Our survival is a product of the favors of nature. From our basic needs of food and shelter to indirect dependence on the environment for medicines, clothes, and what not. We are running this blind race of development at the cost of our mother nature. We, humans are disrupting the natural balance of the ecosystem and hence substantial development is the need of the hour. Technical world has given us many benefits but we cannot forget the endless losses our nature has undergone due to the same. Here are some of the major mistakes that we are still making which harm mother nature-
1.Overpopulation
Reproduction is the need for the survival of species on the planet. But as we know excess of everything is harmful. We are slowly reaching the maximum carrying capacity of the planet. Overpopulation has grown into an epidemic since morality rate has decreased with help of medicine, better food technology, improved agricultural and industrial techniques. Increasing number of humans need more space to live, more food to eat and more resources to sustain. Forests are cleared to provide shelter, grow crops and dig in fossils. Cutting trees make our climate warmer, carbon dioxide content more, rain less which indeed harm humans in countless ways. Wood has infinite uses and so does other parts of trees, contributing to the main reasons of depleting forests.
2.Pollution (Air and Land)
Pollution can be further classified into subcategories of land, air, and water population. All of them include contamination of these bodies with different harmful substances. We disposed our waste in water bodies which in turn has affected marine life in very bad ways. Acid rains is a product of pollution itself. Our industries, vehicles, household chores, disposable or one-time use plastic etc., are emitting harmful gases in air, polluting land and water. We are cutting down trees which purify air. End products are life-taking diseases for example bronchitis, Asthma, Typhoid, Cholera and so on. The evidence is mounting that poor air quality and rising temperatures are ruining delicate ecosystems, even leading to increased cancer rates in humans. Disposing garbage in open become home for flies and mosquitoes. Foul smell and unhygienic surroundings can never be neglected.
3.Global Warming
Global Warming is the long-term heating of the earth’s climate system observed since pre-industrial period due to human activities, primarily fossil fuels burning, which increases heat-trapping, greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere. Earth’s climate has changed over almost every conceivable timescale since the beginning of the geologic time. The influence of human activities since the advent of the industrial revolution that has been deeply woven into the very fabric of global warming. As the temperature increases artic land and glaciers melt which causes ocean levels to rise at the rate of 3.42mm per year, allowing more water to absorb heat, which melts more ice, creating a positive feedback loop, causing the oceans to rise 1-4 feet by 2100.
4.Climate Change
As global temperatures increase, Earth’s weather patterns will drastically change. As a result, some areas will experience longer growing seasons, while others will become barren wastelands as water will deplete in vast areas, turning once floral regions into desert. This indeed will impact weather patterns, promising more intense hurricanes in both size and frequency, as well as intensifying and prolonging droughts and heatwaves. Temperature rise is accerlerated or tempered, by climate feedbacks, such as loss of sunlight-reflecting snow-ice cover, increased water vapour, changes to land and ocean carbon sinks
5.Genetic Modifications
It is a technique to change the characteristics of a plant, animal or a micro-organism by transferring a piece of DNA from one organism to another. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been a major contributor for our well-being. These are selected bred crops or crops that have had DNA directly implanted into it in order to give an advantage to the crop, whether that be to sustain colder temperature, require less water or yield more product. Super weeds are naturally occurring GMOs which very harmful for farming lands. One of the only solutions is to till the land, turning over the soil to kill the weeds and give an early advantage to the planted crops. The disadvantage of tilling, however, is that it causes the soil to dry faster and kills off good bacteria, making it infertile lifespan significantly shorter. To replenish soil the depleted soil, fertilizer is used, which introduces a whole new set of problems to the environment and can be disastrous for local agriculture in the long run.
6.Ocean Acidification
Ocean acidifications is caused due to dissolving of carbon dioxide into ocean bonding with seawater. Ph levels of water are reduced by this phenomenon. Calcium concentration is are also reduced. Crustaceans find it difficult to make their shell in scarcity of the mineral. Without shells these animals are vulnerable and unsafe in their environment. Scientists say quarter of all coral reefs are considered damaged beyond repair, with two-thirds under serios threat. The death of coral reefs is a serious concern, which are home to 25% of aquatic life. However, acidification is not the only watery threat s there are other human activities causing severe changes. Things like plastic pollution and overfishing are wreaking havoc on our oceans.
7.Water Pollution
Water pollution not only includes garbage in water but substances like fertilizers that rain from farms into different bodies. Fertilizers include nitrogen, an element essential for the growth of plants. Water plants and algae takes in nitrogen grows rapidly, known as red tides and brown tides in areas with high concentrations of nitrogen. This massive growth depletes oxygen concentration in water bodies and cause the poison to accumulate in all life that consumes it, including fish and birds. But water pollution does not end there. Huge amount of waste is dumped in oceans every year, consisting of insoluble plastics. Marine animals eat plastic as they think it to be their food due to which these poor animals are starved and suffocated to death.
8.Overfishing
Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish from a body of water at a rate that the species cannot replenish, resulting in those species becoming underpopulated. Fishing is not bad for our oceans but it can be if it is not properly regulated. Types of overfishing include: Growth overfishing, recruitment overfishing and ecosystem overfishing. Overfished stocks globally have tripled in half a century and total fully one-third of the world’s assessed fisheries are currently pushed beyond their biological limits. Fishes are consumed for protein. Many people who make a living catching, selling and buying fish are working to improve how the world manages and conserves ocean resources.
9.Deforestation
With rise in population need for land and resources also increase. For shelters forest land is cleared and tall buildings are made. Growing demand for food is also met by clearing the forest and practicing agriculture. 18 million acres of trees are clear-cut each year to make ways for new development and wood products. Trees are the largest producers of life-giving oxygen. Millions of species live on trees, deforestation is major threat for their survival. It also increases global warming. Wildlife is equally destructed even more so, displacing both people and entire species.
10.Acid Rain
Coal, sulfur, carbon and other substances are burned in open and their oxides are released into the atmosphere where they rise up and accumulate as vapours in clouds until they saturate and fall as acid rain. Acidic water that falls through precipitation get collected in different water bodies and some of it seeps in the ground. Tree absorb the acid and accumulate toxins that damage their various parts, slowly killing large areas of forest. Acid rain has also been known to completely eliminate entire species of fish, causing a snowball effect damage to the ecosystem that relies on diverse organisms to sustain the environment.
