What are the effects of environmental degradation on human life?
1. Pollution
Emission of harmful gases causes air pollution. Burning of fossil fuels like petrol and diesel had risen in urban India. Inhaling polluted air has damaged the respiratory systems of human beings and causing health scars like cancers, lung infections, asthma, bronchitis etc. Water pollution is caused due to release of chemicals from the industries and farmlands, making the water unpotable for any use. Drinking this water can be fatal. Soil contamination enters human body through food products and vegetation affecting the nervous system and digestive systems adversely.
2. Global Warming
Increase in the global temperature near the earth’s surface is termed as global warming. It is also known as climate change. It is caused due to emission of green house gases like carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), methane etc. Global warming can have long term consequences like extreme weathers, melting of glaciers leading to floods and depletion of fresh water resources and marine life.
3. Ozone Depletion and Its Effects
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) are the major reason for depletion the ozone layer. This layer in the atmosphere (24 Km thick above the stratosphere) is responsible for preventing the harmful ultraviolet rays from solar radiation. Depletion of this layer will enable those rays to directly attack the human life on the earth causing serious damage including skin cancers.
4. Acid Rain
The emission of gases like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the automobiles when comes in the contact with the atmosphere transforms into sulfuric acid and nitric acid which results in acid rain. This rain is poisonous for forests, wildlife, marine life and humans.
5. Loss of Livelihood
Environment and eco systems as discussed earlier are the sources of survival and livelihood for humans and wild life. Degradation of anyone resource can have a long term impact on the biotic components and organisms. Apart from biodiversity getting extinct, human life also has ill effects. Forests and marine life are sources of livelihood. Even water is the major source of life. Development projects subsequently displace large amount of human life whose end result is loss of livelihood and poverty.