Humans Cannot Inhabit Earth without Destroying it

Humans as inhabitants of the earth have the opportunity to use the environment for their beneficial needs such as food production, transportation, and industrialization among others. However, the kind of lifestyle humans adopt has both beneficial and retrogressive effects on the environment. When talking of lifestyle, it is all the daily activities or those activities that humans undertake frequently that have an impact on the environment. The activities with a profound effect on the environment and climate change are mainly socio-economic endeavors such as mining, transportation, industrialization, nuclear energy production, and agriculture among others.

This discussion is a literature review on human activities, their impact on the environment, mitigation and control mechanism of their effects, and outcomes of mitigation to reveal that humans cannot inhabit the earth without destroying it.

The Greenhouse Effect

Humans must survive by undertaking socio-economic activities because they are the basis of political stability, food production, and fulfilling socio-cultural life. However, the economic activities humans undertake have impacts on the environment that causes disaster and puts not only human life at risk but also the environment and its biodiversity (Stocker et al.

, 2013). Most of the socio-economic and political activities humans undertake releases greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, which leads to the depletion of the ozone layer that protects the earth from the harmful type of ultraviolet rays from the sun (Field, 2014; Stocker et al., 2013). Moreover, the greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere and trap heat in the atmosphere, which leads to the rise in temperatures across the globe that contribute to the greenhouse effect.

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Such gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorofluorocarbon, methane, ozone O3, and carbon monoxide (Gerber et al., 2013). Industrial and transport activities burn a lot of fossil fuel that leads to the emission of greenhouse gases while agricultural processes are the leading greenhouse gas emitters.

Greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere where they prevent heat from the earth surface from escaping. The condition leads to warm atmosphere whose temperature seems to rise every year, which the scientists call global warming (Field, 2014). The sudden rise in temperatures across the globe has impacts on the environment, ecosystem, and human life due to disasters that result. Global warming has seen the highlands and regions that were cooler a few decades ago becoming warmer and desertification is covering a larger portion of the earth (Field, 2014). Moreover, there is increased melting of ice caps in mountaintops and drastic change in the prevailing climatic conditions across the globe (Stocker et al., 2013).

The volume of water bodies is increasing and causing natural disasters such as flooding due to the melting ice from the mountains and depletion of polar ice (Stocker et al., 2013). Additionally, the emerging climatic conditions are favorable for buildup diseases whose cure is unknown. Such diseases include cancers especially of the skin, which is relatively high in populations of people receiving the longest wavelengths and duration of light per year such as the tropical regions (Stocker et al., 2013). The situation is not fair in the tropical because desertification is on the rise, food shortage, and prolonged droughts. Additionally, there is massive changes in biodiversity because the forest cover is becoming thinner, the grassland is diminishing while animals are migrating to safer zones.

Human Activities that lead to Disaster

Human activities are the biggest contributors to the greenhouse effect through various economic activities. The leading global source of greenhouse gas emission is electricity and heat production, which accounts for 25% (Ahn & Merwade, 2014). The agricultural sector follows with 24% while industries take third place with 21% and transport accounts for 14% (Ahn & Merwade, 2014). Buildings account for 6% while other energy sources take 10% (Ahn & Merwade, 2014). All the stated causes of greenhouse emission are from human activity, which means that greenhouse emission from natural causes is rare or negligible. The agricultural sector is the leading cause because agricultural processes lead to the production of all the greenhouse gases in relatively higher proportions than other causes. Furthermore, the lowest in the least is buildings and this occurs during construction and maintenance processes in which some gases enter the atmosphere in the form of dust particles and chemical components.

Agriculture as a source of greenhouse gases is the leading cause because many processes need chemicals and fuel consumption. For instance, greenhouse gas emission from the use of fertilizers and those that come from animal feeds, dung, and bodies leads to accumulation of nitrous oxide in the soil, which accounts for 30% of GHG emission from the agricultural sector (Ahn & Merwade, 2014). Additionally, carbon dioxide production comes from agricultural endeavors such as burning land during land preparation and using fossil fuel in machinery for plant and animal management that all accounts for 27% of GHC emissions in agriculture (Ahn & Merwade, 2014). Production of carbon monoxide and water vapor through the processes accounts for 24% of the GHG emission in agriculture while the other gases take the remaining 19% (Ahn & Merwade, 2014).

Apart from the emission of GHG, agricultural processes are the major causes of environmental pollution such as pollution of water bodies, air, and land. Moreover, agriculture leads to the reclamation of some arable lands such as forests by clearing vegetation, arid areas by irrigation, and swamps by drainage (Ahn & Merwade, 2014). Although the intention of humans is to make the land useful in agriculture, the outcome sees food production levels expanded, loss of wet or dry land lands to agriculture, and an increase GHG emission from the sector (Change, 2014; Ahn & Merwade, 2014). Hence, agriculture as a human activity is beneficial in food and fuel production but is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emission that leads to natural disasters.

The industrial and transport sector forms the other major contribution to greenhouse gas emission. Emissions from manufacturing processes lead to the accumulation of water vapor, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane in a high proportion (Field, 2014). Burning of fossil fuels in industries and motor vehicles contribute to 62% of all GHG emissions from the two sectors while industrial production processes account for 37% (Ahn & Merwade, 2014). Fossil fuels contain many carbon and sulfur compounds that make the two elements the leading cause of not only air pollution but also water, and land. In the current engineering systems around the world, most motor vehicle engine designs are undergoing redesigning to reduce the levels of greenhouse gas emission (Field, 2014).

The reengineering processes are evident in the shipping industries where most ship engines are now running on low amounts of diesel per mile than initially (Field, 2014). Moreover, most governments have limited emission zones in their waters so that the ships entering the region must send a telegram of their emission status before accessing these zones. Although these measures are in place, they only help in reducing the amount of emissions from the source to a level the authorities deem as sustainable (Field, 2014). For instance, the reengineering of ship engines improves their efficiency in fuel consumption and power output but the engines still produce some of the greenhouse gases (Field, 2014). Additionally, nations such as the United Kingdom and the USA do not condone ships that use fuel with nitrous emission greater than 1.6% (Ahn & Merwade, 2014). The measure does not mean that the ships in the region are not emitting nitrous oxide but it limits the emissions to levels that the authorities think is sustainable to the environment. Therefore, industries and the transport sector are human activities that are beneficial in terms of economic output but the amounts of greenhouse gas emission in the two sectors are high and unavoidable regardless of the mitigation measures.

Energy generation is the other human activity that contributes to the economic and political powers of governments and corporation systems around the world. The energy generation systems such as geothermal, fossil fuels, hydroelectric power, nuclear energy, and wind are all contributor to the emission of greenhouse gases (Urry, 2015). Surprisingly, wind and solar are some of the clean forms of energy around yet the maintenance of windmills require greasing and oiling with fossil fuels in large amounts that lead to GHG emissions (Urry, 2015).

Mitigation Measures on Human Activities

The mitigation measures in the human activities that cause disaster includes engineering, substitution, and elimination of the hazardous components of socio-economic activities. Elimination is evident in the transport and engineering sector where there is elimination of sulfur and reduction of nitrous oxide in fuels (Field, 2014). The new types of fuel seem environmentally friendly due to low sulfur and nitrous oxide in their composition (Field, 2014). Moreover, the reengineering process in the shipping industry ensures that the kind of engines used are more fuel efficient and produces low amounts of nitrous oxide (Field, 2014). In the agricultural sector, new methods of farming are substituting the conventional ways that require the use of large amounts of fertilizers that pollutes water, air, and land (Gerber et al., 2013). For instance, hydroponics and aquaponics are substitutes of conventional farming in the production of vegetables in which they do not need soil and large amounts of fertilizers (Gerber et al., 2013). The level of production in these new systems is higher and frequent compared to the conventional methods that depend on the climate and irrigation, which in fact increases pollution. Therefore, the mitigation measures used are not eliminating the threats that bring disaster but they are limiting the damages that might arise when disaster strikes.

Counter Argument on Mitigation

The mitigation measure on global warming and climate change through elimination is impossible. The existing mitigation measures include engineering and substitution in which the hazard is not completely out of the system but its levels are sustainable (Stocker et al., 2013). For instance, the reengineering of engines ensures fuel efficiency and low production of the greenhouse gases in the shipping industry. Moreover, substitution of conventional farming of vegetables with biotechnological approaches such as qua-ponics and hydroponics does not mean that other categories of crops are not leading to the emission of greenhouse gases (Field, 2014). Due to the reality, it is impossible to recommend substitution because it still presents the same problem but in low doses (Field, 2014). However, prolonged use of the low doses leads to accumulation of the harmful components in the environment (Stocker et al., 2013). Hence, the mitigation methods such as reengineering and substitution are viable but to a limited extent because they cannot eliminate the emission of the greenhouse gases.

However, despite the limiting condition in the available mitigation measures, there is a success in implementing some of the ideas. Some greenhouse gases require a short time to eliminate from the atmosphere through natural processes that decompose them (Field, 2014). For example, nitrous oxide can deplete to form ammonia and nitrogen under the circumstance that it is not saturated in the atmosphere (Stocker et al., 2013). When there is a limited supply of the gas in the air, it does not pose much harm but it becomes essential because ammonium and nitrogen are beneficial to the enrichment of the soils with fertility (Stocker et al., 2013). Therefore, the mitigation measure that limits greenhouse gas production might be helpful because they reduce the overload of the gases in the atmosphere that renders them less harmful.

The findings in this literature analysis show that human activities render the earth prone to disaster through the accumulation of greenhouse gases. However, by limiting the levels of emission of these gases, the chances of occurrence of disasters may reduce. Conversely, when there is unregulated use of the greenhouse gases emitting activities, the conditions of the globe will worsen with global warming. Government and multinational agencies should work closely to prevent the worsening of the situation by implementing scientific recommendations that can save the world from extinction due to global warming. The condition is possible by regulating the processes and engineering systems used in the socio-economic endeavors. Therefore, regardless of mitigation measures in their socio-economic activities, human activities reveal that humans cannot inhabit the earth without destroying it.

References

1. Ahn, K. H., & Merwade, V. (2014). Quantifying the relative impact of climate and human activities on stream flow. Journal of Hydrology, 515, 257-266.
2. Change, I. C. (2014). Mitigation of climate change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 1454.
3. Field, C. B. (Ed.). (2014). Climate change 2014–Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: Regional aspects. Cambridge University Press.
4. Gerber, P. J., Steinfeld, H., Henderson, B., Mottet, A., Opio, C., Dijkman, J., Opio, C., Dijkman, J., Falcucci, A. & Tempio, G. (2013). Tackling climate change through livestock: a global assessment of emissions and mitigation opportunities. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
5. Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G. K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., … & Midgley, P. M. (2013). Climate change 2013: The physical science basis. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group I Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)(Cambridge Univ Press, New York), 25.
6. Urry, J. (2015). Climate change and society. In Why the social sciences matter (pp. 45-59). Palgrave Macmillan, London.