What is environmental degradation and why is it important to you?

Environmental degradation can affect and will affect a large part of our day-to-day lives. It is an issue that will also greatly influence and shape our future that ignores our differences in appearance, ability and other factors that determineour own individuality. So, what is environmental degradation and why should it matter to you?

Environmental degradation refers to the deterioration of natural resources and ecosystems that affects the lives of us but also nature. We must be alarmed. Although the connotations of “degradation” seem grave when talking about the environment, be assured that this is the future we head to. Humans rely on nature just as nature relies on us so why should we harm it knowing eventually it will come back to bite us harder? Shouldn’t this be common sense? Then why do we do it? Since the neanderthals, nature has always supplemented us with everything we needed such as fruit, food through prey or providing shelter; it has always been with us.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. We have a choice to save our future, to save our environment. Unfortunately, through history and recent times too, it seems all we do is harm instead of help. For example, industrialization and urbanization. During the 1800s, Europe with the Uk being the prime example underwent through the industrial revolution. Whilst innovative technologies help society develop, we discard the harm it causes and any help to mitigate harm done. The grim reality is that from this and urbanization – people moving into the city from the countryside and land being used up to house a larger city population – 80% of the world’s forests have felt the pain which has undoubtedly harmed the environment and ecosystems around the affected forests.

So, what can we do to prevent this dystopia? We must first acknowledge that if this unsustainable way of living continues, the world will simply be unhabitable for humans, and we could cease to exist. Although scary, it is the first step in solving environmental degradation as without the awareness of consequences, it is likely that society may procrastinate action until it’s too late. There is no second planet so no second chance so we must learn to face and learn from current consequences to avoid any further damage. Then, the actions. It starts small on a personal scale. Recycle that bag instead of throwing it in the bin. Use reusable water bottles. Say no to plastics. Then to a community level. Help pick up litter in the streets. Support community centers by volunteering or donate to local or global charities focused on helping fix this problem. All these contribute. If everyone does this then environmental degradation can be history. It starts with you

Jose