Be a part of the Solution, not the Pollution

 

What is the Environment and why is it becoming such a big deal nowadays?

In simple words, Environment is anything and everything around us, living or non - living. It could be your bedroom, a garden, a forest etc. The environment around us is constantly changing and sometimes, we don't even realise it. 

Now the problem is that change can't always be necessarily a good thing. It can also be negative and in some cases harmful.

So how is our environment changing and is it good or bad?

To explain this, let's take a look a little further back in time. 

Humans have always been very inventive and creative. For example, when fossil fuels were discovered, we realised that they could be used in various fields of work and daily life. This was a huge advantage for us and but at that time we didn't realise how it was slowly but surely changing the environment.

The below-shown graph is a study of the air quality for almost a century. It was around this time when fossil fuels were used the most throughout history, which caused the air quality to drop.

Credit: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2019.0314

And here if we look at the death rates from the very same periods (the cause of death being air pollution) we notice that both the given graphs are following a certain pattern. 

Credit: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rate-by-source-from-air-pollution?country=~OWID_WRL

We see that as the air quality starts improving slowly, the death rate decreases. From the given, we can see how changes in the environment have a huge impact on life. So it's essential to make sure that these changes are positive and not negative. 

We see the slump in air pollution in more recent times as we are slowly trying to reverse the effects of fossil fuels. We are slowly shifting to more sustainable methods of producing energy like solar power etc. 

And this was just one example of how the change in the environment affected the health of the planet. In recent times, we have had more problems plaguing environmental health which need to be taken care of.

What are some of the issues plaguing environmental health?

• The excessive use of plastic.
  The manufacturing and processing of plastics release a lot of pollutants into the atmosphere. And once thrown as waste, it can't be disposed of easily as it's non-biodegradable and not eco friendly.  This is slowly choking the water bodies and land.
  
  
• Loss of Green cover.
  Trees help in the cleansing of the atmosphere as it uses carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and as a result releases the life-giving gas, oxygen. Nowadays, due to many factors like over-population, the rapid growth of industries, agricultural needs etc. trees are cut to accommodate our needs.
  
  
• E-waste
  The entire world is going digital and recent times prove it. While it connects the world, when these gadgets that help in doing so are of no use anymore, their disposal becomes a major issue. Most developing and underdeveloped countries do not have the facilities to do so and wrong disposal techniques lead to an increase in the toxicity of the area as they are made using chemicals like lead and mercury which poisons the land, water and air.
  
  
  
    
  
  
• Global Warming
  The gradual heating of Earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere, is caused by human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels that pump carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere which traps heat. This leads to climate change which is the long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place. This is detrimental as it disturbs the ecological balance of the planet.
  

And it is important to note that these are just a few issues faced by us. There are many more but if we can solve the issues listed above, it will automatically eliminate the others.

Can we improve the current state of our planet?

Of course, we can and we should because it might be too late to do so soon. Some methods include -

• Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. 
  
  Reducing the use of non-environment friendly products, reusing plastics instead of using them one time and recycling waste products help in decreasing non-biodegradable waste.
  
  
• Switching to renewable energy sources.
  Switching to renewable sources for fuel will decrease the rate of fossil fuels used which will solve both the depletion of non-renewable energy resources and also decrease pollution. Some renewable energy resources include solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy etc.
  
  
• Switching from chemical and imported to organic and local products
  This reduces the carbon footprint which is one major factor in global warming. Plus it's safe and cheap which makes it a win-win situation.
  
  
• Waste segregation
  Waste segregation has many benefits like - reduction of landfills and pollution, helps in compost making (alternate for chemical fertilizers) etc. Waste should be segregated as dry waste and wet waste.
  
  
• Saving as much electrical power as possible
  Switching off electrical devices like televisions, chargers, lights, fans etc. helps in saving power and helps in the conservation of non - renewable resources.
  
  
• 
  Planting trees 
  We already know that there is a shortage of green cover so the only solution to this problem would be afforestation. If not trees, it's more than enough to keep a few potted plants in and around your house/locality/neighbourhood as it benefits everyone.

Why should we protect the environment?

Our environment is what houses and helps our ecosystem grow and thrive. Without protecting and taking care of our environment we're putting many lives at risks such as animals, plants and crops, and even our own. Everything in this world, living and non-living, are interconnected and interdependent on each other to survive. 

It is our duty as good citizens and humans to protect our planet because as far as we know, there isn't any other planet in this universe that can sustain life so let's protect it before it's too late to turn back.