Our Broken Planet

I would like to take a moment to write about ‘Our planet’. The threats that poise us to the brink of a severe environmental crisis. Who says we are not aware we are totally ‘aware’ it is just we are not ready to accept or we just want to be blind eyed to these. Current environmental problems make us vulnerable to disasters and tragedies, now and in the future. So what are we offering our generations to come? With environmental problems piling up we are in a state of planetary emergency. Unless we and our governments address to these various issues prudently and seriously we are surely doomed for disaster. Current environmental problems require urgent attention I would like to mention a few in today.

Pollution: Pollution in air, water and soil will require millions of years to recoup. Industry & motor vehicle exhausts being the number one pollutants. Heavy metals, nitrates and plastic are toxins responsible for pollution. While water pollution is caused by oil spill, acid rain, urban runoff; air pollution is caused by various gases and toxins released by industries and factories and combustion of fossil fuels; soil pollution is majorly caused by industrial waste that deprives soil from essential nutrients. Clean drinking water is becoming a rare commodity. Water is becoming an economic and political issue as the human population fights for this resource. Industrial development is filling our rivers seas and oceans with toxic pollutants which are a major threat to human health.

Global Warming: Climatic changes like global warming is resulted due to human practices like emission of Greenhouse gases. Global warming has lead to rising temperatures of the oceans and the earth’ s surface causing melting of polar ice caps, resulting in a rise in sea levels and also unnatural patterns of precipitation such as flash floods, excessive snow etc. We all might have come across such news or events and we can’t deny.

Waste Disposal: The creation of plastics is creating a global crisis of waste disposal. Countries are notoriously producing an excessive amount of waste or garbage and dumping their waste in the oceans. Nuclear waste disposal has tremendous health hazards associated with it. Plastic, fast food, packaging and cheap electronic wastes threaten the well being of humans. Waste disposal is one of urgent current environmental problem.

Loss of Biodiversity: Our activities are leading to the extinction of species and habitats and loss of bio-diversity. Eco systems, which took millions of years to perfect, is in danger due to our irresponsible actions. Balance of natural processes like pollination is crucial to the survival of the ecosystem and human activity threatens it. Another example is the destruction of coral reefs in the various oceans, which support rich marine life. Urban sprawl resulting in degradation. Urban sprawl means migration of population from high density urban areas to low density rural areas which results in spreading of city over more and more rural land. Urban sprawl results in land degradation, increased traffic, environmental issues and health issues. The ever growing demand of land displaces natural environment consisting of flora and fauna instead of being replaced.

Physical structures: Provide the solid foundation for modern society. Infrastructure is a necessary part of the development associated with a growing human population, but it can also have devastating impacts on the environment. The road through the rain-forest may fragment habitat or cut off the migration route for an endangered species. The dam may have diverted water from freshwater habitats already struggling through a drought. A spill from the oil platform may have killed marine organisms and left the shoreline polluted.

Public Health Issues: The current environmental problems pose a lot of risk to health of humans. Dirty water is the biggest health risk of the world and poses threat to the quality of life and public health. Run-off to rivers carries along toxins, chemicals and disease carrying organisms. Pollutants cause respiratory disease like Asthma and cardiac-vascular problems. High temperatures encourage the spread of a number of infectious diseases.

Genetic Engineering: Genetic modification of food using biotechnology is resulting in increased toxins and diseases as genes from an allergic plant can transfer to target plant. Genetically modified crops can cause serious environmental problems as an engineered gene may prove toxic to wildlife. Another drawback is that increased use of toxins to make insect resistant plant can cause resultant organisms to become resistant to antibiotics.

Just for once stop and think it for yourself do we really need this? It took earth millions of years to perfect itself, but our blind experimentation is resulting in expensive and irreversible damages. We need to wake up, stop use of plastic, start taking small measure within our communities and societies that would stop us from polluting the earth. We need to understand that if we ‘Break our Planet‘………………………………………….we actually won’t have one to LIVE !!!!!! – Pushap Ghai