Environmental Hazards – A Few Humanistic Solutions

Introduction – Nature and Definition

Human beings are living together from ages in this earth and they have found plenteous occasions to intermingle with one another i.e. they interact, willy-nilly, for better collective life. However, the interactive life of human beings sometime creates environmental hazards in this earth. Technically, earth and surroundings of all living organisms is the environment. Environment has various effects on development of living and non-living things. There are two categories of environment; natural and artificial. Natural environment includes greenery and all living and non-living things; this environment is fresh and pure, so that, it is valuable for people’s health. On the other hand, artificial environment comprises of man-made environs i.e. everything made by human beings, it can be good as well as bad.

Environmental Hazards

Scientific advancements have positive as well as negative impacts on earth and its environment, for example, chemical industry creates pollution and contaminates water. Nowadays, due to mankind’s unjust intervention, natural environment is contaminating, day in and day out. Pollution, global warming, deforestation and soil erosion are the main hazards mushroomed owing to this attitude.

• Pollution – Wikipedia defines pollution as “it is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that causes adverse change”. There are four major types of pollution; air, water, noise and soil. But air pollution and water contamination are by far the most harmful. Moreover, due to this calamity, nature’s freshness is diminishing, day by day.
• Global Warming – The term illustrates the gradual increase in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere and in this process ozone layer damages. This happens mostly due to injurious smolder released by motor vehicles, factories, etc. Furthermore, it is due to global warming that our normal climate is altering, slowly but surely.
• Deforestation – It is the cutting of trees to use the land and wood for inappropriate purposes. According to FAO, 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forests are lost every year. Trees are the most important factor for survival. A person amusingly commented on the act of deforestation, “Imagine if trees gave off Wi-Fi signals, we would be planting so many trees and we’d probably save the planet too. Too bad they only produce the oxygen we breathe.”
• Soil Erosion – Soil erosion is defined as, “the wearing away of topsoil of earth“. Farmers grow crops on the top layer of soil because it is abundant in nutrients and other organic materials. But when it erodes, they find difficulty in farming and cultivation. It is obvious that without proper agriculture faculties, life will not survive.

Environmentalism

The above mentioned adversities need to be controlled because they harm all the elements present in the ecosystem. For this purpose, adopting the approach of environmentalism would be a good attitude to flourish a fresh ecosystem. Environmentalism means implementing good habits towards environment and refraining from inappropriate acts against environment. Moreover, following are a few safety measures which may help in conservation of the ecosystem:

• Cultivation of maximum trees,
• Using ozone-friendly motor vehicles,
• Keeping toxic wastes separated,
• Cleaning of water reservoirs from time to time,
• Refraining from synthetic fertilizers,
• Recycling of various materials,
• Using biodegradable products,
• Using cloth bags instead of plastic bags.

The wholehearted observance of the aforementioned measures can create peaceful environs for mankind.

Concluding Remarks

An individual is a combination of body, mind and soul; similarly, environment is the aggregate of land, water and air. As people try to maintain their physical health, enhance their mental peace and improve their spiritual serenity; mankind should also try to protect the land, clean the water and sustain fresh air, consciously and conscientiously. I would like to conclude my article on these wise words of Muhammad (PBUH): “Protect and honor the earth, for the earth is your mother.”