A R Bhat
The earth is 4.53 billion years old. It went through billions of years of evolution to produce just the right conditions before humans first started to appear on earth just 300,000 years ago. The result of this evolution was an environment just right to produce us. The importance then of preserving this environment is not something that needs to be taught. It is self-evident that if the conditions are not right, we are in danger more so than the earth which has survived for billions of years before we even existed. Having established that let us dive deeper into what this environment does for us. How it is being affected by human activity and what can we do to preserve it so that we can keep on thriving under its protection.
Apart from ensuring our existence the environment also plays a major role in facilitating
our growth and modulating our behaviour, also ensuring our health and longevity. For
example there is a great deal of very rigorous research that links the physical
environment of hospitals to health outcomes. According to Ulrich and Zimming, authors
of the 2004 report, The Role of the Physical Environment in the 21st Century Hospital,
there are more than 600 credible studies that show how aspects of healthcare design can
influence medical outcomes.
The environment facilitates interactions among people (and the subsequent benefits of social support). The environment can influence peoples’ behavior and motivation to act. The environment can influence mood. For example, the results of several research studies reveal that rooms with bright light, both natural and artificial, can improve health outcomes such as depression, agitation, and sleep.
Globalisation has led to the earth becoming smaller but also dirtier. We produce massive amounts of waste with no effective way of disposing it. There is an island of garbage in the Pacific Ocean the size of UK! Progress for humanity has come at a cost of regression of the environment. Humans impact the physical environment in many ways: overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water. These negative impacts can affect human behavior and can prompt mass migrations or battles over clean water. Now let us get to what we can do to preserve our environment. There are many steps which have already been taken and many new initiatives being launched daily to preserve the environment.
Some of these include global initiatives like the Paris climate agreement to curb climate
change, green energy projects, sustainable living projects, tree plantation drives, soil
conservation drives and many more. Let us take a close look at how these helps preserve
the environment. Some of these include global initiatives like the Paris climate agreement to curb climate change, green energy projects, sustainable living projects, tree plantation drives, soil conservation drives and many more. Let us take a close look at how these helps preserve the environment.
Additionally, the agreement aims to increase the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change, and at making finance flows consistent with a low GHGemissions and climate-resilient pathway. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriatemobilization and provision of financial resources, a new technology framework and
enhanced capacity-building is to be put in place, thus supporting action by developingcountries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives.
The Agreement also provides for an enhanced transparency framework for action and
support. A big contributor to change in our environment is burning of fossil fuels. This has led to harmful gases being released in the environment, ecosystems being adversely affected and raising the average temperature of the earth. None of this is good for our survival. Hence there has been a big push for clean energy in the last few decades to meet our energy requirements. Sustainable energy comes from sources that can fulfill our current energy needs without compromising future generations. It also involves collection and distribution; the energy must be efficiently acquired and distributed in order to be sustainable. It includes geothermal, hydropower, solar and wind. Trees are an essential part of any ecosystems and also help in supporting life. This is
why there have been several tree plantations drives to help preserve the environment.
In India alone in early July 2021, the state of Uttar Pradesh in India took part in an annual tree planting drive and planted 250 million saplings in a single day. With hopes to have a third of its total land area under forest cover by 2030, state officials believe this to be an inexpensive way to combat climate change. This combined with the worldwide push for planting trees has meant that there are more trees now in the northern hemisphere then there were in the last century! A big part of preserving the environment also comes down to each and every individual doing his/her part. This can only be achieved by educating everyone in the importance of the environment and the absolute need for us to preserve it in order to survive. Education hence plays a big role in curbing climate change and preserving the environment. While the ways discussed above are effective and have shown great promise in helping the environment they are mostly drives or initiatives by governments involving large number of people but still not reaching each and every individual. As discussed above it is the responsibility of each and every individual to contribute towards the preservation of our environment. Hence here are some ways in which you, the reader can contribute like Speak up, Power your home with renewable energy, Weatherize, weatherize, weatherize. This has to do with efficient homes which require less energy to heat or cool it. Invest in energy-efficient appliances. Reduce water waste, Don’t waste food. Compost what you can’t save, Pull the plug. Don’t keep charged devices plugged in. Switch off whatever electrical appliance is not being used. Drive a fuel-efficient vehicle. With petrol/diesel prices surging maybe it’s time to give
electric vehicles a thought. If you don’t want EVs you can also buy fuel efficient vehicles. Regular maintenance drastically improves fuel efficiency and also leads to vehicle lasting longer meaning less waste. Practice RRR no not the super hit movie. Reduce, reuse and recycle. The steps mentioned above may seem small and you may feel that it has a very small effect on the environment but if each and every individual does his/her part then the effect compounds and leads to a net result of significant improvement in our environment and by extension ours.
Hopefully this article has given you a better understanding of how our environment affects us, how we are changing it and what we can do to preserve it. The importance of our environment is self-evident and hopefully this article has also motivated you enough to start doing your part in preserving it.
