Important Concepts About Environment and Sustainability
Important Concepts About Environment and Sustainability
The environment refers to everything that exists in the natural environment of the planet earth. The natural environment includes everything living and non living things occurring in nature, which means that in this case not man made. The word is most commonly used on earth or some specific portions of the earth. It can also be used in connection with the philosophy that is concerned with the sustenance of life. In this article, we will look at the environment in relation to the environment and how it can affect us in the here and now.
When speaking of the term environment, what immediately comes to mind are the natural landscapes found around us. This is where the term comes from and refers to the vast multitude of creatures and plants that exist in this world. It can also include the air and the water which these creatures breathe and exist in respectively. In this case, we are only looking at the aspects of the natural world.
With regards to the environment in our daily life, we can look at its effects on us. We can look at the natural environment as a source of renewable resources for example rainwater, the soil, sunlight and the wind. Since the early days of humans, we have been depending on the environment to supply us with these natural resources. In the past, man has sought to exploit these resources either for personal gain or for his occupation, but this has not changed much over the years. Man still seeks to take advantage of the natural environment because he believes that it will still provide him with these essential things even if he goes out into the outer areas of the earth.
The reason why man finds himself in difficulty when he tries to explore the environment in terms of the environment is because most of the times, the environment consists of man-made sources that can be easily destroyed. Take the use of dams for example. These dams surround some large river banks and flood regions so that the surrounding area will be flooded. As a result, the fish that live in these rivers and lakes will no longer be there and will become extinct.
Another major environmental problem faced by man is the alteration of the environment by human activities. This is often times done deliberately by people in order to make changes to the surroundings of their habitat. Examples of such actions include deforestation, the cutting down of trees and other landscape alterations in order for farming to take place, establishment of industries such as fishing, timber and other land grabbing activities and so on.
There are two major issues here: the impact humans have on the environment and climate change. On the issue of impact, it should be said that most scientists do not believe that humans are the sole cause of the changing climate of the planet. Climate change is caused by the imbalance of the atmospheric temperature that humans have caused through their activities. This imbalance will continue until the feedback process caused by the existence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere starts to correct the problem. Meanwhile, on the issue of climate change, the main danger that lies ahead is the impact humans may have on the natural world that we live in. The effects of climate change may perhaps be too great and thus the need to save the natural world that we all call home.