In the 21st century, the world has faced so many forms of environmental problems. The rate of environmental degradation has increased by a big margin due to increased industrial activities. The common thread environmental problems facing the world have increased. The common threads are the causes or the affected components of the environment that lead to or are affected by environmental degradation. The major problems emanating from environmental degradation include global warming, air pollution, ozone depletion, water pollution, forest cover destruction, overpopulation, acid rain and hazardous waste.
The environmental problems facing the world are caused by human related causes. Population growth is one of the main causes of environmental degradation. Increase in human population in the world leads to demand for more industrial production to satisfy the increasing population. This means an increased rate of air and water pollution through emission of wastes. The increased population will also lead to forest cover destruction through making of timber and clearing land for settlements.
Poverty is another major cause of environmental problems. When people are poor, they tend to turn to environmentally unfriendly activities to make a living. These activities include forest destruction to make timber for sale. Poor people use wood for fuel. Use of wood for fuel leads to faster clearing of forests. Less forest cover leads to less rainfall hence environmental hazards.
Another cause of the current environmental problems is the wasteful and unsustainable use of resources. Natural resources can be depleted if they are misused. Resources such as forest cover, water, air, minerals and even animals can be depleted if they are overused. A lot of demand for forest resources will lead to less cover meaning increase of deserts if the forests are not replanted.
Lack of knowledge about nature implies that human activities would be inconsiderate of the effects on the environment. This is a major problem because people cannot conserve the environment and at the same time they do not know how they can use the resources available effectively. Another cause of the environmental problem today is the cost of environmental production and use. The cost incurred to produce environmentally friendly goods is so high that industries opt to use the pollution causing methods. The friendly use of the environment is also not cost effective to firms and they prefer to produce at low costs and harm the environment. These are some of the common threads that lead to today’s major environmental nightmare.
