Ecological Impact: Ecological Impact of Increasing Population and Vehicles.

The significant challenge that the world is facing today is the environmental degradation. The increasing population, the change in lifestyle and the consumption patterns has to lead to the deterioration of ecological assets like air, water, & soil. This ecological effect leads to depletion of environmental resources in the form of destruction of various species of flora and fauna, polluted air, land, and water. The magnitude of this threat can be well understood by the fact that the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction has taken this cause as a mission to make the nations aware and take proactive steps to curtail this threat on the environment. There is a variety of reasons for this ecological impact.
The primary reason for environment degradation is apparently population growth and all other factors that have degenerated environment stem from this single element of population explosion only. As the population increases so do the demand for resources and the increased consumption leads to more generation of waste. The relationship between population growth and environmental degradation seems rather straight and simple. While the environmental resources are limited but the people who require these resources are ever increasing. The effect of human activities makes the scenario more intricate. Excess use of technology, rapid urbanization, high levels of industrialization, growing demand for infrastructure, government policies, and list is long of factors like these that have an enormous impact.
The world especially the underdeveloped and the developing countries already face the challenge of food insecurity, lack of necessary sanitation facilities, water & electricity supply. In totality, the governments fail to fulfill the basic needs of its citizens. The same countries of the world are witnessing the fastest growth. Agriculture is the primary occupation of the population here and as the population grows the pressure on land increases. Further, as the people strive for a better standard of living leading to a hiked demand on natural resources that are limited.
It is argued that the developments in science and technology can help us overcome the ecological impact of growing population, but it seems doubtful. It is estimated that this world will have a population of 9 to 11 billion by the year 2025 and by the year 2100 the natural resources will fail to fulfill human requirements drastically influencing everyday life severely.
The most prominent impact of exploding population that we are already witnessing is deforestation. We need more housing infrastructure, roads, and projects for power generation for which land is generated by clearing the forests. Not only does it leads to ecological imbalance but poses a threat to the earth’s biodiversity as well. The destructive activities of mining, disappearing flora and fauna has resulted in an unrepeatable damage to the bio-diversity. Intensive farming, use of chemicals had degraded the land and the water resources. The world is already staring at the problems caused by these agricultural practices.
The rapid and unplanned urbanization and industrialization have led to the depletion of natural resources. It has raised serious concern due to land, water, and air pollution. The waste generated through these activities is dumped into the environment. The capability of the environment to absorb this waste is limited with non- biodegradable waste the gravity of the situation aggravates. It is not only raising environmental issues but also causing health issues in the population. Without proper sanitation and pure drinking water facilities, several health hazards erupt.
Irreversible climatic changes and decrease in productivity levels of the land and its people is a significant concern. The increasing population further demands increased transport facilities in the form of public transport and private vehicles.
Vehicles are the primary cause of air population all across the world. When the vehicle’s engines run, several gases and particles are emitted in the environment causing a detrimental effect. It is the reason behind global warming. Vehicles emit harmful gases like carbon mono oxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and other greenhouse gases. These gases trap heat from the atmosphere and eventually leading to rising in global temperature. This increase in global temperature affects farming, wildlife, natural landscapes and sea levels.
The pollution caused by vehicles impact air, water, and soil by polluting it. The emission from vehicles has caused depletion in the ozone layer. This ozone layer protects the earth from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. Acid rains that damage all forms of vegetation are also the outcome of vehicular pollution.
Most of the commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles run on diesel engines. These engines emit gases and particles that cause skin and eye irritation, breathing problems and various forms of allergies. Diesel engines have significant emissions of fine particulates.
No doubt, vehicles today, complying with stricter emission norms are polluting at least ninety percent less than the vehicles three decades ago, but the number of cars the world over has increased multiple times. Therefore, the immediate and the long-term effect of vehicular pollution is very destructive. The vehicles also make an indirect impact on the environment as it runs on fossil fuels. It has a substantial environmental cost involved. Vehicular population, therefore, is not only causing harm to human health but the ecology as well.
The world today has a large number of deaths due to air pollution caused by vehicles. In spite of all these hazards due to increasing vehicles, policy measures and its implementation leaves a lot to be desired.
The world today needs to wake up to this alarming situation caused due to increasing population and rise in some vehicles. The natural resources are depleting, and the increasing population has started showing after effects on land and its related uses. From promoting the environment, friendly practices in the citizens to opting for alternative and renewable sources of fuel for the vehicles is the need of the hour.