The Environment Problem

Onilov Victor
Nowadays, we are living in a full technological world, where demand for raw materials is
bigger and bigger as days go by, where all means of transports need more and more fuel, where
people need more and more space for different types of constructions, thus resulting to massive
deforestation. In all actions that I have mentioned above the common problem generally is the
pollution of the environment as a result of human activities.

A.
Below, I will mention the main environmental problems in orders of their impact.

Actually, the main environmental problems are:

 Air Pollution – one of the main pollution problem caused by burning of fossil fuels (oil,
gas, coil). Actually we have more than 1.2 billion cars in the world with internal
combustion engine and a lot of factories which produce fumes with different type of
obvious toxins obtained from combustion of fuels. It has a negative influence on water,
ground, air, generally the whole biosphere. The most widespread effect of air pollution is
“smog”. The smog becomes a common phenomenon for some countries, like Italy
(especially Milan), France and China. In China a lot of cities are covered by smog,
because of the burning of fossils fuels. Air Pollution becomes also a very important
problem for the climate change that we have seen this year, the higher temperature, the
biggest fires of the Amazon and Siberian Forests’ and massive melting of glaciers.
 Water Pollution – The Earth is called The Blue Planet, because of the largest surfaces
of water can see from the space. But, soon we would see from the space the blues of our
planet with stains of plastic and othet kind of litters as a result of human activity. Some
people are working now in this context, Boyan Slat is CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, he
invented in 2015 a device that promised to clean the oceans of litters, especially plastic
litters. Besides of plastic problem, another important problem with potable water is
technical waste, people and factories are the main causes of this disaster. People use
special chemicals in agriculture that represent a threat for the groundwater. Factories
also use potable water for the industrial activities, but in this case it is not the main
problem. The main problem is that technical water is discharged in the lakes, rivers and
other sources of potable water. We have less than 3% of potable water now, and we are
using it intensely not only for consumption, it means that in couple of years we will not
 have enough water for consumption. Like the air pollution, water pollution remains to be
the threatening problem for the next generations.
 Deforestation – Wood remains to be the most important material for a lot of different
activities. It is used now like a construction material, in different manufacturing factories
and as a resource to obtain electricity. Another important cause of deforesation is also to
obtain the field for agriculture and for different types of conctructions. Nowadays, the
state is the one who protects the forests from deforestation, except the illegal
deforestation. In biosphere it has a big negative impact, because the trees’ roots help
avoid the soil erosion and landslides.
 Soil and Land Pollution – Soil is an important resource given like a living environment
for a certain kind of living organisms. The human is also a living organism of soil, but he
takes more than gives to the soil. He uses the soil in agriculture, it is a cause of soil
degradation, because the soil is used inefficient and incorrect, because he squeezes out
the soil all the necessary substances for the plants without letting it to regenerate. Also
improper using of chemical substances is very dangerous for the soil.
 Overpopulation – It is defined like that “It occurs when the population of a species
exceeds the capacity to sustain its ecological niche”1. It is a wide-spread phenomenon
now, each second a human is born and each 1,5 seconds a human die. The difference
between birth and death is around 7-7,5% now, with more births.2It is a problem because
more people – more demand for goods and resources, and it means a bigger exploitation
of our Earth. An example of overpopulation now is China, with 18% of all existing
population. The Chines’ Government have promoted 36 years a policy against
overpopulation “One-child Policy”, according to this policy which family must have
3
only one child, otherwise the family with 2 or more children must pay some penalties.
But, in 2015 the Chines’ Government understood that it will cause an increase in
unemployment rate and they gave up this policy. Nowadays, overpopulations remain the
biggest problem in China and not only in China, it becomes a pollution problem.
 Nuclear Issues – Not so long time ago it was discovered that radioactive elements can
be used for obtaining electricity, it is the cheapest way. But, the radioactive waste
represents the biggest threat for our planet and also for its population. The radioactive
waste needs a special place and a very long time to get less radioactive. There are a lot of
radioactive waste storage under the ground, with a big risk for the future generation.
Beside the radioactive wastes which come from Nuclear Power Plant, another big risk is
1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation
2
https://www.worldometers.info/
3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy
 to work with these kind of radioactive elements, and the issues can happen. One of the
biggest nuclear disaster is the Chernobyl disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
in 1986. It had a very big negative effect on the nature and people, it contaminated a big
part of European countries and Russia, its effects we can see now, 2600 square km
represents Chernobyl Exclusion Zone now, where is prohibited and dangerous to live
now.4 The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster was human’s error, but an error which need a
long time for regeneration, more than 100 years.
 Mining – It represents an activity of extracting of minerals and other materials used in
different industries. It also has a negative effect on environment, this kind of activity
influences the living environment of flora and fauna, the groundwater.
 Medical waste – A lot of the medical wastes represent a higher risk for health. We are
living in a technological age, but we have not found methods for recycling all kind of the
medical waste yet. The medical wastes, like dirty syringes can get to the sources of
potable water, or they can contaminate the soil. It represents a big problem like all the
problem that I have mentioned above.
B.

The worst environmental problem begins from human activity, from human behavior and
from human decisions. This represents the relationship between social context and
environmental problems, because people have power, and can decide most of the things. All
people are doing this for a better life, but a better life only for they and their family, and the same
time without participating in recycling and cleaning the environment. The negative effects of
human activity on the environment is a passive effect for humans, it represents a vicious circle.
For example, air and water and ground pollutions have an effect on human’s health, because
people need potable water, clean air and fruits and vegetables from the ground to survive. If
there are any problems with them, it seems to be a problem for human’s health. Deforestation
also have a passive effect on the human on time, we will feel it when we will not have enough
oxygen. Nuclear wastes are very dangerous for the biosphere, because radioactive elements
change the cell’s structure of living organisms and result a lot of dangerous illness. Medicines
and medical tools are meant to help people, but also they represent a dangerous element for
human’s health after they are used.

Nowadays, beside the all kind of bad activities for the environment, we have a lot of non-
governmental organization for noble causes, like Ocean Cleanup, Oceana, Amazon Conservation
Team. Survival International.5
4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Exclusion_Zone
5
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/organizations-donate-amazon-rainforest/
 C.

Actually, economic activities represent the main causes of environmental problems, because
a lot of the factories, companies which are working in agriculture and industry have waste, a
large quantities of wastes. All of these companies and factories produce wastes, but not all of
them can recycle them, and it becomes a big problem. At the macro level, it depends on
economic level of development of countries. The biggest countries have more wastes, but the
same time they have also money to recycle them, or to send them to another country for recycle,
while the underdevelopment countries produce a large waste, and they don’t have enough
finances to recycle.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation
2. https://www.worldometers.info/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Exclusion_Zone
5. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/organizations-donate-amazon-rainforest/
6. https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/top-25-environmental-concerns.php
7. https://open.lib.umn.edu/socialproblems/chapter/15-3-the-environment/