Environmental Problems, Climate Change and Global Warming - Essay Example

Environmental Problems, Climate Change and Global Warming Climate change refers to the persistent variations in the weather patterns observed for a very long period of time (Nemeth, 2012). The issues of climate change has been a major subject of discussion for a very long time. This follows the severe effects of climate change that have been affecting the globe currently. There are several causes if climate change. These may range from social causes, economic and natural causes. In other words, the causes of climate change can be categorized into two major groups namely anthropogenic causes as well as natural causes of climate change. Anthropogenic causes of ecological deterioration emanate from the activities of human beings (Nemeth, 2012). These activities may involve industrialization, mining, agriculture, deforestation, as well as, modification of the environment to suit certain specific goals. Natural causes of environmental degradation may involve volcanic eruptions as well as natural disasters. The natural disasters may also emanate from the influence of human beings on the environment. Anthropogenic causes of ecological deterioration include industrial activities, mining, agriculture and developmental infrastructure. The success of all these activities revolves around modification of the environment in several ways. The constructions of industries require space. As such, vegetations are cleared to create space for such constructions. This may cause global warming that would later result to climate change (Nemeth, 2012). Ecological deterioration results from several sources. However, these sources can fall under two categories namely natural and anthropogenic causes. Anthropogenic causes of environmental degradation include industrial activities, mining, agriculture and developmental infrastructure. The success of all these activities revolves around modification of the environment in several ways. The constructions of industries require space. As such, vegetations are cleared to create space for such constructions. This renders the soil void of vegetation, thus, exposes it to threats of soil erosion (Nemeth, 2012). This leads to environmental degradation through lose of soil fertility, thus reducing the agricultural potentials. This culminates to food crises. The loss of vegetation through environmental degradation is critical n causing the issues of global warming. This follows that there will be little or no vegetation to absorb the temperature as well as the light from the sun. In addition, the loss of vegetation means little incidences of surface albedo (Nemeth, 2012). Therefore, the surface reflectivity of the sun’s rays will be hampered. This means that more heat will be absorbs by the surface of the soil and will be released gradually to the atmosphere. This causes global warming. The increased temperatures in the atmosphere may affect the ozone layer, causing its depletion. This may be responsible for changing the weather patterns thereby affecting several activities on the global perspective. Environmental degradation may also follow the activities of several industries. Such industrial activities that involve release of gases into the atmosphere may cause global warming in several ways. The gases released in to the atmosphere may deplete the ozone layer. The depletion of the ozone layer is responsible for global warming. It is of critical significance to highlight that global warming always cause climate change in the long-term (Nemeth, 2012). Besides, industrialization also affects the environment in several ways. The industrial gas emissions to the atmosphere may contribute to depletion of the ozone layer. The depletion of ozone layer is critical since it significantly influences global warming. Global warming significantly contributes to climate change. This may result in prolonged periods of drought or aridity, thus causing lose of biodiversity. The industrial effluents may also degrade the environment in certain ways. Such effluents may find their ways into water bodies, thus causing deaths of the aquatic organisms. Other than the liquid wastes, the solid wastes from industries also pose major health risks to the environment (Nemeth, 2012). They deposit several chemical compounds in the soil as they decompose. Such chemicals can alter the soil chemical properties, thus affect agricultural production potentials. In addition, such chemicals may also kill the soil microorganisms, thus leading to loss of biodiversity. The solid wastes from the industries also pose major health risks to human beings as they may cause airborne respiratory diseases. They also produce pungent smell as they decompose, thus polluting the environment. The solid wastes from the industries also lower the aesthetic value of the surrounding, thus causing environmental degradation. Environmental degradation or ecological deterioration is responsible for the loss of species habitats as well as loss of biodiversity. The loss of biodiversity is key to emergence of climate change through global warming (Nemeth, 2012). This follows that bare soil surfaces leads to maximum absorption of the solar energy. This is later released in to the atmosphere. The continued accumulation of this heat in the atmosphere cause global warming, that may greatly affect the ozone layer, causing its depletion. This results to climate change. Ecological deterioration may also emanate from mining activities. Mining activities involve earth-moving operations. These include drilling deep into the soil, blasting of rocks and transportation. Mining activities also involve clearance of vegetation to create space for the operations. These activities render the ground bare of vegetation. This exposes the soil to extremes of aridity, drought and desertification. In addition, mining operations may leave the land derelict. A derelict land is always harmful to the lives of organisms. In addition, derelict lands always have low aesthetic values. The clearance of vegetation to create space for mining operations leads to loss of biodiversity (Pittock, 2009). In addition, leaving the lands derelict lowers the agricultural productivity of the land. Derelict lands, as well as bare grounds always absorb maximum amounts of solar radiation. This when released to the atmosphere causes global warming. This is responsible for climate causing change. Mining operations also involve usage of automobiles. These contribute towards environmental pollution in many ways. The gases emitted by the automobiles to the atmosphere may cause ozone layer depletion resulting to global warming. Some of these gases always carry toxic compounds that when washed by rainwater becomes health hazards to the aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Since the gases may cause ozone layer depletion, global warming may result thereby leading to climate change (Pittock, 2009). In addition, the oil that always drips from such automobiles may cause pollution of underground waters. This causes environmental degradation in many ways. Such oils may cause eutrophication in lakes as well as other water bodies leading to death of the aquatic organisms. It is of critical importance to understand the link between global warming and the issue of automobiles. The automobiles used in mining sites always produce a lot of noise, smoke and gases as they move. Such gases may find their way into the atmosphere and accumulate to huge quantities. This may eventually cause severe effects on the ozone layer, thereby depleting it. This is a critical cause of climate change in the end (Pittock, 2009). The noise produced in the mining sites also contributes immensely towards causing environmental degradation. Agriculture is another contributing factor to ecological deterioration (Pittock, 2009). The success of agriculture depends on the nature of the soil in terms of size, fertility and moisture content. Besides these, successful agriculture depends on mechanization, farm inputs and the technical knowledge and expertise of the farmers. The farm inputs like fertilizers and chemicals used in agriculture contribute immensely towards polluting the environment. This may cause loss of biodiversity, thereby reducing the surface albedo. This is core in raising the global temperatures thereby causing global warming in the end. It is of critical importance to note that global warming is critical in causing climate change (Pittock, 2009). In addition, ecological deterioration following agricultural activities also lowers the quality of the environment. The farm chemicals may be washed into the water bodies thus causing pollution to water. The influx of such chemicals into water bodies lowers water quality. This influences the health of human beings. It also causes death of the aquatic organisms. The ecological deterioration that results from such agricultural activities following increased cases of vegetation clearance may lead to global warming in several ways. Vegetation clearance leads to loss of vegetation that would otherwise intercept the solar energy (Pittock, 2009). This leads to accumulation of the solar energy into the atmosphere, thereby leading to global warming. Global warming will later cause climate change that would otherwise affect agriculture in a myriad of ways. This follows that climate change may have effects on the weather patterns. It can lead to aridity in some areas as well as flooding in some areas. In areas experiencing aridity and desertification, agricultural activities will not pick up well. This leads to food crisis at later stages. However, in some regions, climate change may lead to more rains being found there (Pittock, 2009). This may encourage agricultural activities in such regions leading to bumper harvests. However, more rains may lead to El Nino in such areas leading to flooding, destruction and loss of property, displacement of families and loss of lives. This may be quite disastrous. Expanse in agriculture leads to increased clearance of vegetation to create space. This is the major cause of deforestation. Deforestation leads to loss of vegetation, thus exposing the land to severe conditions of aridity and desertification. This contributes immensely to environmental degradation. Increased cases of deforestation is critical in causing global warming (Pittock, 2009). This follows that loss of vegetation lowers the surface albedo or the surface reflectivity of the solar energy. As such, more solar energy accumulates in the atmosphere leading to ozone layer depletion that later translates to global warming. Global warming has been shown as the major cause of climate change that affects the globe nowadays. Other than deforestation, expanse in agriculture means increased rates of mechanization activities. In addition, there will be increase in the number of automobiles for transportation of the agricultural products to the markets, farms and industries (Pittock, 2009). This leads to increased cases of environmental pollution resulting from the smoke, gases as well as oil drips. This is closely related to depletion of ozone layer following accumulations of such gases in to the atmosphere. This may cause climate change that later impacts upon the success of agricultural activities in various ways. Agricultural activities also involve production of green house gases. The green house gases, together with gases emitted by the machineries may lead to depletion of ozone layer. This may cause global warming, and later on climate change (Pettenger, 2007). This causes the environmental degradation. It is therefore prudent enough to highlight that agricultural activities cause environmental degradation. However, it is important to understand the role of environmental degradation on agriculture. Environmental degradation, being one of the causes of global warming, can lower agricultural yields. It may result to aridity and dissertation, thus leading to drop in production. On the other hand, due to climate change, flooding can result. This can massively hinder agricultural operations, thus leading to drops in agricultural productivity. This leads to food crises that can result to deaths. It is of critical importance to highlight that there is a holistic relationship between these problems and the effects they have on the environment that may lead to climate change. Environmental or ecological deterioration majorly emanates from cases of pollution (Pettenger, 2007). Mining activities pollute the environment in various ways involving oil drips as well as emission of gases to the atmosphere. This may come from the automobiles as well as the mining industries. This affects the atmosphere in many ways. On the same note, agricultural activities involve use of automobiles that release gaseous wastes into the atmosphere, as well as release oils to the environment. This causes global warming that translates to climate change (Pettenger, 2007). On the other hand, industrialization has also been shown to affect the environment in various ways. The wastes from such industries, as well as the gaseous emissions to the atmosphere leads to cases of global warming that translate to climate change. Therefore, there is need for formulation of environmental ethics that can help us to understand and address the issues holistically. This may include first addressing the issues of systematic and institutional forms of developmentalism since they are the major contributing factors. This will create a sense of integrative approach to these issues thereby creating a good startup point for addressing the environmental problems. It is of crucial significance to give credit to the paradigm shift from Oil to Soil. This is quite beneficial since it leads to a sense of environmental consideration. It is crucial to understand that without the environment, there can be no resources like the oil. Again, with an unconducive environment, the benefits we derive from the environment will not help us that much. Therefore, it is important that when we derive benefits from the environment, including the oils, we should be conscious and considerate about the fate of the soil or the environment generally. It is true that many people in the industrialized countries always perceive issues touching on environmental considerations alongside developments as impractical or idealistic. This follows that they always lack a sense of environmental considerations following majority of their operations. However, in order to deal with this, there should be policies in place that regulate industrial activities with regards to the emissions. In addition, there should be set environmental standards that should be met by those industrialized nations. References Goldstein, N. (2009). Global warming. New York: Facts On File. Nemeth, J. D. (2012). Climate change. New York: PowerKids Press. Pettenger, M. E. (2007). The social construction of climate change: Power, knowledge, norms, discourses. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate. Pittock, A. B. (2009). Climate change: The science, impacts and solutions. Collingwood, VIC, Australia: CSIRO Pub. Spalding, F. (2010). Catastrophic climate change and global warming. New York, NY: Rosen Central. (Goldstein, 2009) Read More