# Environmental Degradation #

Environmental Degradation refers to the deterioration of physical components of the environment through depletion of Natural Resources (air, water, Soil) by natural or human forces. It results in the destruction of ecosystems, habitat, extinction of wildlife and pollution.

Causes of Environmental Degradation

• Deforestation: One of the major causes of environmental degradation is deforestation. It leads to a substantial increase of carbon pollutants in the atmosphere. Deforestation causes soil erosion which dries up the place where it happens since water isn't absorbed. This disrupts the water cycle and causes drought and also heavy rainfall and flood.

• Industrialization: Large industries emit many harmful gases into the atmosphere. The introduction of harmful chemicals into air leads to air pollution, due to which there is a constant depletion of natural resources. 

• Fossil fuels: Coal, oil and natural gas are three main types of fossil fuels. These are non-renewable energy resources, that gives off carbon dioxide when burnt and when coal burns it also gives off sulfur dioxide along with other gases, a kind of gas that creates acid rain thereby degrading the environment.

• Population explosion: Rapid growth of population is threatening the environment through the uncontrolled growth of urbanization and destruction of natural habitats. The increasing population results in rapid growth of energy production and consumption. The environmental effects of groundwater and surface water contamination, air pollution and global warming are growing concern owing to increasing consumption levels.

• Excess utilization of natural resources: Natural resources are not limitless and exploitation of these resources by careless and excessive consumption may lead to desertification, extinction of species, water pollution, soil erosion and many further environmental disorders.

• Agricultural Chemicals: Agricultural chemicals are referred to as "pesticides" in most cases and include herbicides, fungicides etc. Many of these chemicals are hazardous and cause risks to human and animal health and at the same time depletes the environment.

• Increase in the number of automobiles: Car pollutants cause immediate and long-term effects on the environment. The exhausts emit a wide range of gases causing global warming, acid rain, thereby degrading the environment and human health. It also results in depleting the ozone layer, which shields the earth from harmful UV radiations of Sun.

Impact of Environmental Degradation

• Human Health: Environmental degradation is one f the most serious challenge before the mankind in today's world. Areas exposed to toxic air pollutants can cause respiratory problems like pneumonia and asthma. Due to degradation of the environment, our body has become vulnerable to a number of incurable diseases.

• Ecological Imbalance: Ecosystems are organized in a state of balance where species coexist with other species. If anything changes substantially in our ecosystem, it shifts from a state of balance to a state of imbalance. The ecological imbalance is a result of natural or human-caused disturbances, which disrupts the natural balance of the ecosystem. Natural disturbances like volcanic eruptions and floods, and human disturbances like pollution, deforestation, over-hunting of species etc.

• Climate change: There has been a drastic change in the climatic conditions due to the degradation. It has caused serious threats to food security and health, and degradation of land and freshwater resources. Due to climate change, there have been unpredictable rainfall patterns, leading to lack of access to safe waters, which finally leads to crop failure and food insecurity.

• Greenhouse effect: It is the problem caused by the increased quantity of gases such as carbon dioxide in the air. These gases trap the heat from the Sun and causes a gradual rise in the temperature of earth's atmosphere, endangering the wildlife and humanity

• Natural calamities: Due to soil erosion caused by deforestation the place dries, wind movement becomes very fast, evaporating water from the soil, bringing dirt and sand. Since water isn't absorbed, it causes drought and other calamities like heavy rainfall and floods.

• Decrease in groundwater level: The factories and industries dump toxic waste into the soil which mixes with the groundwater due to penetration. The toxic waste reacts with the groundwater, sometimes producing so much heat that the water starts getting evaporated, reducing the groundwater level.

Measures To Control Environmental Degradation

• Afforestation is the planting of more and more trees in an area where there was no tree cover. It is a conversion of wasteland into woodland/forest. Through afforestation, the lost ecological balance can be restored.

• Safeguarding the environment with the 3R's - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Applying the principles of 3R's is the only way to save the environment from getting deteriorated. Reducing the amount of waste production, Reusing the non-degradable items of waste materials and Recycling is the process of changing the waste and non-usable materials into useful material. This even reduces air and water pollution by reducing the need for conventional waste disposal and help the environment to be green again.

• Renewable energy (like solar or wind) technologies provide an excellent opportunity for mitigation of greenhouse gas emission and reducing global warming through substituting conventional energy sources (i.e oil, gas and coal).

• Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies and industries are responsible to a great extent for this contamination as they produce pollutants that are extremely harmful to people and the environment and the unprocessed industrial wastes are dumped into rivers, lakes, and oceans, making them polluted. Disallowing the mixing of industrial toxic wastes into the water bodies would lead to a check on further contamination.

• Organic food production strictly avoids the use of all synthetic chemicals, which is why it does not pose any risk of soil infertility and underground water contamination, unlike conventional farming which uses tons of artificial fertilizers and pesticides.

• A substantially wide range of greenhouse gases emitted from the transportation sector is related to the surface transportation system. Those who choose to ride public transportation reduce their carbon footprint and conserve energy.

• To disseminate knowledge and urge environmental protection, in India, there are different laws to govern the environment, like the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and the world the should come forward with more and more environmental protection or conservation laws, in order to ensure the protection of the environment from further degradation.

Conclusion

Thus, rapidly growing population and technological and industrial advancement are leading to a number of environmental issues, because of uncontrolled growth and industrialization, destruction of forests etc. Since we have been facing major environmental issues, it becomes our responsibility to make ourselves and those around us aware, to understand the fragility of our environment and taking visible steps towards its protection. We can join different communities and campaigns, different environmental seminars for spreading awareness.