How society affects the environment

The consumption habits in society They have changed significantly over the years and, above all, with the greatest Technological development of these last three decades. Currently, the need to fill a vacuum is increasingly noticeable, or simply follow the current of the company, through the purchases of goods and products that we do not need. Years ago, when this “abundance” of products did not exist, the savings of the goods that were had, while the reality is very different.

One of the most palpable problems of change in consumption habits is that more and more waste is generatedthat in most cases end up in the environment, affecting it directly or affecting the species that inhabit it, for example, the increase in plastic containers that come from many products, are a very polluting residue and, sometimes, difficult to reuse. In addition, the problem of programmed obsolescence forces us to replace many old goods with new ones, such as electronic devices or appliances.

A very important problem is that of the means of transport and fossil fuels They are used to generate energy, which produce large amounts of pollutants.

And all this happens on a planet full of social inequalities, in which large sectors of population pass hardships, while others consume over their needs. This is generally created a global north that consumes services, but that is clear “ecological debtor” of the South, while the South usually acts as a receiver of these ecological lifestyle impacts in the global north.

From the extraction of the resources that are needed to produce these goods to their residues to nature, they produce great negative impacts on the mediumthe living beings that inhabit it and our own quality of life. It is necessary to know that until the products can acquire in stores, there is a long process of manipulation of resources and at each stage the waste is generated.

From the industrial revolution and with the increase in the number of vehicles in circulation, the emission of gases of Greenhouse effect such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane or organochlorine compounds. These gases cause heat retention within the atmosphere and affect the ozone layer in the high areas of the atmosphere. As a result, in recent years there is an overheating of the planet that leads to a global climate change and its dreaded consequences.

An example of this is that the ecological footprint on the planet has increased by more than double in the last fifty years. The consequence is that we are currently exceeding 50% the biocapacities of our planet, mainly affecting processes such as climate change (previously mentioned), the nitrogen cycle and the loss of biodiversity.

These environmental impacts They also have Effects on biodiversity of our planet, affecting the survival of living beings that develop in these environments. In this sense, factors such as climate, soil fertility, temperatures or rainfall are ecological principles that influence the distribution of plant and animal populations on earth. Society and its different activities lead to important variations in these factors and as a consequence they put certain species to the limit of extinction or lead to the extinction of species full.

In addition to environmental pollution, daily human activities lead to other types of pollution less known, but also constitute a threat to species, such as light, electromagnetic or sound pollution and that make species modify their eating habits, migrations, behaviors or reproductive patterns.

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