How are humans destroying the environment?
The contributing factors in at least some environmental problems can be studied by expressing the population/ environment relation as an equation:
Environmental disruption =
population x consumption/ person x damage per unit of consumption
Different forms of consumption and technology are relevant to each of the many forms of environmental disruption.
(Holdren and Paul)
Current methods of food production heavily depend on the use of fossil fuels to create fertilizer and to power mechanized agriculture.
(Wackernagel)
The demand for more energy for a growing human population results in coal burning which is the main source of electricity around the world due to its relatively inexpensive cost in comparison to alternative forms of energy.
Through the cutting, clearing, or removal of trees, land in developing countries can be used as cropland, farmland, and range-land for food (deforestation). This in return results in mudslides which is carried into waterways that affect marine life. The destruction of trees also results in more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
(Carter- Edwards et al, 560)
The ocean has served as waste- disposal sites as the need for adequate waste disposal increases with the population growth. All type of garbage can found in the ocean and these garbage patches accumulate where currents move in circular patterns. Plastic materials are the majority of the garbage. Marine organisms consume these plastics and this now toxic and harmful substance biomagnifies up the food chain.
(Carter- Edwards et al, 564)
Environmental disruption =
population x consumption/ person x damage per unit of consumption
Different forms of consumption and technology are relevant to each of the many forms of environmental disruption.
(Holdren and Paul)
Current methods of food production heavily depend on the use of fossil fuels to create fertilizer and to power mechanized agriculture.
(Wackernagel)
The demand for more energy for a growing human population results in coal burning which is the main source of electricity around the world due to its relatively inexpensive cost in comparison to alternative forms of energy.
- Coal combustion produces harmful air pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, which result in acid rain and photochemical smog. Acid rain absorbs soil nutrients once it hits surface of Earth
Through the cutting, clearing, or removal of trees, land in developing countries can be used as cropland, farmland, and range-land for food (deforestation). This in return results in mudslides which is carried into waterways that affect marine life. The destruction of trees also results in more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
(Carter- Edwards et al, 560)
The ocean has served as waste- disposal sites as the need for adequate waste disposal increases with the population growth. All type of garbage can found in the ocean and these garbage patches accumulate where currents move in circular patterns. Plastic materials are the majority of the garbage. Marine organisms consume these plastics and this now toxic and harmful substance biomagnifies up the food chain.
(Carter- Edwards et al, 564)