Various human activities and the quest to attain the highest possible comfort has resulted in the overexploitation of the environment with consequent damage to the natural world.
Our industries pour out tons of toxic wastes into the air, water and land, and slowly rendering them less unhealthy for survival of the life forms inhabiting them. Our automobiles eject tons of poisonous gases daily into the air, just as our kitchen chimneys release a lot of smoke and sooth. All these cause damage to crops, animals, forests, and bodies of water. The ozone layer is daily giving way as a result of the pollution of the air, and global warming stares us right in the face. To provide more houses, industries and amenities to cater for the rapidly growing population we have destroyed and are still destroying much of the natural environment, indirectly setting the trap for the destruction of our world in the nearest future.
What can we do?
With all the threats facing us due to the daily increasing damage being done on the natural environment, here are some measures that could help to solve the problem.
1. Find alternative source of energy. Most of the energy used to power our industries and automobiles come from the burning of fossil fuels. Some advanced countries have found ways to reduce their use of fossil fuels. Electricity powered cars and solar powered systems are slowly coming up. If these are encouraged and adopted globally the damage to the ozone layer would be greatly reduced, and as a result the threat to the natural environment could be brought to a minimum
2. Recycling. A lot of wastes generated from households, businesses and industries are being burnt each day, with a resultant pollution of the air. Most of these wastes are recyclable. If they are recycled the pollution could be avoided and the costs of manufacturing many products would reduce.
3. Use safer cooking. By eliminating the use of fire places and kerosine stoves the pollution generated from those sources could be avoided. In some developing countries people use kerosine stoves inside the same room that they sleep, being exposed to toxins from the incomplete combustion of kerosine.
4. Proper waste treatment and disposal. A lot of land has been rendered useless by the large deposit of untreated and poisonous wastes from industries and manufacturing plants. Treatment of such waste, and recycling of recyclable waste content would definitely go a long way to reduce the pollution of land. Also direct deposition of hot water from coolants in industries and plants into water bodies kills off a lot of fish and other aquatic life. Such water if cooled and treated could be channeled for other purposes.
