Blind consumerism

 World Environment Day, celebrated annually on June 5 should be an occasion to recommit ourselves towards protection of our environment which is fast being degraded and eroding the entire earth’s eco-system. Indeed words cannot explain the consequences of continued damage to our environment. As humans reach high pinnacles of development, the very inventions that make life seem better and comfortable are in fact responsible for degrading the environment and seriously damaging the eco-system. There are always two sides of a coin and so is the case with human development. From the trash thrown out on the freeway, to the millions of metric tons of pollution pumped into the atmosphere every year- it’s obvious, pollution and waste are inescapable. Rising consumerism has eroded our ecosystem and damaged the environment, perhaps irreparably. Humans impact the physical environment in many ways such as- overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Over population has been driven since mortality rates have decreased, medicine has improved, and methods of industrial farming were introduced, thus keeping humans alive for much longer and increasing the total population.. Humanity is continuously polluting indispensable resources like air, water, and soil which requires millions of years to replenish. Global consumerism has led to mass production of items and sold on a global scale. Use of fossil fuels that pollute the environment or several kinds of toothpaste, beauty products (such as face and body scrubs), and detergents contain plastic microbeads. Millions of tonnes of these microplastics enter the oceans every year, devastating the marine environment. According to UN studies, pollution is so bad that to date, 2.4 billion people do not have access to clean water sources. Air is arguably the most polluted with the US producing 147 million metric tons of air pollution each year alone. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, and undrinkable water. Despite ban on plastic and polythene which are non-biodegradable and pose huge threats on the biodiversity they continue to be used on a mass scale. Environment activists across the world have been flagging the damage and also raising awareness to reverse the damage. Climate change is closely connected to the historical development of industry and technology. As global temperatures increase, Earth’s weather patterns will drastically change. While some areas will experience longer growing seasons, others will become barren wastelands as water will deplete in vast areas, turning once floral regions into deserts. The other human impact on the environment is overpopulation which has grown into an epidemic form. Global warming is arguably the greatest cause of impact on the environment. People in general have understood the principle of global warming as a phenomenon of the planet earth becoming warmer which has led to large tracts of the polar ice melting. The melting of glaciers has resulted in rise of ocean and seal levels. The combination of rise in water levels with warming has created unusually heavy rains in some parts and drought in others. Unless the current global focus turns to adaptation for human and nature-oriented policies away from market-driven policies, global warming will reach a catastrophic proportion within the next three decades.