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Environmental problems have been a reality for a long time and everything indicates that their trend in the coming years with the increasing economic and social development of our planet. Although in general, many of the environmental problems are common, the truth is that there are also environmental problems in the countryside and in the city according to the most frequent activities.
In Ecologist Verde we will tell you about it and, likewise, we will see that there is a variety of consequences of environmental problems that are serious.
Environmental problems in the city
The environmental problems of cities are more related to the emission of toxic gases, water pollution, excess domestic and industrial garbage, noise and light pollution. These pollutants have consequences on the water, the soil, the atmosphere or the health of people. So, these are the main urban environmental problems.
Atmospheric pollution
Pollution or air pollution is the presence in the air of foreign and harmful substances or the increase in their concentrations. These pollutants can be emitted in the form of gases or as small solid particles, but although they can all be pollutants, their reactions and their half-life is highly variable, so their effect on the health of people or ecosystems is also very variable.
A common phenomenon in several cities of the world that occurs as a consequence of air pollution is photochemical smog. This smog is, above all, a consequence of the emission of toxic gases such as nitrogen oxides emitted by industries, vehicles, heating systems or the use of aerosols, lacquers, paints and other chemicals. In the atmosphere, these nitrogen oxides react with the sun's rays and give rise to other pollutants such as sulfur dioxide. This photochemical smog can occasionally be seen over large cities as a dense fog, especially in those with heavy traffic, sunny and with little air movement.
In addition to polluting the atmosphere, photochemical smog also causes health problems for people, damage to nearby forest and agricultural areas or damage to the health of animals.
Domestic and industrial waste
Garbage or household waste such as plastics, paper, food scraps, cardboard and different types of packaging dirty cities and many of its components are not biodegradable, but they also affect the air in cities, soils and waters. This is due to the fact that when they accumulate in garbage dumps and landfills they produce toxic gases and percolated from degraded organic matter (a situation that worsens with the dragging of the rains). In addition, landfills are a source for the proliferation of microorganisms.
Water pollution
The waters of cities can be polluted by infiltration of chemicals into groundwater, industrial and urban waste. There is increasing water pollution and these damaged waters can also be sources of disease for people. For this reason, drinking water is usually purified in wastewater treatment plants.
Sound, light and visual pollution
These types of pollution often go unnoticed and are typical of cities. They are created due to the various activities that take place in a city such as traffic, works or leisure activities. These contaminations mainly cause damage to health such as stress, sleep problems, problems such as deafness or vision.
Learn more about these types of pollution in these other Green Ecologist articles
- Noise or noise pollution: examples, causes and consequences
- Light pollution: definition, causes and consequences
- Visual pollution: causes, consequences and solutions.
Environmental problems in the field
They are usually produced mainly due to human activities that take place in the field, although there are also natural ones, and they have an impact on nature, and can cause damage to ecosystems and biodiversity. The main environmental problems in the field are:
Agricultural pollution
The agricultural activity that frequently takes place in the field generates various environmental problems. One of these is derived from use of pesticides, pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers during these activities. These products generate atmospheric, soil and water pollution. Pollution in turn causes damage to the ecosystem and its biodiversity.
Deforestation and desertification
The indiscriminate felling of the forest or its burning to obtain land for agricultural, livestock or infrastructure construction has serious consequences for the environment, such as an increase in carbon dioxide emissions or a reduction in its absorption. Deforestation is a very important environmental problem since it also has global effects such as its contribution to climate change.
One of the consequences of deforestation, together with overgrazing, agricultural cultivation or the advance of deserts and reduced rainfall, is the desertification of the land. One of its consequences is the increased sedimentation of rivers and lakes.
Erosion
The decrease in vegetation in ecosystems contributes to the action of wind and water dragging fertile soil to other places, leading to soil erosion. For example, sediments pushed to the seabed can bury its vegetation or cover caves.
Eutrophication
Eutrophication consists of an increase in nutrients in freshwater and coastal ecosystems, giving rise to an increase in plankton and surface algae that do not allow the diffusion of oxygen into deep waters and, as a consequence, fish and fish die off. other species. These nutrients can reach these ecosystems from residues from agricultural, industrial or deforestation activities.
If you want to read more articles similar to Environmental problems in the countryside and in the city, we recommend that you enter our category of Other environment.
