Analysis of Environmental Impacts

Analysis of Environmental Impacts

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Analysis of Environmental Impacts

Description

In this analysis, I will state and explain my impacts on the environment. These impacts affect the environment either positively or negatively. There will also be ways of how I will improve on the negative impacts, especially the adverse effects. The sacrifices I will have to do to make the environment a better place. Furthermore, there will also be activities that should be done to avoid further deterioration of our environment. Even though there are ways to solve these negative impacts, there are those actions that cannot be avoided. The seriousness of these unavoidable impacts will also be discussed. There will also be advantageous when the negative impacts are avoided and how the people around could adopt these changes. Finally, there will be alternatives to the ideas I will have proposed and the effects they will likely have.

Existing Environmental Conditions and the Anticipated Impacts

My lifestyle has several impacts on the environment. Firstly, the car I use to go to school every day produces gases that have effects on the environment. These are gases like carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in little amounts, and other greenhouse gases (Beard 2016). They are the gases that lead to the rise of the atmospheric temperature making it unbearable for plant and animal life. Therefore, we contribute to accelerating the existing bad environmental conditions. We buy many wrapped goods in the house. The wrappers are usually polyethene wrappers and for instance, if we eat outside we litter the compound by throwing the wrappers anywhere. Throwing the wrappers everywhere degrades the environment and destroys its aesthetic beauty. To add on that, in our house we consume much meat, more than the average required. Everyone in the house loves meat, especially goat and pork meat. This affects the environment by eradicating or reducing the number of animals because more animals are being slaughtered every day. We are only for members in our house but our house is 11,000 square feet, it has five bedrooms. The size of the house affects the environment negatively because it occupies a large piece of land that initially had trees that were cut down. The larger a house is, the more resources are needed to build it. Energy and water are used in the house more than in any average family. In our backyard, we have a garden and some bare land. We frequently cut all the grass making the land bare. By doing this, the soil is left vulnerable and can be carried away by either wind or water and the habitats of the small organisms like insects are destroyed. My mother always uses a hosepipe to water the garden. Since the water from the pipe comes out with a lot of speed, it displaces the soil, hence eroding it.

Mitigation of Adverse Impacts

Some of the adverse impacts that result from my lifestyle are the increases in atmospheric temperature, degradation of the environmental, aesthetic beauty, and soil erosion.

Increase in Atmospheric Temperature

The rise of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere forms a ‘greenhouse blanket’ around the earth (Fong, 2005). Gases like carbon dioxide are produced from vehicles, industries and other human activities. These activities increase the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere. This ‘blanket’ prevents heat that is emitted from the earth’s surface from leaving the atmosphere. This results in global warming and changes in climate. Some of the effects of the rise in temperatures are melting ice in the northern and southern hemispheres, rising of the sea level, and an increase in adversity of natural calamities such as floods and drought (Braasch and mcKiben, 2009).

Soil Erosion

Cutting of grass and felling of trees makes the top fertile soil particles to be free and unprotected. Therefore, when the wind blows or rain falls, they are carried from there and taken to elsewhere. The land is then left bare and unfertile (Fournier, 2011). This can be reduced by not cutting down trees. If trees are cut down, they should be replaced by planting others.

Degradation of Aesthetic Beauty

Throwing around plastic wrappers in the surrounding destroys the beauty of the environment. Litter bins should be strategically placed in compounds so that if any dirt and wrappers are not thrown on the ground.

Adverse Environmental Impacts Which Cannot be Avoided

Deforestation is an impact that cannot be avoided but has to happen. We cut down trees for several reasons including, to create space for construction of houses due to the expansion in population, to provide fuel, for the construction of houses and paper. These are needs that contribute to the human survival. Additionally, the depletion of the ozone cannot be avoided because since the gases involved mainly come from industries that manufacture goods like foods that are essential to human survival.

Positive or Growth Inducing Aspects

I propose that tree planting is an exercise that should be advocated for by the government because the trees cut will be replaced. This action will increase the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere and will reduce that of carbon dioxide (Johansen, 2009). Planting trees will not cost so much. Another proposition is the processing of recyclable wrappers and bags that instead of disposing of them, they are frequently used.

Alternatives

All the same, there are alternatives to these actions, the government could limit the size of a house or piece of land a family has to own. They could also be limiting the amount of water and electricity that a family could be using in a day.

References

Beard, J. M. (2016). Environmental Chemistry in Society, Second Edition. Florida: CRC Press.

Braasch, G., & McKibben, B. (2009). Earth under fire: How global warming is changing the world. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press.

Fong, P. (2005). Greenhouse Warming and Nuclear Hazards. New Jersey: World Scientific.

Fournier, A. J. (2011). Soil erosion: Causes, processes, and effects. Hauppauge, N.Y: Nova Science Publishers.

Johansen, B. E. The encyclopedia of global warming science and technology. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Press.