Preserving Our Environment

According to the Oxford Advance Learner's Dictionary environment can be defined as the natural world in which people, animals and plants live. Environmental degradation is a process whereby earth fauna are utterly or totally destroyed or damaged through the actions of man and other natural occurrences like earthquake, flood, erosion, volcanic eruptions, drought and man's influences of science and technology, burning, deforestation, mineral extraction and lots of similar actions. These factors are accomplished to alter the environment and to its extent degrade the environment.

The level of man's action to alter the environment depends wholly on man's population growth rate and the level of technological capacities, which usually act as useful indicators to improve or promote the environment only to realize that the environment has been highly degraded. For instance, the use of pesticides like D.D.T., aldrin dust and others has resulted in serious health hazards. Deforestation has led to serious erosion and overgrazing has led to desertification. Mineral extraction has led to oil spillage and destruction of aquatic life; farm lands and the entire ecosystem is then affected.

The impact modern science and technology has created in our environment is so verse though its effects are numerous. Industrial sewage and fumes from this industries are dumped in the environment, thereby contaminating the environment and during rainfall, the waste are drained down into the rivers hence polluting the river and all aquatic features. And when water is polluted including the aquatic animals, there is little hope for the next generation as regards to obtaining water and the sea creatures.

In the same vein, the exploration of natural resources with machines in the case of mineral extraction/ excavation leads to land slides and to some extent earthquake. The action of man's activities in the environment through deforestation and burning pose a threat to the next generation. The way by which man clear forest and trees either for cultivation or erecting structures without showing interest in preserving the forest and vegetations for future development imposes hazard. Thus, the rate by which man burn vegetation helps to increase the amount of green house gas (ultraviolet rays of the sun) which helps to deplete the ozone layers.

In conclusion, to minimize the rate of environmental degradation, awareness should be created to the public on the dangers of environmental degradation to the next generation. We should encourage forestation to replace deforestation and by so doing our forests are preserved.

Moreover, overgrazing ought to be discouraged and bush fallow to be encouraged. In addition, refuse dump should be disposed at the appropriate place meant for it, so as to prevent the rate of environmental pollution which is a threat to health. Also, the natural method of extracting minerals should be maintained.

To crown it all, the environmentalist should be conscious of preserving the environment, and to use or adopt all environmental friendly materials to foster sustainable development for the next generation.