The Effects of Pollution on the Environment
Environment refers to all existing and/or future existences. The natural environment encompasses all living things and non living things occurring naturally, which means in this case no artificial. The word is frequently used to describe the Earth or any specific parts of the Earth. Therefore, the term ‘environment’ can cover the whole of earth and even beyond.
A very large part of earth’s environment is the ocean containing vast oceans’ full of life, including fish, animals and plants. This also includes the atmosphere which consists of gases and substances produced in the earth as a result of living things, plants and the sun. All forms of the earth’s environment are important and each one impacts on humans and other living things.
The word environment is also used in relation to the human environment. The environment surrounds all humans and other organisms that exist within the society in which they exist. It is therefore very important to define the environment and the word ecosystem. A ecosystem is a living world that consists of all the organisms, both living and non living, and all of their interactions within the ecosystem.
The earth’s atmosphere is considered the largest component of the eco system. The earth’s atmosphere is made up of gases and other non living organisms such as plants and dust. It is important to remember that humans and all other living organisms need oxygen to survive. The oxygen is required by all living organisms to live and this is provided through the respiration of living organisms, the emission of oxygen from the atmosphere and the consumption of oxygen from the air.
In the natural environments, humans do not impact on the ecosystems negatively. This is because humans have evolved to manage the natural environments on earth. The natural environments do not provide protection for human activities negatively. There are two types of environments: human designed environments and artificially designed environments.
A human habitat is a defined set of physical and natural conditions that an individual inhabits. This may be designed by the person or it may be given by the soil, the air, the water, etc. These designs will determine the nature of the environment in which the human activities occur and thus affect the state of the environment.
An artificially created environment is one in which human activities do not occur. This can either be artificially created or in which the environment was not intended by the human beings. Artificial environments do not influence the state of the environment negatively and do not have any effects on the living things in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The pollution of the Earth’s atmosphere by humans has become a major concern these days. This is because of the fact that the effects of the pollution are not only on the nature of the Earth, but also on the human beings who are affected. This means that the pollution can affect the life of everyone who lives in the Earth’s environment and this is the reason why the pollution should not be allowed to increase. All possible methods should be used to reduce the pollution so that the quality of the environment can be maintained and the quality of life of everyone will not be disturbed by the increased pollution in the Earth’s environment.