage particularly, e-waste is dumped into the oceans. This has completely affected the marine life by resulting in the death and extinction of aquatic life (Robinson, 2009). Embracing recycling and reusing in all aspects of our lives will result in fruitful impacts on the environment. For instance, by simply buying a reusable water bottle, we can reduce the number of plastic wastes that is released to the environment every day. In addition, buy cooking and carrying our own food, we can reduce the amount of waste that is associated with fast foods.

Additionally, planting trees will also impact the environment positively universally. Over the years, people have continued to cut down trees to create space for farming, settlements and infrastructure development. This problem is more advanced in the developed countries, where much of the land has been cleared to create room for modern housing and industries. According to Bala et al., 2012, almost 18 million acres of trees are cut down to pave way for new development as well as wood products. The results are increased drought and serious soil erosion that has increased sedimentation in water bodies, hence raising their water-levels. This has led to severe flooding that not only destroyed farm products, but also leaves animals and human beings dead (Bala et al., 2012). Planting tree will increase the forest cover and greatly reduce soil erosion. The trees will also reduce carbon emissions and increase rainfall in drought-affected areas by increasing evapotranspiration. By discouraging deforestation and planting more trees, we will improve the environment for ourselves and our future generation.

There is a lot to be learned from the indigenous people in this nation. They have been around for many years and they have experienced the effects of the environmental impact. As Glazebrook states, they have accumulated years of survival and adaptation skills that enable them to survive the effect of environmental degradation. This experience is, however, underexplored as many environmental control measures are academic and technology-oriented. We can use their indigenous knowledge to supplement the current environmental control methods for better results. Similarly, the needs of women as far as Northeast Ghana must be taken into serious consideration. In most parts of the world, women are the food-producers. They work in one point along the food production chain. As Glazebrook puts it, the issue of environmental impact cannot be adequately addressed if the needs of the women are not taken into consideration (Glazebrook, 2011). As the people who mostly interact with the environment, they know how and what should be done to avoid degradation. For instance, if food shortage is not addressed, more women will engage in intensive agriculture to produce the food. This implies that more trees will be cut down resulting in massive soil erosion, water pollution and ultimately drought.

The above things we could possibly do address the concerns of this week’s thinkers. The issue of carbon emission is a serious issue that has left many people questioning the necessity of petrol-powered vehicles. The thinkers propose the adoption of environmentally friendly transport means such as cycling and walking. The issue of deforestation is also raising concerns considering the rate at which trees are cut down to pave way for development and wood-products. Planting more trees, they say, is necessary to mitigate the effects of environmental degradation such as drought, flooding, and soil erosion.

References

Bala, G., Caldeira, K., Wickett, M., Phillips, T. J., Lobell, D. B., Delire, C., & Mirin, A. (2012). Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ,  104 (16), 6550-6555.

Glazebrook, T. (2011). Women and climate change: A case‐study from Northeast Ghana.  Hypatia ,  26 (4), 762-782.

Ornetzeder, M., Hertwich, E. G., Hubacek, K., Korytarova, K., & Haas, W. (2008). The environmental effect of car-free housing: A case in Vienna.  Ecological Economics ,  65 (3), 516-530.

Robinson, B. H. (2009). E-waste: an assessment of global production and environmental impacts.  Science of the total environment ,  408 (2), 183-191.