The Environmental Problems Of Human Societies - 1585 Words

Human societies have always altered their physical environments, such as, used fire, cleared forests, tilled the soil, etc. Since the 1950’s, the pace and magnitude of the negative environmental impacts of human activities have magnified and intensified. (p. 80) The Earth has always gone through climate change, but not until recently have we as a human society sped up this process. The way we have sped up these processes is most significantly with the high demand of fossil fuels, deforestation of rain forests, pumping of greenhouse gases into the air, pollution of water by fertilizers, use of pesticides, animal wastes, emission of toxic chemicals, and rapid erosion of top soil. In addition, until recently people were unconcerned with conservation because they seemed to be so vast a storehouse of resources that waste was not considered a problem. (p. 97). This may explain the tendency to be wasteful, but it is only a partial answer. The underlying sources of our present environ mental problems can be located in the culture and structure of U.S. society. A strong tie to capitalism has allowed large corporations to do whatever is profitable while ignoring conservation of natural resources. This dominant ideology has tended to legitimize or at least account for all the wastefulness of Americans and their acceptance of pollution. Source of Environmental Problems An important aspect society needs to understand is that environmental problems affect everyone in the world.Show MoreRelatedPollution As An Environmental Problem1426 Words   |  6 PagesPOLLUTION AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM Introduction The environment is always facing sudden changes due to natural forces like the eruption of volcanic and earthquakes. However human activities have in the recent times being blamed as the major contributor to the majority of the environmental problems that there are today. Among the numerous environmental issues is pollution. 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