Newton's Third Law tells us that every action has a reaction of equal magnitude, but in the opposite direction. This can be interpreted as that every action that takes place in the environment also has a consequence. All the activities that man carries out in the environment generate an impact on the environment. Environmental impacts can be positive, if the environment benefits, or negative, if the environment is harmed. In Green Ecologist we explain what is negative and positive environmental impact with examples to understand it better.
What is negative environmental impact
Negative environmental impacts are those alterations in the environment that harm both the natural environment and human health. Therefore, the main consequences are the pollution of the planet (land, water, and air), the loss of biodiversity and the increase in diseases and health problems.
The negative environmental impacts They can be classified according to their effect over time and the ability to return to the situation before the impact:
- Temporary: it is a short-term impact and therefore the medium can recover the state before the impact.
- Persistent: it is a long-term impact with lasting effects in time and space.
- Irreversible: the impact is of such magnitude that it generates a permanent impact on the environment.
- Reversible: the natural environment may or may not fully recover in the short, medium or long term.
There are many activities with strong negative environmental impacts. Let's see some of them.
Examples of negative environmental impacts
Pollution and spills
The term pollution refers to the introduction of one or more substances that harm the environment where they have been introduced. Human activities are the main sources of pollution and affect the environment in different ways:
- The water contamination It is produced mainly by industrial water discharges with toxic substances (metals, chemicals, radioactive waste, etc.), by discharges of wastewater from towns, by discharges at high temperatures and by using rivers, lakes and seas as landfills ( especially plastics). The impact translates into a loss of biodiversity, an increase in eutrophication and a change in biogeochemical cycles.
- The soil contamination It is produced mainly by the burial and deposition of waste (garbage, nuclear waste) and by leaks or accidents in industries and factories. All this leads to the loss of biodiversity and the contamination of groundwater.
- The atmospheric pollution It is produced mainly by the emission of harmful gases by fixed sources (industries, houses, etc.) and mobile (vehicles). The effects of this impact are the loss of the ozone layer, the greenhouse effect and phenomena such as acid rain or smog (fog of toxic gases such as CO2, CO or sulfurous gases).
Natural resources exploitation
Another negative environmental impact is the Depletion of natural resources such as raw materials and fossil fuels (oil and natural gas). In addition, its extraction and use entail even more environmental impacts such as pollution, deforestation and the loss of soil and biodiversity.
Wars
Throughout history and especially since the world wars with the use of chemical and biological weapons and nuclear bombs. Wars have not only killed millions of people but have seriously damaged the environment and made life impossible in some areas.
Poaching and loss of biodiversity
Poaching is one of the great threats to the planet's biodiversity. Humans' ambition for trophies such as animal skins, elephant tusks, or rhinoceros horns have doomed thousands of species to extinction.
Other practices such as “finning”, which consists of fishing for sharks to cut off their fins and return them mutilated to the ocean, continue to reduce the number of these large predators in our oceans. The disappearance of the sharks and other large predators and mammals, such as killer whales and whales, can alter food chains and the structure and functionality of oceanic communities.
Deforestation
Deforestation consists of removal of vegetation that naturally grows in an area of land. On the one hand, deforestation means the loss of biodiversity due to the elimination of plants. In addition, forests are the habitat of numerous animal species, so if we eliminate forests we eliminate the fauna they contain. On the other hand, it supposes the loss of productivity since the plants carry out photosynthesis and through this process they generate biomass and energy that can be used by other organisms. They also generate oxygen, a vital element for living beings. By removing vegetation, the soil is exposed to inclement weather and is eroded by wind or rain and therefore the subterranean biological communities, the nutrients that the soil contains, are lost and ultimately it becomes infertile ground.
Urban Development
Urban development involves the loss of soil and contributes to deforestation since to build it is necessary to raise the vegetation. The consequence is the loss of habitats and ecosystem functions. In addition to the fact that the creation of new cities implies new sources of pollution.
Noise and bad smells
There are other types of environmental impacts that have local effects such as noise, vibrations and bad smells that can alter the behavior of animals and cause discomfort and health problems. In the following article we explain what noise pollution is.
What is positive environmental impact
On the contrary, activities that have a positive environmental impact are those that benefit the environment or those whose objective is to correct the negative effects of human activities. As in the previous case, the positive impacts can be temporary or persistent and reversible or irreversible. There are several examples of positive impacts on the environment, we will explain them below.
Examples of positive environmental impact
Reforestation
Fires, drought or deforestation cause the loss of soil productivity and biodiversity as we have seen before. Therefore, the opposite process, that is, replant vegetables it is a positive thing; increases biodiversity, soil productivity, generates biomass and allows the assimilation of solar energy, captures CO2 and provides oxygen to the atmosphere, which helps to reduce the greenhouse effect. In addition, this technique is more useful if native species or those that existed before their disappearance are used for reforestation in order to recover the previous ecosystem and its functionality.
Efficient irrigation
Water is a vital element for living beings but its availability is limited and it is not evenly distributed. It is especially important in areas frequently affected by droughts. Establish adjustable irrigation systems as dripping allows to improve the productivity of crops and dry soils, and at the same time, save water.
Treatment of waste water
As we have already said, water is an important asset. Humans make numerous uses of water through which it undergoes changes in its composition; addition of chemicals and organic matter, proliferation of pathogenic organisms, changes in physical-chemical parameters (temperature, pH, dissolved salts, dissolved oxygen, etc.). If returned to nature in that state it would cause numerous ecological disasters. The water purification It has a positive impact on the environment, as the process consists of returning it to the quality it had before use.
Recycling
The amount of waste that humans generate is very high and diverse. Furthermore, all waste does not degrade in the same way and there are some that persist longer in the environment than others. A positive impact on the environment is separate these residues depending on their composition, toxicity and duration in order to eliminate or reuse them and prevent them from reaching the environment and causing a negative impact.
Use of renewable energies
Renewable or clean energies could be included in this section because, although they do have a certain impact on the environment (visual impact, impact from the installation, etc.) it is much lower than that of non-renewable energies (nuclear, oil). They are called clean energies because they do not generate waste and their maintenance is minimal. Renewable energies are solar, wind, hydraulic and geothermal energy, among others.
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