Effects of Human Activities

EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES

by Anton Antonio

April 7, 2015

Human developmental activities account for man’s progress and has greatly benefitted him in terms of material comfort and better quality of life.  Human intervention in the environment and unsustainable utilization of natural resources, however, are also the cause of environmental degradation.  Human activities that contributed to environmental disruption of the balance of nature are deforestation, the production of toxic and hazardous waste and noise pollution.  Some of the advances in technology also did not support sustainable development and had dire environmental consequences.

Let us review the effects of human activities on the environment…

• THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT – the trapping of the sun’s warmth in earth’s lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the earth’s surface.  The burning of fossil fuel to power industries and support other human activities continuously emit carbon dioxide and other gases into the air. Some of these gases are: (a) chlorofluorocarbons or CFC; (b) nitrogen oxides or NO; and (c) carbon dioxide or CO2.  These gases accumulate in the atmosphere and allow sunlight to penetrate the earth’s atmosphere while also trapping radiant heat and prevent its escape to outer space.  This is called the greenhouse effect.  (For more information on the greenhouse effect, please click on this link:  http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-greenhouse-effect.html)
• OZONE DEPLETION – a steady decline of about 4% in the total volume of ozone in the stratosphere (also called “the ozone layer”).  The polar regions experience a higher degree of ozone layer loss per year.  20 to 50 kilometers above the earth’s surface is a layer of ozone (O3).  Ozone is formed when ultraviolet (UV) rays split a molecule of oxygen (O2) and the free oxygen atom (O) combines with other oxygen molecules. The ozone layer acts as a filter to prevent excessively harmful UV radiation from penetrating to the earth’s surface.  Greenhouse gases such as CFC, CO2 and NO break up ozone molecules and gradually deplete them.  Continued ozone depletion can cause more severe cases of skin cancer and eye diseases.  (For more information on ozone depletion, please click on this link: http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/search?q=ozone)
• ACID RAIN – rainfall made sufficiently acidic by atmospheric pollution that it causes environmental harm, typically to forests, agricultural areas and inland water bodies.  Emission from industrial factories and other electrical facilities, including vehicles, contain sulfur and nitrogen.  The main cause of acid rain is the industrial burning of coal and other fossil fuels… the waste gases which contain sulphur and nitrogen oxides which form acids when combined with atmospheric water.  (For more information on acid rain, please click on this link:  http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/search?q=acid+rain)
• WATER POLLUTION – the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater.  This form of environmental degradation occurs when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds.  Human settlements have made adjacent water bodies their common septic tank.  This practice rendered these water bodies as biologically dead.  (For more information on water pollution, please click on the following links: http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/biologically-dead.html, http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-much-water-do-we-have.html, http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-water-problem-of-cebu.html & http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-problems-of-philippine-urban-centers.html)
• DEFORESTATION – can be defined as (a) the clearing of trees and (b) transforming a forest to other land use application.  Deforestation is the indiscriminate cutting of primary forests that has resulted to serious consequences such as soil erosion (meaning: land fertility loss), flooding (therefore, the absence of trees to hold and store excess water), loss of animal habitat, and extinction of some plant species.  (For more information on deforestation, please click on the following links: http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/04/causes-of-deforestation.html, http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/05/degradation-deforestation-and-denudation.html & http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/causes-of-forest-destruction-part-2.html
• SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL – refers to the indiscriminate disposal of garbage from human activities.  Nature has the capacity to absorb waste but there is also a limit to this absorption-regeneration capacity.  When the amount of waste being generated and disposed onto the natural environment goes beyond its capability, solid waste management becomes a huge problem.  (For more information on solid waste disposal, please click on this link: from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-problems-of-philippine-urban-centers.html)
• NUCLEAR WASTES – are radioactive and extremely toxic by-products of nuclear fuel processing plants, nuclear medicine and nuclear weapons industries.  One of the most toxic elements on earth is nuclear waste.  Although it remains to be a cheap and reliable source of energy, the technology is highly sophisticated and also very risky to humans.  Nuclear wastes remain radioactive for thousands of years and have to be buries deep on land or at sea in very thick concrete or metal containers.  Nuclear products however are also treated as commodities and, therefore, viewed from the business standpoint.  Cost cutting, however, remains to be one of the preferred management tools to increase profitability.  When cost cutting comes into play in nuclear waste management, it becomes a very dangerous game.  (For more information on nuclear wastes, please click on these links: http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/12/anything-less-will-simply-not-work.html and http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/nuclear-waste-and-four-laws-of-ecology.html.)
• NOISE POLLUTION – refers to harmful and annoying levels of noise commonly from transportation and industrial sources.  Although disregarded and taken for granted, noise pollution also have ill-effects on humans like irritability, mental stress and short temperedness.  (For more information on noise pollution, please click on this link:  http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/11/environmental-noise.html)

Man really needs to rethink his position in relation to his actions and the effects of human activities.

REFERENCES:

Antonio, A. C. (2014). “The Greenhouse Effect”.  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-greenhouse-effect.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014). “Ozone Hole”. Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/search?q=ozone

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “Acid Precipitation”.  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/search?q=acid+rain

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “Biologically Dead”.  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/biologically-dead.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “How Much Water Do We Have?”  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-much-water-do-we-have.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “The Water Problem of Cebu”.  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-water-problem-of-cebu.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “The Problems of Philippine Urban Centers”.  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-problems-of-philippine-urban-centers.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “Causes of Deforestation”. Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from

http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/04/causes-of-deforestation.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “Degradation, Deforestation and Denudation”.  Retrieved on the April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/05/degradation-deforestation-and-denudation.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “Causes of Forest Destruction (Part 2)”.  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/causes-of-forest-destruction-part-2.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “Anything Less Will Simply Not Work”.  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/12/anything-less-will-simply-not-work.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “Nuclear Waste and the Four Laws of Ecology”.  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/10/nuclear-waste-and-four-laws-of-ecology.html

Antonio, A. C. (2014).  “Environmental Noise”.  Retrieved on April 7, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/11/environmental-noise.html