Every day, new environmental hazards are brought to our attention. Apocalyptic-sounding events are ubiquitous in the news, whether it’s the horrors of climate change, deforestation or pollution. It’s possible to feel overwhelmed and find it hard to figure out what exactly all of this means. Every aspect of existence is influenced in some way by the environment, which encompasses the entire natural world, from the ocean to the forests.
Here are some of the reasons why it is so important:
We depend on it for our livelihood
The environment is vital to the lives of billions of people. Take, for example, the forests of the world. Many people around the world depend on forests for essential resources such as food, shelter and medicine. Many people take refuge in the woods when their crops fail.
Agriculture is the livelihood of about 2 billion people, or about 27% of the total world population. The livelihoods of another three billion people depend on the ocean.
Job creation
Environmental protection has the potential to create millions of new jobs and contribute to poverty reduction. According to a study published by the International Labor Organization, the transition to more environmentally friendly economies could create 24 million additional jobs by 2030.
Many people fear that the transition to green energy and more sustainable practices will lead to increased poverty; however, if green jobs take the place of traditional jobs, it will have the opposite effect.
Strengthen food security
The decline in biodiversity has many adverse effects, one of the most important of which is the diminished ability to secure an adequate food supply. The planet’s animals and plants are disappearing at an alarming rate, making surviving populations more vulnerable to disease and predators.
Many diseases come from the environment
Animals are the source of approximately sixty percent of all human infections. It is very likely that Covid-19 is a zoonosis; however, we don’t know what animal it came from.
Other diseases, such as avian flu and swine fever, which may eventually pass to humans, have, as their name suggests, an animal origin. They wreak havoc in ever more intensive farming, which concentrates a large number of animals.
The bacteria that caused bubonic plague, which wiped out a third of Europe’s population, were carried by fleas and spread by rats. Maintaining sufficient distance between humans and animals is beneficial to human health.
Trees purify the air
Air pollution is a significant problem worldwide. The air that nine out of ten people breathe is polluted, negatively affecting their health and lifespan. Developmental delays, behavioral problems, and illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease are some of the negative health effects. Polluted air contributes to the death of seven million people worldwide each year.
Trees are a very effective type of filtration. They do this while releasing oxygen into the atmosphere and absorbing or fixing certain contaminants from the air, such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide.
Unhealthy environments kill children.
Every year, there are still many deaths of infants and children due to environmental causes, mostly in the most underprivileged countries, but also wherever industrial density is, or has been, high, without measures remediation are taken.
One of the problems is insufficient access to clean water and air; Water-borne diseases alone kill more than 1.4 million children each year. Providing children with a healthy environment and basic rights, such as access to clean air and water, is essential to saving their lives.