Environmental deterioration: definition, causes and consequences

The atmosphere is an ecological unit that houses both living and non -living components, that is biotic and abiotic, which inhabit it. The living components include plants and animals and among non -living, we find soils, lakes, rivers, streams or air.

Environmental deterioration is the loss of environmental capacity to meet needs social, biodiversity and environmental of the earth. An environmental deterioration occurs when The natural resources of the earth are exhausted or damaged And the environment is compromised.

The consequences of this deterioration are varied and may be the extinction of species, loss of biodiversity, loss of air quality, water pollution, soil erosion or increase in the greenhouse effect. While many of these effects are not visible in the short term, they are noticeable in the long term. It is for this reason that current actions can have an impact on Environmental deterioration future.

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The causes that influence environmental deterioration They are very varied. Among them stand out:

Pollution deteriorates the amienta medium

We call contamination to Alteration caused in the environment by the introduction of different substances to the environment and that exert a negative effect on this. There are different types of pollution, which are usually divided according to the affected medium. The best known and studied types of contamination are soil, atmospheric, water and acoustic pollution, but there are also others less known as light, visual, thermal, electromagnetic, radioactive or genetic pollution.

Another method to classify pollution is according to the degree of dispersion of pollutants. Thus we have:

• Punctual contamination: The pollutants are located in a single point, such as a drain.
• Diffuse contamination: Pollutants spread through the medium, such as acid rain by wind action.

Environmental deterioration by the industrial sector

Much of the environmental deterioration is due to industrial activitiesthat produce goods for society at the cost of damaging the environment, generating pollutants or giving the population the necessary elements to continue deteriorating the environment.

Habitat deterioration

The deterioration of the habitat is produced largely due to activities carried out by humans, such as the construction of dams or tourism on the coast, which worsen the conditions of the habitat, affecting the animal and plant species that inhabit it.

Another cause of environmental deterioration is the introduction of invasive species, since being not natural inhabitants of that habitat, they alter their conditions.

Environmental deterioration may have effects on human beings or your health. Some of these are:

• Poverty, especially in underdeveloped countries.
• Lack of access to basic resources such as drinking water.
• Dissemination of pathogenic insects or disease vectors.
• Water pollution with pathogenic microorganisms or polluting chemicals, harming the health of human beings.
• Possible diseases or complications in humans due to pollutants such as respiratory conditions, increased incidence of some types of cancers, electromagnetic sensitivity or deafness problems.
• Dissemination of harmful substances for human health in food, mainly due to water pollution with heavy metals.

Both plant species such as animals suffer the consequences of environmental deterioration. Some are:

• Increased variations of marine mammals on beaches, by stress and disorientation due to noise pollution.
• Death of fish due to the accumulation of heavy metals in the waters and other pollutants such as plastic.
• Migration of species due to light pollution or climate change.
• Extinction of animal and plant species because of climate change or by pollutants derived from the use of pesticides or herbicides.
• Migration of species to places that are not their natural habitats, becoming invasive species.
• Prejudices for plant species due to factors such as acid rain, soil pollution due to chemical substances or spills or water pollution.
• Salinization of coastal areas as a result of the increase in sea level.

As a summary, the consequences of environmental deterioration for the planet are the following:

• Global warming and desertification, due to the increase in CO2 levels and other atmospheric pollutants.
• Increase in the occurrence of extreme climatic phenomena such as hurricanes or droughts.
• Eutrophization of freshwater, due to water pollution.
• Increased soil erosion due to mass logging.
• Increased landfills with toxic waste, which are then dragged by the rains made the waters or infiltrated to the subsoil.

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