Global Environmental Problems

Abstract

Everything that surrounds or affects an organism during its lifetime is collectively referred to as its environment. It comprises both living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components. Human civilisation and globalisation are the dominant culprits of constant change in the global environment in present scenario. Various processes that can be said to contribute to the global environmental problems include pollution, global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, depletion of natural resources, overpopulation, waste disposal, deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Almost all these processes are the result of the use of natural resources in unsustainable manner. These processes have highly negative impact on our environment. One of the major impacts is the release of large quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in atmosphere as the result of burning of fossil fuels by industries and automobiles. The result is the worldwide pollution problem, temperature fluctuation of our planet, ozone hole and possible change in Earth’s climate. Loss of forests, damage to water bodies (lakes and ponds) and their ecosystems by acid rain, over-exploitation of natural resources, massive extinction of species due to habitat destruction and other well-known causes worldwide are connected with environmental issues globally. The rapidly growing demographic structure and globalisation are leading to a number of environmental issues because of the uncontrolled urbanisation, industrialisation, deforestation and loss of useful agriculture land. The global environmental health impact remains profoundly perturbing. Unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, air pollution and global climate change accounts for nearly a tenth of deaths and disease burden worldwide. Due to above-mentioned environmental issues, our planet is facing severe environmental crisis. Current environmental problems lead to disasters and tragedies now, will also be the reason of casualties in future and require urgent attention from the responsible authorities/nations to frame appropriate laws to overcome these issues and also by making people aware to use natural resources in sustainable manner.