|
Man: Environment’s worst enemy
2006-11-10 08:54:32
By Patrick Kessy
For centuries and decades man has been living with nature harmoniously until recently when man tried to explore different types of energy sources and new methods of warfare.
An example is Africa where there was a natural balance.
History tells us that people would hunt and gather without harming the environment.
As civilization came, industries began to be built and the once clean environment is now at risk of being polluted.
Pollution of the environment is diverse and mainly air and water are the most affected.
In other words we can rightly say man will be poisoning the environment when they pollute it.
Water pollution comes about as a result of man dumping waste in water sources such as rivers, dams, and lakes and in the sea.
Sometimes this is done unknowingly, for example, continuous use of pesticides by farmers when they spray their crops.
These pesticides will be eventually washed into rivers and lakes and they end up killing aquatic life like plants and fish.
Pollution using pesticides may also affect other animals in the sense that if say birds feed on insects killed by this method they will also die because the poison will accumulate in their system and kill them.
Some pesticides sprayed on the soil later evaporate and rise up and damage the protective ozone layer so eventually harmful rays from the sun reach the earth.
Water pollution also results from industries, which dump their waste in water sources.
Water life, as explained earlier, is affected and this also makes our drinking water unsafe.
Some companies dump toxic waste in the sea and this has serious effects to sea life.
These pollutants will affect plants and animals. Some countries had a habit of testing bombs in seas and this killed animals and in the long run it affected breeding of fish and other aquatic life especially in the affected areas.
Oil tankers, which spill oil in seas or on the seashores whether accidentally or willingly, also polluted the sea.
Dead animals could be seen floating in the water and some on the seashores because of these pollutants.
Air pollution is another form of environmental damage that man does. Most countries rely heavily on their industries for production.
Gases emitted by these industries have a harmful effect on the environment.
The ozone layer is a layer that protects the suns’ rays from reaching the earth and this layer will be damaged by some of the gases emitted by the industries thereby destroying our ozone layer.
This causes diseases to human beings as well and an example of such is skin cancer. Global warming also results from this as well.
Gases from car fumes also cause air pollution. After combustion has taken place in the car’s engine fumes are released and these go on to affect the ozone layer and sometimes even human beings are affected hence the increase in respiratory diseases.
Most countries are therefore advocating the use of unleaded fuel because it has less harmful effects to the environment.
In heavily industrialized areas thick mist develops in the morning from gases and smoke released by these industries.
Noise pollution is another form of that is common. This though can be easily controlled that is one of the reasons why heavy industries are located away from residential areas.
The type of cars being manufactured nowadays are on the quieter side and also do not release much fumes compared to those manufactured long back in order to reduce pollution.
Not only are human beings affected by noise but also animals that is also why game reserves are a distant away from cities where there is less noise and there is minimal or no pollution of their water sources by industries.
Most countries now have regulations to deal with people who pollute the environment and companies are adhered to comply with these by-laws.
Inspections are done regularly and if a company is in breech of polluting the environment heavy fines and in some countries even licenses may be cancelled.
Even some European counties who had a habit of dumping toxic waste in Africa stopped the practice after intervention by some environmental activists.
Pollution has long-term effects to the environment and future generations may not be able to see some of the plant and animal species that currently exist because they would have been wiped away due to pollution.
Pollution has to be kept minimal because the environment is where man gets their needs.
|
