Newton’s third law tells us that each action has a reaction of equal magnitude, but in the opposite direction. That can be interpreted as every action that is carried out in the environment also has a consequence. All activities that man performs in the middle generate an impact on the environment. Environmental impacts can be positive, if the environment benefits, or negative, if the environment is harmed. In ecology, we explain to you What is the negative and positive environmental impact with examples To understand it better.
What is the negative environmental impact
Negative environmental impacts are those Alterations in the environment that harm both the natural environment and human health. Therefore, the main consequences are pollution of the planet (earth, water, and air), the loss of biodiversity and the increase of diseases and health problems.
The negative environmental impacts They can be classified according to their effect in time and the ability to return to the situation before the impact:
- Temporal: It is a short -term impact and therefore the medium can recover the state prior to the impact.
- Persistent: It is a long -term impact with lasting effects in time and space.
- Irreversible: The impact is of such magnitude that it generates a permanent impact on the environment.
- Reversible: The natural environment could recover or not at all in the short, medium or long term.
There are many activities with strong negative environmental impacts. Let’s see some of them.
Examples of negative environmental impacts
Pollution and spills
The term pollution refers to the introduction of one or several substances that harm the environment where they have been introduced. Human activities are main sources of pollution and affect the environment in different ways:
- The Water pollution It occurs mainly due to industrial waters with toxic substances (metals, chemicals, radioactive waste, etc.), by spills of the wastewater of the populations, by discharged at high temperatures and for using rivers, lakes and seas such as landfills (especially plastics). The impact translates into a loss of biodiversity, an increase in eutrophication and a change in biogeochemical cycles.
- The soil pollution It occurs mainly due to the burial and deposition of waste (garbage, nuclear waste) and for leaks or accidents of industries and factories. All this entails the loss of biodiversity and underground water pollution.
- The Atmospheric pollution It occurs mainly due to the emission of harmful gases by fixed sources (industries, houses, etc.) and mobile (vehicles). The effects of this impact are the loss of the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect and phenomena such as acid rain or smog (fog of toxic gases such as CO2, CO or sulphurous gases).
Natural Resources Exploitation
Another negative environmental impact is the NATURAL RESOURCES EXHAUSTING such as raw materials and fossil fuels (oil and natural gas). In addition, their extraction and use lead to even more environmental impacts such as pollution, deforestation and loss of soil and biodiversity.
Wars
Throughout history and especially from world wars with the use of chemical, biological weapons and nuclear bombs. Wars have not only ended the lives of millions of people but have seriously damaged the environment and have impossible the existence of life in some areas.
Poaching and loss of biodiversity
Pastive hunting is one of the great threats for the biodiversity of the planet. The ambition of human beings to get trophies such as animal skins, elephant fangs or rhinos horn have sentenced thousands of species to extinction.
Other practices such as “Finning”, which consists of shark fishing to cut their fins and return them mutilated to the ocean, continue to reduce the amount of these large predators in our oceans. The disappearance of Sharks and other great predators and mammals, such as orcs and whales, can alter the trophic chains and the structure and functionality of the oceanic communities.
Deforestation
Deforestation consists of Elimination of vegetation that naturally It grows in an land area. On the one hand, deforestation implies the loss of biodiversity due to the elimination of plants. In addition, forests are the habitat of numerous animal species, so if we eliminate forests we eliminate the fauna they contain. On the other hand, it implies the loss of productivity since the plants perform photosynthesis and through this process generate biomass and energy that is used by other organisms. They also generate oxygen, a vital element for living beings. By eliminating vegetation, the soil is exposed to the inclement weather and is eroded by wind or rain And therefore the underground biological communities are lost, the nutrients that the ground contains and ultimately becomes an infertile terrain.
Urban development
Urban development involves loss of land and contributes to deforestation since to build it is necessary to lift the vegetation. The consequence is the loss of habitats and ecosystem functions. In addition to the creation of new cities implies new sources of pollution.
Noise and bad odors
There are other types of environmental impacts that have effects at the local level such as noise, vibrations and bad odors that can alter the behavior of animals and cause discomfort and health problems. In the following article we explain what no indoor pollution is.
What is the positive environmental impact
On the contrary, activities that have a positive environmental impact are those that benefit the environment or those whose objective is to correct the negative effects of human activities. As in the previous case, positive impacts can be temporary or persistent and reversible or irreversible. There are several examples of positive impacts on the environment, we explain them below.
Positive environmental impact examples
Reforestation
Fire, drought or deforestation cause loss of soil and biodiversity productivity as we have seen before. Therefore, the opposite process, that is, planted vegetables It is positive; It increases biodiversity, soil productivity, generates biomass and allows the assimilation of solar energy, captures CO2 and provides oxygen to the atmosphere, which helps reduce the greenhouse effect. In addition, this technique is more useful if for reforestation native species or those that were before its disappearance are used in order to recover the previous ecosystem and its functionality.
Efficient irrigation
Water is a vital element for living beings but their availability is limited and is not homogeneously distributed. It is especially important in areas frequently affected by droughts. Establish adjustable irrigation systems As the dripping allows to improve the productivity of crops and dry soils, and at the same time, save water.
Wastewater treatment
As we have already said, water is an important good. Humans make numerous uses of water through which it undergoes changes in its composition; Addition of chemicals and organic matter, proliferation of pathogenic organisms, changes in physical-chemical parameters (temperature, pH, dissolved salts, dissolved oxygen, etc.). Of being returned to nature in that state would cause numerous ecological disasters. The Water purification It has a positive impact on the environment, because the process is to return the quality it had before use.
Recycling
The amount of waste that humans generate is very high and diverse. In addition, all waste does not degrade in the same way and there are some that persist more in the middle than others. A positive impact on the middle is Separate this waste Depending on their composition, toxicity and duration to eliminate or reuse them and prevent them from reaching the environment and cause a negative impact.
Use of renewable energy
Renewable or clean energies could be included in this section because, although they do have a certain impact on the environment (visual impact, impact by installation, etc.) is much lower than that of non -renewable energy (nuclear, oil). They are called clean energy because they do not generate waste and their maintenance is minimal. Renewable energies are solar, wind, hydraulic and geothermal energy among others.
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