The Most Pressing Environmental Issues Caused by Humans

by Joseph Marie General Humans are doing many things to harm the Earth. While we are becoming more aware of the damage we are doing to the planet, we still have a long way to go to be more environmentally aware and stop some of the most pressing and serious environmental issues on our planet.

The Use of Plastics

Plastics are everywhere in our world today.  They are used in everything from beverage bottles to medical equipment, and it is hard to get through your day without coming into contact with this petroleum based product. That's part of the problem. The more plastic people demand, the more petroleum needs to be used to provide these plastics, contributing to the burning of fossil fuels and very serious environmental issues.

Reducing the products that you buy with plastic packaging and recycling can go a long way in helping with this problem.

Garbage

Trash is a huge environmental issue and a major contributor to the pollution on our planet. Landfill materials can leach into the water table and sometimes hazardous materials are not dealt with properly, being discarded with regular trash. Waste management is a huge problem on our planet. We can help with this problem by reducing the amount of trash we produce in our household by purchasing items in bulk and bringing jars and containers to grocery stores for refills.

Deforestation

Deforestation is slowly depleting the forests on our planet. Not only is it destroying habitat for other species, but it is also destroying a source of carbon filtering (trees take in the carbon dioxide that is contributing to global warming.) Deforestation is becoming more of an environmental issue because of the demand for wood products and agricultural land.

Coal Mining

While coal provides a lot of energy for producing electricity, it is a major environmental issue because vital top soil (along with the plant life and animal habitat) needs to be scraped away from the surface to extract it.
Over Exploitation of the Ocean

People love seafood and it's causing a devastating effect on the marine ecosystems of our planet and is a concerning environmental issue. The technology that we have is making it extremely easy to exploit the fish and other marine life, in an attempt to meet human demand for seafood.

Cars and Automobiles

Cars and trucks burn petroleum and are a major contributor to carbon emissions which lead to global warming. Although, this remains an environmental issue because driving is viewed as a right by many people in the United States. You can help this problem by parking the car more and walking, biking and taking transit. Reducing the amount of emissions that we are outputting is on way we can help protect our planet.

While humans are causing destruction to the planet, we are also in a position to change it. We can make decisions to consider the planet in our daily lives. Many of the most devastating environmental issues such as landfills, using plastics, and using automobiles are in the direct control of each individual. While others such as deforestation, over fishing and coal mining may seem larger than ourselves, we have the power to effect change. All we have to do is to make the choice to be aware and act on it.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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