ABSTRACT

This is a study of the human impacts on our today’s environment. These impacts can either be physical, of chemical origins or effects from industrial on the environment. Human beings have caused different impacts on the physical environment through different ways like overpopulation and pollution which have led to climatic changes, soil erosion, poor air quality and impotable waters (Hardoy et al. 2013).

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Due to the limitation in resources for the support of the organisms living on this earth, increased human activities is putting great pressure on most of these resources and even depleting some which can’t be renewed. These human activities are leading to the alteration in the earth’s Biodiversity and Ecosystems. The natural ecosystem has been converted into agricultural, industrial and residential use through different human activities (Song et al. 2018). In this study, I will base myself on the human activities affecting the environment, their impacts and the limitations which might be undergone in the execution of the final piece of project like this, whether locally, nationally and internationally.

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

The ancient environment was conducive for the life of both living and non-living organisms. Human beings have had activities which have affected this environment and not same as before. There are different three aspects of over-population, pollution and climatic changes which have impacted this environment.

          2.1 Over-Population

You can describe this as having large numbers of people occupying a place which is not adequate for their comfortability. This is the situation the current population is experiencing and which has led to these people engaging in different activities both for the search of residential places and for agricultural land to satisfy themselves (Kaiser et al. 2020).

2.1.1 Habitat Effects

High population has led to big clearances of land for the construction of the residential houses to cover for this population. This has been in different two different basic ways which have involved the search of space and building materials. This has impacted the animals which lived in forests being forced to migrate in search of pastures. This is leading to reduction or even extinction of some species of wild animals.

2.1.2 Agricultural Effects

Human beings depend on agricultural products for their living. This production can be sub-divided into several ways in which it’s realized and each production process unfortunately has contributed significantly in the effects the current environment is undergoing through.

• Cultivation: As it involves clearing and burning of pieces of land to practice it, it is a process which has greatly affected the environment by leading to deforestation. This act is on the rise and is causing uneven rains, global warming and climatic imbalances (Azare et al. 2020). Also, it has led to increased soil erosion caused by rains or winds. Thus led to loss in quality of the soil and low production.
• Meat Production: The use of fossil energy, water and land resources have been the impacts on the environment associating from meat production (Wiedemann et al. 2017). The high demand has led to reduction of the meat producing animals and other consumable wild species from the ecosystem. The high amounts of water and feeding resources used for giving these animals for their sustenance has led to reduction from the different sources.
• Irrigation: This has affected the water and soil in the environment. The qualities and quantities of soil and water have been impacted through the ensuing effects on natural social conditions at the tail end of the rivers and the downstream of the irrigation schemes (Uphoff et al. 2019). This also makes soils of better quality be carried and deposited at the farthest ends of the schemes and thus bring about patch production at the upper sides of these schemes.
• Fishing: Over-population has led to high demands for fish in the society. This has led to more engagement in the fishing industry and led to reduction in fish population and thus imbalanced food chain in the ecosystem.

2.2 Pollution

As you know of the pollution as a process which involves the introduction of harmful or poisonous substances into the natural environment, different human activities have had a hand towards this contamination (Pandey et al. 2019). This pollution has come in different ways defined by sound, air and water pollutions. There are different ways in which this pollution has been passed such as:

2.2.1 Industrialization

We have visibly realized the importance of industrialization in our today’s life, and more on the economic growth in our countries (Xing et al. 2020). Additionally, it has resulted into urbanizations and growth of population. However, these best results have not come easily as industries have caused pollution on air, soil and water. Poisonous gases and smoke emitted to the air are very harmful and cause death when inhaled by the living things in our natural ecosystem. The dumping of the effluents, into the rivers and lakes leads to death of the animals living in water bodies as some with oil components prevent aeration of these water bodies. Also, the land has not been spared both as these heavy industries use a lot of land for their operations and in turn deposit their wastes on these lands rendering them inutile for the purposes of agriculture practices. Examples can be seen with most oil refineries. Finally, these industries cause noise pollution which has caused some life-defining defects like deafness.

2.2.2 Agricultural Chemicals

Farmers use some chemicals in order to fight against the attacks on the crops. These chemicals described as pesticides serve the main purpose and later on cause harmful effects to our environment. After killing the weeds, herbicides land on either the turf or other vegetation (Islam et al. 2018). Then when the rains fall, these chemicals trickle on to the soil surface swept by waters and run down rivers into the water reservoirs. The waters in the reservoirs are consumed by birds, fish, non-target plants and the useful insects in the environment and can be toxic to them

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2.2.3 Energy Production

The renewable sources of energy which human beings used before had no harmful effect to the environment. However, in this current generation which has adopted the use of coal, oil and natural gas as the primary sources of energy, there have been devastating pollutions (Barreira et al. 2017). Both water and air have been polluted and this has led to the damage of our public health, wildlife and loss of animal habitats. Again, these energy sources have led to contamination of the useful waters, land and more dangerously, the global warming.

2.3 Climatic Changes

I indicated over-population, pollution and climatic changes all have an articulation to the same impact on the environment. Human activities are the cause of these climatic changes which are leading to the melting of glaciers across the globe giving rise to the danger of floods in rivers (Zhang et al. 2016).

3.0 LIMITATIONS

As you know of our ignorant society, getting individuals to disclose these impacts is a hard thing. This has been caused by our rigid culture which never sees any negative changes but only advocates for more activities on the land. Only strict hidden methods can be applied to extract information on how these came to be.

4.0 CONCLUSION

I find this biodiversity change and the ecosystem loss as being caused by lack of education and environmental awareness, and unconcerned environmental organizations. I would advocate for more education on the open public to curb this spread and cover for the future.