Environmental Degradation

Humans rely on the environment to ensure their survival on Earth. The environment is made up of all the living and non-living things that surround a person. The biotic component of the environment includes all living organisms, whereas the abiotic component includes all non-living things. The environment can also be classified as either natural or man-made. The natural environment includes all of the items found naturally on the globe, whereas the artificial environment includes things that man has developed that are not found naturally. Air, water, soil, and live beings are the primary components of the environment.The benefits that human beings freely enjoy from the environment and from ecosystems that are functioning properly are referred to as ecosystem services. The services include provisioning services which include material or energy outputs from the ecosystem, for example, things like food, raw materials, fresh water or medicinal resources. Services that an ecosystem provides by acting as a regulator are referred to as regulatory services. They include carbon sequestration, treatment of wastewater, pollination, biological control, etc. the other services that are provided by an ecosystem include cultural services, this are benefits that are non-material that people obtain from the environment. They include services like to cultural existence and aesthetic inspiration. It is therefore clear that human beings receive a lot of benefits from the environment, one would, therefore, think that they would work to ensure that the environment would be well maintained and conserved. However, this is not the case. Human beings have put their greed ahead instead of working towards conserving nature. The battle between conservation and the need for environmental conservation has led to development always emerging as the winner.

Causes of Environmental Degradation

Environmental degradation has been one of the main problems that face the environment today. The environment continues to deteriorate through the depletion of resources such as water, soil and air, ecosystem and habitat destruction, wildlife extinction and pollution. Many factors lead to environmental degradation; they include urbanization where people shift from rural to urban areas in search of better living standards. The shift leads to congestion in urban areas eventually leading to the strain on resources, and the result is urbanization.

Population increase is also another factor that leads to degradation. An increase in population leads to a state where the available resources are not able to cater to the rising population. People look for other ingenious ways to get resources which ends up leading to environmental degradation. Economic growth, intensification of agriculture and increase in energy use all lead to the degradation of the environment.

As a result of environmental degradation the environment cannot be able to supply the ecosystem services that it usually provides. Mother Nature also has a way of reacting to human action through things such as global warming, the melting of snow caps desertification and other problems that man faces today in the modern world.

Pollution

One of the leading causes of environmental degradation is pollution. Pollution is the introduction of harmful substances of any form into the environment. The major types of pollution include air, water, and land pollution. There are also other types of pollution that are affecting the environment today, and they include plastic pollution

Pollution can be caused by natural disasters such as active volcanoes and forest fires, but the main types of causes are anthropogenic meaning that they are created by human beings. In the past pollution was not a serious problem because of the availability of space. With the establishment of permanent settlements by a great number of people, pollution went on to become a problem. Littering is among one of the many forms of land pollution. People end up filling the environment with harmful substances. The trash that is disposed of into the public can either be biodegradable or non-biodegradable. Biodegradable consists of substances which can decompose. This substance upon release into the environment does not take long to decompose therefore they do not stay in the environment for long. Non-biodegradable substances consist of substances which upon release into the environment do not decompose, or they take a longer period to be able to decompose. One such example of a non-biodegradable substance is plastic. Plastic is one of the leading causes of pollution in the world today. This is attributed to the fact that it takes a long period to decompose and therefore it stays very long in the environment. Some pieces of plastic end up getting into the oceans and the seas. While in water, aquatic species end up thinking that they are pieces of food and eat which leads to the death of aquatic animals.

Recycling

A solution, therefore, needs to be sought after to reduce the menace of pollution. Not only will it be good for us but it will also ensure that future generations can enjoy the resources. Recycling is one of the solutions that can be used to prevent environmental degradation. Upon the completion of use of a substance, what if instead of it being disposed of into the environment it can be recycled? Recycling is the process in which waste materials are converted into new objects. It is one of the best alternatives that save materials helping in the reduction of greenhouse gases into the environment.

Certain benefits are incurred upon recycling waste materials. Recycling waste materials enables the reduction of the amount of waste that is sent to landfills and combustion facilities. Waste sent to landfills reduces the aesthetic value of a place, it also leads to the formation of methane gas that is a greenhouse gas which leads to global warming. The combustion of waste materials also leads to the use of a lot of energy in the burning of the substances and harmful gases are also released into the environment. Therefore recycling is seen as one of the best waste reduction solution.

Recycling also leads to pollution prevention through the reduction of a number of raw materials that need to be extracted from the source. It leads to the availability of resources and hence ensuring that there is an equilibrium in the amount of resources being produced and the extraction rates of those resources. Recycling also saves energy. Using materials that are recycled in a manufacturing process uses less amount of energy than the amount of energy that will be required to produce new products from raw materials. Less energy is also used when you factor in the energy that is used in extraction, refinement, and transportation and processing of the raw materials. It also reduces the number of greenhouse gases that are released into the environment.

Recycling is also important as it ensures that there is sustainable development. Sustainable development is the type of development that ensures needs of the current generation are met without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs. Recycling does this because it ensures that it avails raw materials that can be used in the production of materials.

Materials that can be recycled include things that are made out of aluminum, for example, aluminum cans. They are 100% recyclable, and they can be recycled over and over again. Plastic materials can also be recycled; the environment is composed of a lot of plastic materials therefore through recycling we can be able to reduce them. Other things that can be recycled include glass, steel, and newspapers among others.

Waste materials that are decomposable can be used in energy production. Waste that is generated through the kitchen of homes, hotels, schools, manure municipal waste and other sources of organic waste will be converted to produce biogas. The waste is broken down in the absence of oxygen this process occurs when in a closed system anaerobic organisms are introduced into the organic waste which then digests the waste releasing methane gas as a waste material. The methane gas can then be channeled to be able to provide energy that can be used for cooking. This process is a very sustainable way of energy production because apart from the initial setting up costs a person does not incur any cost apart from the addition of waste which is easily available.

My business idea aims at recycling. It entails looking for the less fortunate members of the society among us, those who are homeless and barely have money to get their basic needs. After acquiring a group of this people, I will mobilize them to start collecting garbage. A lot of emphases will, however, be based on collecting plastic materials. It will involve partnering up with people in their homes and estates and also with hotels along the beach. In this areas, a garbage can that has been labeled and divided into sections that are composed of organic and non-organic waste will be availed. People are supposed to use this litter bins to dispose of their waste according to how it has been indicated.

The people chosen will be able to collect waste materials that are found in the environment after the collection of the materials from the homes and the streets, the waste will be sorted. Sorting of waste entails the further separation of the waste materials and sorting them according to their types for example plastics will be separated and put together, glass waste will also be sorted out, etc. After the non-organic waste has been sorted, it will be crushed into smaller pieces. After crushing the waste will be made available to local industries that can be able to sell them, the industries will recycle the waste and produce new substances. The waste will be sold to the industries based on its weight. The organic waste will also be converted into biogas. Education awareness will be carried out to people in their homes and the hotels so that they can able to start biogas production. Emphasis will be made on hotels that are along the beach because of the symbiotic relationship that will arise. People will be collecting waste materials along the beach, and in doing so it will help in maintaining the aesthetics of the beach for tourists and the hotels will benefit, the hotels will, in turn, be providing waste materials that they produce.

This business idea will help in solving many issues. First, it will reduce the unemployment rates by employing the less fortunate members of the society. This will help in increasing their standards of living. It will also reduce the amount of waste in the environment by recycling which will be very beneficial to the environment. Recycling will ensure sustainability because the needs of the current environment will be met and ensuring the future generations will also be able to meet their own needs. Man needs to ensure that they carry out sustainable development to be able to protect the environment. Attempts should be made towards protecting and conserving the environment. If we do not do this Mother Nature will react to our actions towards the environment, and when she does, we are the ones who will be at loss.



References

Shahbaz, M., Sbia, R., Hamdi, H., & Ozturk, I. (2014). Economic growth, electricity consumption, urbanization and environmental degradation relationship in United Arab Emirates. Ecological Indicators, 45, 622-631.

Unger, N., Beigl, P., Höggerl, G., & Salhofer, S. (2017). The greenhouse gas benefit of recycling waste electrical and electronic equipment above the legal minimum requirement: An Austrian LCA case study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 164, 1635-1644. Unger, N.,

Beigl, P., Höggerl, G., & Salhofer, S. (2017). The greenhouse gas benefit of recycling waste electrical and electronic equipment above the legal minimum requirement: An Austrian LCA case study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 164, 1635-1644.

Wang, J., & Xu, Z. (2015). Disposing and recycling waste printed circuit boards: Disconnecting, resource recovery, and pollution control. Environmental science & technology, 49(2), 721-733.