Our natural environment easily supports life and nurtures human health. The 5 major factors of the environment are Air, water, climate, soil, natural vegetation, and landforms. Environmental factors affect everyday living and play a key role in bringing health differences across geographic areas. Since the beginning of humankind, our planet’s global environment has never been in such a critical state as it is today.  Human pressure on nature has soared since the 1970s. We have been “Hurting our Environment” by exploiting more and more natural resources. Over the last 50 years, nature’s capacity to support us has plummeted. Air and water quality are reducing, soils are depleting, crops are short of pollinators, and coasts are less protected from storms. Humanity is eroding its life-support system.

We are living in the age of humans, a time referred to by many as the Anthropocene. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and modern humans have been around for around a mere 200,000 years. Yet in that time, we have fundamentally altered the physical, chemical, and biological systems of the planet on which we and all other organisms depend. Our species has caused huge changes on our planet, including global warming, ocean acidification, and habitat destruction. Humans have become the single most influential species on the planet, causing significant global warming and other changes to land, environment, water, organisms, and the atmosphere.

How Has Environment Hurt During The Anthropocene Epoch?

In the past 60 years, in particular, these human impacts have unfolded at an unprecedented rate and scale. This period is sometimes known as the Great Acceleration. Carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, ocean acidification, habitat destruction, extinction, and widescale natural resource extraction are all signs that we have significantly Hurting our Environment as well as our planet.

The Anthropocene has seen major changes on our planet, including the rapid population growth of our species and the development of modern civilizations. In the last 11,500 years, humans have built cities and achieved colossal technological advancements. The industry has been emitting carbon dioxide in large quantities since the dawn of the industrial revolution. Scientists now agree that human activity, rather than any natural progress, is the primary cause of accelerated global warming. Agriculture, urbanization, deforestation, and pollution have caused extraordinary changes in Hurting our Environment.

The International Commission on Stratigraphy – the body that oversees the history of Earth – is still debating the proof of what’s known as a ‘golden spike’ – a marker in the fossil record that could demarcate the injuries to our environment from the Anthropocene. 

This marker will have to be so significant that it would be detectable in rock layers thousands and even millions of years into the future. Plastic pollution is another marker that scientists are studying to find out whether it could be the golden spike, the signifier of the Anthropocene.

Extinction- The Scale of Human Impact on the Environment

The world is in trouble: one million animals and plants face extinction.

Although there have been mass extinction events in Earth’s history where vast swathes of life have been wiped out, until now they have all been triggered by natural causes like asteroids and volcanic eruptions. But now, our single species has caused such destructive effects on the natural world. Furthermore, this mass extinction is happening frighteningly quickly: species are becoming extinct at a significantly faster rate than they have for millions of years before.

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The Most Significant Impact on Us by Hurting Our Environment 

However, pollution in the air, water, soil, and plants can lead to severe health problems and congenital disabilities such as allergies, cancers, skin and lung diseases, fertility problems, heart disease, immune deficiency diseases, kidney diseases, poisoning, nervous system disorders, and reproductive disorders. The World Health Organization (WHO) regularly documents environmentally induced health concerns and deaths. Nearly 4.9 million adults between the ages of 50-75 die due to non-communicable diseases and injuries. Nearly 1.7 million children under the age of 5 die due to respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases related to environmental pollution. 

One need look no further than the recent tragedy of the Flint water crisis, the nuclear meltdowns at Chornobyl in Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the U.S., to name just a few.

If we lose large portions of the natural world, human quality of life will be severely reduced and the lives of future generations will be threatened unless effective action is taken.

Is There Hope For Our Planet’s Future?

By understanding what our planet has undergone in the past and how life responded to environmental changes, we can more effectively predict and plan for the future. Since the beginning of humankind, our planet’s environment has never been in such a critical state as it is today. But we have also never been better equipped with the tools to understand what is happening and what needs to be done. By using our collections and scientific research to highlight the current state of our planet and what needs to be done for a better future, we hope to help you make informed, meaningful decisions. We all have an important part to play in protecting the planet, its environment, and its inhabitants.

Ecosystems and Environment- the fabric of life on which we all depend, are declining rapidly because of human actions. We’re working towards a future where both people and the planet thrive. But there is still time to save them. 

               “When The Environment Cries, Humans Suffer!”

To learn more about Our Environment, we are here to help you. Ken Institute provides courses exclusively for Environment & Sustainability, Mechanical, and OHSE Professional Engineers to upskill their careers. Join us at info@keneducation.in or visit our website at www.keneducation.in or call +917569034271

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