Throughout the advancement of human civilization, urbanization has been held to be the key to and the parameter of development. Every country around the world is struggling to meet this standard of development, and as a result, a huge section of the world has become urbanized. In order to make urbanization possible, forests have been cut down, and with the growing requirement of the ever increasing population of the world, more and more land has been cleared, to accommodate the building of housing, factories, and roads. Lives of countless plant and animal species have been, and continue to be, sacrificed to make way for the growth of the human population. In the end, the very environment that we live in is being compromised.
In this article, we will discuss why it is imperative to take steps to reverse this process and save the environment.
Provides breathable air
The simplest reason, of course, is that the environment is crucial to our very survival. We need the environment in every step of our lives. The very air we breathe is breathable because of the environment. The more trees we cut down, the less we are able to combat the greenhouse gases that our factories and automobiles emit. With each emission, the air becomes less and less breathable, the temperatures increase, the weather becomes more erratic, and we live in greater peril of either being suffocated to death or killed in a natural disaster.
Provides food
We depend for our food on the environment. While we certainly have the capacity to farm plants and animals for our food, it is important to remember that these plants and animals derive their source of air and water from the environment; as the environment changes, they lose their ability to live. We will not be able to grow plants or animals for food if the living conditions become too toxic for them. And if we kill animals rampantly for food without farming, we contribute significantly to their extinction, which has happened numerous times already in history. The dodo disappeared specifically because of uncontrolled hunting for meat.
Benefits economy
The environment provides us with countless economic benefits. To begin with, the practices of farming and husbandry form the sole source of income for a large portion of the human population. Many people earn their livelihood from fishing, shrimping, and other similar practices. This, in turn, provides the livelihood for people in other professions, such as retailers who buy the goods from farmers and sell them in their own shops. A farmer has the luxury of not having to buy the food products that they grow themselves, thus reducing their expenses. The environment plays a huge role here because you need cultivable, fertile soil and non-toxic waters to undertake any kind of farming.
Promotes tourism
A sustained environment is crucial in earning revenue for the country as well. The better the environment, the more splendid the natural resources, and the more tourists the place is likely to attract. According to statistics, natural beauty is the most attractive aspect of a place that attracts tourists. And then there is health tourism as well. A clean and healthy environment will draw tourists looking for a healthy change, or aiming at recovering failing health. The more tourists a country can draw, bigger the inflow of revenue they are going to get.
Promotes health
In fact, a clean and healthy environment is not only attractive to tourists. People who live in cleaner and less polluted environments are healthier, according to statistics. This is because they get to breathe air that does not lead to a variety of illnesses like asthma and even some cancers, and the food that they eat, if grown in their locality, is also not harmful since it has not grown on polluted soil. This saves a lot of money on potential medical expenditure, not to mention loss of life.
Preserves ecosystem
Proper maintenance of the environment helps in restoring the balance of the ecosystem. The constant deforestation each year leaves scores of species, and hundreds of animals, without proper habitation. They are forced to flee to the regions with human population, where they are either killed in fear or for commercial purposes. This practice alone has brought many species to the verge of extinction. And this severely disrupts the ecosystem since every animal, bird, and insect plays a specific role that keeps the system running.
We need to preserve the environment for our own good. If the environment is polluted beyond recovery, we as a species would disappear off the face of the Earth, although the Earth will restore its balance and regain its former glory at one point. We need to start taking care of the environment before it is too late.