If you agree that we are custodians of mother earth, and negative occurrences have become commonplace on our planet, then it is without a doubt that humans are destroying the earth. So, the major question arises- how are humans destroying the earth?
Humans are mainly responsible for whatever is happening to the earth as a result of the activities they carry out in the environment to make life convenient. Some of these activities have a direct impact, while others have an indirect impact on the earth and the environment. This brings us to the question ‘exactly how are humans destroying the planet?’
The world around us is developing with new inventions and scientific and technological breakthroughs and advancements. Since then we have all been modifying the surroundings in keeping with our convenience and to improve aspects such as agriculture, transportation, and others. And at this point, these days, we’re losing all of the precious natural resources which can’t be restored.
In this article, I’ll show you why we need to protect the earth at all costs before I show pieces of evidence on how are humans destroying the earth. Read on.
Table of Contents
Why We Should Protect The Earth At All Cost
The earth is our home and its environment is not only our place of survival. The food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, our shelter, and more, but also help us to survive. Therefore, we should protect the earth intentionally instead of destroying the earth. Let’s look at why we should protect the earth at all costs.
As humans, we must protect the earth and its environment from destruction, so in doing this we accomplish our obligation.
Protecting the earth and its environment is a way of giving to our generation instead of receiving. You help yourself and others to have a quality life.
The earth protects humans and the ecosystem, anything that will cause a negative impact on the earth will affect us and also make some species to extinction. When a species becomes extinct, it is lost to the world forever.
Like I said earlier “The earth is our home“. It’s the only place where we live, so we need to care for and protect it. We can start by taking off our home and the immediate environment by consciously living with earth preservation in mind.
When you first hear the question ‘how are humans destroying the earth?’, the first thing that happens is that you realize that the earth can actually be destroyed. I think one reason why humans don’t protect the earth is that they don’t know that the earth can be destroyed.
Now let’s look at some examples to answer the query- how are humans destroying the earth?
10 Examples That Reveal How Humans Are Destroying The Earth
The question of ‘how are humans destroying the earth?’ is one that needs evidence to answer. This is because this is a claim that the destruction of the earth is ongoing and currently progressing. The earth is truly large and powerful but at the same time, ‘little’ actions by humans can alter its original form and even cause permanent changes to the earth.
Below are some human activities that are destroying the earth:
- Overpopulation
- Pollution
- Deforestation
- Global warming and climate change
- Overfishing
- Fast fashion
- Transportation
- War and militarism
- Genetically modified organisms( GMOs)
- Mining
1. Overpopulation
The question of how humans are destroying the earth is an interesting one. A quick glance around our environment answers this question.
Overpopulation is by far a medium through which our planet is being destroyed by humans.
Overpopulation is a state where the human population or number of people in our environment is more than the available resources for survival. And humans are definitely overpopulated on planet earth. Overpopulation is definitely on of the major causes of biodiversity
An increase in birth rates, a decrease in mortality rates through development in medicine and science, and an increase in immigration in certain regions have resulted in overpopulation.
The increase in the human population has made humans involved in many activities for survival to meet their basic needs such as food, houses, roads, clothes, industries, and so on.
Which has ended up depleting the earth’s resources and degrading the habitats on our planet.
Statistics have it that the earth’s population has massively doubled. We have introduced a lot of things to our environment that is supposed to aid our survival but end up destroying the earth.
Before the increase in human population, people have been taking proper care of their environment but presently due to the rise in population, the increase of waste is high, and has become very difficult for us to properly keep the environment which has led to the destruction of the earth.
After considering these factors, I think a fraction of your question about how are humans destroying the earth has been solved.
2. Pollution
This is another answer to your query ‘how are humans destroying the earth?’. Pollution destroys the earth by making land, water, air, or the environment dirty and not convenient for use.
Our land is being polluted by household trash like spoiled food, papers, leathers, glasses, plastics, wood, textile material, and so on.
Research has it that our land is also polluted by industrial waste such as materials used for construction (wood, concrete, bricks, glass, etc.) and medical waste (bandages, surgical gloves, surgical instruments, used needles, waste from mining, petroleum refining, pesticide manufacturing and other chemical production which results to land pollution, which is very dangerous and harmful to the environment and our health.
Our water is contaminated by harmful substances like chemicals including sewage, pesticides, and fertilizers from agricultural or microorganisms that pollute our stream, river, lake, ocean, etc. this causes water pollution, it becomes very harmful to be used.
This harmful substance that pollutes our rivers oceans or seas causes damage to marine habitats, humans, and our immediate environment.
In your quest for an answer to the question of how are humans destroying the earth, your answer mustn’t be far-fetched; look at our daily lives and experiences as humans, and voila your answer is staring you in the face.
Our air is being polluted by cars, buses, planes, trucks, trains, power plants, oil refineries, industrial facilities, chemical factories, agricultural areas, cities, wood-burning fireplaces, wind-blown dust, wildfires, and volcanoes which result in air pollution and it causing serious damage to our environment and health.
3. Deforestation
Humans are destroying the earth by clearing and thinning forest land and cutting down big trees from the land, using the land for farming, ranching, construction of infrastructure, mining, urbanization and so on which results in food insecurity, health issues, destroys the life of local people within the environment, loss of habitats, allows a huge amount of green gases to be released to the atmosphere, Soil erosion, flooding, displacement of populations, wild life extinction, changes to climatic, Acidic oceans, etc.
Yet the major reason for deforestation is the basic needs of humans, which in return causes great harm to us and the environment.
We see it is obvious that we can’t fully answer the question of how are humans destroying the earth without talking about deforestation. Anything that has the power to cause global warming (that affects every other thing) has the ability to destroy the earth.
4. Global Warming and Climate Change
This is the gradual rise of the earth’s temperature due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. The burning of fossil fuels causes a Green effect on the Earth’s temperature.
This has been occurring over the years and we humans have continuously increased Co2 levels through our activities such as the high use of air conditioners, refrigerators that emit chlorofluorocarbons into the environment, and vehicles burning fossil fuels.
Farming activities produce carbon dioxide and methane gas, industrialization is the harmful release of a substance from factories during production, and carbon dioxide and oxygen are released from plants.
All this adds to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and increases the temperature of the earth. These have led to the loss of plants and animals, climatic imbalance, spread of diseases increase in floods, tsunamis, and other natural calamities which results in climate change
5. Overfishing
You asked ‘how are humans destroying the earth?’ Let’s look at how humans are destroying the earth by overfishing. This is a process of making some species of fish go into extinction through the high rate of fishing activities that are carried out from the water body (rivers, ponds, lakes, etc.).
Catching many fish or sea animals that are unwanted at the same time, including the unwanted ones, these unwanted ones are called bycatch and they are being disposed of, these make the population to diminished and cannot be recovered.
This put the sea animals and the people that depend on seafood in danger. Examples of these species of sea animals are sharks, rays, turtles, coral, chimeras, cetaceans, etc.
These sea animals are being caught most times by people fishing for a large number of fish. They are usually destroyed and disposed into the sea or water body.
This is caused by poor management, increased rate in demand, illegal fishing activities, etc. Overfishing affects the environment, aquatic habitats, and humans.
6. Fast fashion
The increase in our population has made the demand for fashion very high, it has many people ventured into fast fashion and it become a successful and a fast-growing industry all over the globe.
This is the cheapest mass production of clothing that is sold to customers at an affordable price.
This industry releases carbon dioxide into the environment, which causes heat to be trapped in the atmosphere which leads to the rise of the earth’s temperature.
This has increased microplastics in our environment that causes pollution in the Earth’s ocean, these microplastics are consumed by sea animals and birds including fish, and they are later consumed by humans.
It also results in contamination of our soil and water. This is one of the ways how humans are destroying the earth.
7. Transportation
Transportation is one of the many answers to the question ‘how are humans destroying the environment?’
We move from one place to another, and travel to different places in the world, by air, road, or sea. Aircraft engine emits noise that causes noise pollution, it also releases particulate and gas that affects the atmosphere and contributes to climate change. The road through vehicles, motorcycles tricycles, etc.
The disturbances to the environment lead to noise pollution, the burning of fossil fuel from vehicles leads to air pollution, and the destruction of habitat, which also contributes to climate change. Sea via shipping causes oil pollution that endangers marine habitats and humans, and greenhouse gas emissions that rise the earth’s temperature. This result in humans destroying the earth.
8. War and Militarism
If you ask the question ‘how are humans destroying the earth?’, this answer is surely one of the most dangerous ways humans are destroying the earth.
The used of weapons, such as Maxim machine gun, RPG – Rocket Propelled Grenade, DSR-50 The .50 cal Sniper Rifle, Flamethrower, Schwerer Gustav, Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier, Chimera Virus, Russia’s Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power, The Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), multiple reentry vehicle (MRV) missile, Tsar Bomba, etc.
All these are weapons for mass destruction. These are actually used by the military during the war which results in the mass destruction of the ecosystem.
Nuclear weapons affect the environment even after the war it becomes very difficult for the environment to recover because a lot of things are being destroyed. And toxic substances that were released into the environment make it difficult for living things to exist in such an environment.
The Military also uses large land and sea to carry out their activities (training). Military training produces emissions, and disorder to marine habitats and landscapes, their training also causes chemical and noise pollution from the use of their weapons, vehicles, and aircraft all.
War and militarism are so destructive to the earth that it is one of the first answers that pop to mind once the question ‘how are humans destroying the earth?’ is asked. They are means of some of the most long-lasting alterations in the earth.
9. Genetically Modified Organisms( GMOs)
These have been a contributor to the survival and substance of humans. GMOs are named bred crops or crops that have had DNA directly implanted into them in order to give an advantage to the crop, whether that be to sustain colder temperatures, bear lower water, or yield further product.
But GMOs aren’t always purposeful. For times humans have used glyphosate, a pesticide designed to exclude weeds. This is a threat to plants.
10. Mining
Mining can contaminate the air and drinking water, destroy wildlife and habitat, and natural landscapes. Modern mines as well as abandoned mines are responsible for damage by destroying the environment and causing even earthquakes and landslides.
Metal mining causes a hazardous waste to the environment. These are how humans are destroying the earth.
Conclusion
In this article, how are humans destroying the earth, one thing I am sure of is that you are no longer ignorant or unsure of the ability of the planet to be destroyed. Neither are you ignorant of the various ways humans have been destroying the earth for many years.
Activities such as overpopulation, mining, overfishing, transportation, and many other harmful activities are listed. If these activities continue unregulated, the state of the earth will deteriorate and the environment will be unconducive for the survival of plants, animals, and humans.
And in that state, ‘how are humans destroying the earth?’ will no longer be a question but a very vivid daily experience. This is why we must stop this unpleasant possibility from happening. Therefore, we have to take precautions to ensure that the earth and its environment are safe.
How Are Humans Destroying The Earth? FAQs
What should be done to protect the earth?
We should properly dispose of our trash and stop littering the environment with plastic particles. We can volunteer ourselves for clean-ups in our immediate environment and stop waiting for the government all the time. Let’s try to educate people around us on the need to keep the earth’s environment clean. We should start planting trees because Trees provide food and oxygen. They help save energy, clean the air, and help fight climate change. Conserving water is one of the most important ways we can make a difference and help protect the earth at the same time
Recommendations
- 9 Deadly Environmental Disasters Caused By Humans
. - Top 11 Effects of Water Pollution on Aquatic Life
. - 8 Single-use Plastic Effects On The Environment
. - 5 Effects of Ozone Layer Depletion
. - Top 13 International Climate Change Organizations.
Precious Okafor is a digital marketer and online entrepreneur that got into the online space in 2017 and since then have developed skills in content creation, copywriting and online marketing. He is also a Green activist and hence his role in publishing articles for EnvironmentGo