5 FACTORS THAT THREATEN ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY - ENVIRONMENT - 2025

The factors that threaten environmental quality are normally caused by man and his various activities on earth. Environmental quality is the balance that different elements maintain in the biosphere to make the development of living beings possible.

The constant growth of the human population generates an accelerated growth in the demand for resources to survive, which translates into an ever deeper exploitation of the different natural elements present on the planet.

When the appearance of certain factors becomes too constant, it tends to break the balance in ecosystems.

Factors that seriously threaten environmental quality

1- Deforestation

Deforestation consists of the disappearance of forests either by burning or logging. It is a factor that seriously affects environmental quality and in most cases (95%), it is a consequence of human activity.

The causes of deforestation are diverse, but often correspond to the felling of trees for the timber industry and the destruction of forests to create urban and cattle settlements.

Among the consequences of deforestation is the disappearance of habitat for many animals, floods and landslides, loss of biodiversity and climate impact.

2- Pollution

Air pollution from industrial emissions. Source: National Park Service

It is perhaps the most determining factor in the loss of environmental quality, since it affects the environment in all possible strata.

Pollution can be of multiple types, atmospheric, aquatic, sound, visual or radioactive; air and water pollution are the ones that have the most consequences.

Air pollution refers to the emission of gases and dust into the atmosphere, which accelerate the greenhouse effect and the destruction of the ozone layer.

Aquatic pollution, on the other hand, can cause irreparable damage to marine ecosystems, an example is oil spills.

3- Overexploitation of natural resources

The abuse in the exploitation of natural resources causes damage to the ecosystem. For example, mining and oil extraction reduce the biodiversity of the environment, by destroying the sites where mines and mineral and hydrocarbon deposits are located.

It is a factor that threatens not only environmental quality but also against man himself, since uncontrolled extraction of non-renewable resources accelerates its disappearance.

4- Indiscriminate hunting and fishing

It is a variant of the overexploitation of natural resources, but whose consequences are more serious.

The disappearance of species due to excessive hunting and fishing causes imbalances in food chains and natural cycles.

If, for example, a predator disappears from a food chain, the prey would no longer have natural enemies and would multiply their number until they became a plague and depleted their habitat and food.

5- Greenhouse effect and global warming

CO2, water vapor and methane gases reflect solar radiation

The 4 above factors trigger the greenhouse effect and global warming. The greenhouse effect is a consequence of the excess release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which cause the planet to undergo a process of thermal radiation that increases world temperature.

This increase in temperature, known as global warming, can generate drastic climate changes such as floods, unprecedented droughts and natural disasters in general.

References

1. Roy M. Harrison (2001) Pollution: Causes, Effects and Control. UK: Royal Society of Chemistry.
2. NASA «Climate Change» in: NASA (2017) Recovered in 2017 from climate.nasa.gov.
3. European Commission «Causes of climate change» in: European Commission (2017) Recovered in 2017 from ec.europa.eu.
4. Rinkesh Kukreja "What is Pollution?" In: Conserve Energy Future (2015) Recovered in 2017 from conserve-energy-future.com.
5. Biodiversity Europa "Overexploitation" in: Biodiversity Europa (2010) Retrieved in 2017 from biodiversity.europa.eu.
6. Healthy People «Environmental Quality» in: Healthy People (2012) Recovered in 2017 from healthypeople.gov.