Environmental Pollution: A Critical Threat to Human & Planet - Research Paper

Introduction

Environmental pollution poses a critical threat to human beings and the planet in the modern world and day- to-day life. Environmental pollution, which in simple terms means contamination of the environment, is now a global issue. Many governments are waging war against pollution through enacting laws that illegalize activities that pose threats to the environment. In most cases, when people hear about environmental pollution, what rings in their mind is large-scale pollution of the environment. People tend to forget that their daily choices and activities also impact the environment. So, which daily choices affect the environment? What can human beings make to reduce environmental pollution resulting from their day-to-day operations? How can people influence others to be mindful of their impacts on the environment? This paper aims at answering these questions.

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In the daily routine, human beings make choices or engage in activities that result in environmental pollutions ranging from air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, noise pollution, among other types of pollution. According to Khalil (2018), some of the choices people make are use of non- reusable plastic cups, wastage of paper, commuting, poor solid waste disposal, wastage of energy, for by leaving lights on, and use of plastic packaging. Other choices include improper disposal of batteries and ink, throwing away of food waste, releasing untreated home sewage, and not recycling waste solid waste. All these choices, however, their impacts on the environment might be small when done by one individual, their implications are enormous, considering the number of people who make the choices (Khalil, 2018). For example, imagine if three million individual throws away a plastic coffee cup. That amounts to three million plastic wastes to the environment!

Human beings can reduce the impacts of their choices if they embrace some changes such as considering their choice of means of commuting, encouraging reusing, consider recycling, avoid paper wastage, and promote energy conservation.

Commuting - most people use their private cars or public transport means to commute from one place to another. Cycling should be everybody's choice of transport means as it does not release of exhaust gases which are associated with all other means of commuting (Han, 2011). Cycling comes with various benefits; for example, it is cheap and does not cause air pollution. Furthermore, cycling has a health benefit, as it is also a form of exercise as it increases physical fitness, decreases body fat levels, and helps prevent diseases. If the destination is far and someone cannot cycle there, one should consider using public transport as it reduces the source of the motor exhaust gases as opposed to using private cars (Khalil, 2018). Making the right choice in the mode of transport helps conserve the environment by reducing air pollution.

Reusing - people should make it a habit to reuse any reusable material rather than disposing of after a single-use. Reusing of items saves money, reduces the amount of material to be sent to landfills, reduces the use of raw material used in making the items, and helps conserve energy since manufacturing the items requires energy ((Han, 2011)). Reusing of material is beneficial to health as it reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. Climate change is often associated with an increase in several chronic diseases such as cancer and tuberculosis. Reusing of items and material will help in reducing air pollution, land pollution, and water pollution since these waste material end up in landfills or the ocean.

Recycling - recycling is in most aspects similar to reusing, the only difference being that the waste items are sent back to the factories to serve as raw material for the production of similar or other products. The benefit of recycling of materials include conservation of natural resources such as minerals and timber, reduces the amount of solid wastes, saves energy, increases economic security as it serves as the source of raw materials, and creates employment (Han, 2011). Recycling comes with many health benefits as it helps reduce global warming, which negatively affects human health. Global warming results in prolonged droughts spells, which may result in food scarcity. In addition, failure to recycle plastic material may result to release of greenhouse gases released by the decomposing plastics (Han, 2011). This may, in turn, lead to acidic rain. Recycling helps promote conservation of land, water, and air from pollution.

Reducing paper wastage - scribbling on a piece of paper, and throwing it away may seem to be a non-issue to the majority of the people; however, this act harms the environment. The impact of paper wastage is on realized when the source of paper is considered. Paper production involves cutting down of trees! Either maximum use of paper by writing on sides, or using alternative methods to paper use such as sending emails rather than letters may help conserve the environment. The waste paper ends up in landfills if not recycled polluting the soil. Papermaking involves cutting down lots of trees, as they are the raw materials used to make paper ((Khalil, 2018)). If reducing paper wastage helps conserve the trees. Trees have a health benefit to human beings; they are sources of oxygen and help in cleaning the air we breathe. Trees also help prevent soil erosion, thus reducing paper wastage helps conserve both air and land.

Energy conservation - conserving the energy involves the use of energy-efficient appliances, switch off lights when they are not in use, and in a way use of environmentally friendly energy sources. Energy conservation helps reduce the use of natural resources and reduces the release of harmful gases since power plants burn coal or crude oil to produce energy

(Khalil, 2018). The health benefit of energy conservation is a reduction in chronic diseases that result from the release of harmful gases to the environment. Energy conservation helps conserve natural resources and reduces air pollution.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our day-to-day choices and activities have impacts on the environment, which in turn poses a threat to human life. These personal choices result in air pollution, land pollution, water pollution, or exploitation of the limited natural resources on the planet. To minimize these negative impacts, people should consider embracing changes in the choices they make and embrace options, which help conserve the environment. Everyone should convince their friends and relatives to preserve the environment by encouraging them to consider reusing and recycling, to considering cycling to work, to avoid paper wastage, and to conserve energy all times. To make them understand the impacts of their choices to the environment; the explanation should be in large scale. For example, explain to them the effect of throwing away of a single coffee cup by three million people. In addition, explaining to them the many health benefits of environmental conservation could help convince them to consider changing the choices they make.

References

Han, A. (2011). 10 Ways to Conserve the Environment. Retrieved from http://itsnature.org/what-on-earth/10-ways-to-conserve-the-environment/

Khalil, M. (2018). How Small Choices You Make on a Daily Basis Impact Global Environment. Retrieved from https://infonile.org/en/2018/07/environmental-consciousness-a-guide/