The initial step in addressing the current impact of human activities involves accurately recognizing the nature of humanity’s connection with the environment and understanding how human actions influence that connection. Many individuals still perceive the environment as a challenge to be overcome, viewing environmental needs as something to be weighed against human needs. The prevalent perspective often sees the environment merely as a source of commodities or a receptacle for waste.
When prompted to identify humanity’s primary environmental issues, people commonly think of running out of nonrenewable resources and energy, or concerns related to water and air pollution. Research and development institutions in environmental science concentrate on technological solutions for each problem, such as the use of fuel cells for clean, potentially renewable energy or scrubbers to mitigate smokestack pollution. Even when individuals express concern about biodiversity loss, their focus tends to be primarily on preventing the extinction of species, rather than delving into the underlying causes leading to species extinctions or the broader biological crisis that these extinctions signify. Our perceptions of the external world, particularly the environment, reflect the type of consciousness prevalent within us.
These perspectives overlook a critical aspect: the significance of pollution, energy consumption, extinction, and numerous other human impacts lies in their consequences on life. Ecosystems, particularly their living components, have consistently served as the foundation fueling human economies. In times of small populations, humans deriving sustenance from nature’s abundance caused minimal disruption, comparable to other species. However, with nearly 8 billion people now inhabiting or utilizing resources from every corner of the Earth, humans are surpassing the capacity of other life forms to thrive and depleting the planet’s natural resources. One species is jeopardizing Earth’s ability to sustain the intricate living systems that evolved over millions of years.
The link between biotic impoverishment and extinction is evidently apparent. Whether through overharvesting fish, excessive deforestation, overgrazing in grasslands, or urbanization encroaching upon land, we are unequivocally either killing organisms directly or eradicating their habitats, ultimately driving species towards extinction and diminishing the richness of biodiversity. However, biotic impoverishment manifests in various forms beyond extinction, encompassing three categories of human impacts on the biosphere:
Indirect depletion of living systems through alterations in physical and chemical environments, Direct depletion of nonhuman life, and Direct degradation of human life.
Recognizing and comprehending the biological implications of our actions, encompassing their impact on living systems, including our social and economic frameworks, are essential for formulating effective strategies to oversee our influences.
Indirect Impact on Biotic Systems
Human activities influence nearly all the physical and chemical systems crucial for sustaining life: water, soils, air, and the interconnected biogeochemical cycles. Certain human-induced alterations to physical and chemical aspects have no immediate impact on biota, while others act as catalysts for biotic impoverishment.
Water degradation stands out prominently
People invest considerable energy, finances, and time in regulating the movement and availability of water, surpassing efforts directed at any other natural resource. Throughout this process, water becomes contaminated, relocated beyond natural basins, and its surface and groundwater get depleted. Human interventions include modifying the timing and volume of river flow, straightening or constructing dikes to confine rivers, and manipulating natural flood patterns. Consequently, we modify the quantity, timing, and chemical composition of freshwater reaching coastal regions, leading to the desiccation of wetlands, lakes, and inland seas. The demand for this nonrenewable resource is surpassing its availability, and the extensive transformations we undertake pose a risk of altering the global water cycle.
Soil Impoverishment
Far from just being mere dirt, soil functions as a living system, facilitating the physical and chemical assembly, disassembly, and reassembly of raw elements from air, water, and bedrock. This intricate process is aided by living macro- and microorganisms, culminating in the sustenance of life above ground. Developed over millennia, soil lacks the capacity for renewal within a timeframe beneficial to contemporary humans or even their descendants.
Human activities contribute to soil degradation through compaction, erosion, disturbance of its organic and inorganic structure, increased salinity, and the onset of desertification. Urbanization, logging, mining, overgrazing, shifts in soil moisture, air pollution, fires, chemical pollution, and leaching of minerals all inflict damage or lead to the destruction of soils. The removal of vegetative cover, mining, agriculture, and various other activities contribute to the erosion of the world’s topsoils by wind and water at rates ten to hundreds of times faster than they can naturally regenerate.
Chemical Contamination
Presently, there are up to 100,000 synthetic chemicals in active use. In alignment with one company’s slogan, many of these chemicals have indeed delivered “better living through chemistry,” introducing advancements such as new fabrics, lighter manufacturing materials, antibiotics, and life-saving drugs.
However, industrial activities have indiscriminately introduced chemicals into every conceivable medium. A diverse array of chemicals, including pesticides, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals discharged from sewage plants, and cancer-causing by-products from various manufacturing processes, now permeate the world’s water, soil, air, and the organisms inhabiting these environments, including humans. These chemicals not only directly harm organisms by acting as poisons but also accumulate in the physical surroundings, traversing through and often concentrating within segments of the food web. Chemicals have been linked to cancer, disruption of hormonal systems, asthma induction, and impairment of immune system function.
Moreover, they exhibit intergenerational effects, such as cognitive impairment in children born to mothers who consumed contaminated fish. Additionally, more than half a century of excessive pesticide and antibiotic use has led to the development of resistance among insects, plants, and microbes, contributing to the emergence of new and recurring illnesses.
Altered Biogeochemical Processes
The substances inherent in living organisms, such as water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur, undergo cycles in ecosystems known as biogeochemical cycles. Human activities have the capacity to modify, or have already modified, all these cycles. In certain instances, the outcomes arise from changes in the quantity or precise chemistry of the cycled substance, while in other cases, humans impact biogeochemical cycles by altering the biota itself.
Activities such as freshwater use, dam construction, and various engineering projects influence the volume and pace of river flow to the oceans, escalating evaporation rates. These actions directly impact the water cycle and indirectly lead to the depletion of aquatic life. Direct human interventions in living systems also induce changes in the water cycle. Human activities have disrupted the global nitrogen cycle by significantly increasing the amount of nitrogen fixed from the atmosphere, primarily through intentional nitrogen addition to soils as fertilizer and as a by-product of fossil fuel combustion. Agriculture, livestock farming, and residential yard maintenance consistently introduce substantial excess nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus, into soils and water.
Global Climate Change
In its 2014 report, composed and assessed by over 3800 scientists from 195 countries worldwide, the typically cautious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2014) unequivocally declared, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal.” Aligned with the global scientific consensus, the report affirms that “Human influence on the climate system is clear,” and recent human-induced “emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history” (p. 2). It emphasizes that “The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen.”
Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases currently stand at the highest levels “in at least the last 800,000 years,” with their effects being “extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of observed global warming” (p. 4). The 20th century in the Northern Hemisphere was the warmest of the past millennium. Globally, all but one of the first 15 years of the 21st century recorded the highest temperatures in history, and 2015 emerged as the hottest year ever documented.
Elevated concentrations of greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide, and heightened global temperatures trigger a cascade of effects. In regions where other nutrients are not limiting, increased carbon dioxide concentrations may potentially enhance plant photosynthesis and growth. The rise in temperatures accelerates the onset of spring by one or more weeks in the Northern Hemisphere. These escalating temperatures are causing shifts in the ranges of numerous plants and animals, both in the wild and domestic spheres, potentially reshuffling the composition and distribution of global biomes, as well as agricultural systems. The resultant displacements carry profound implications not only for the affected flora and fauna but also for the essential goods and services derived from these living systems that people rely upon.
Direct Diminishment of Nonhuman Life
Since the advent of the Neolithic Era and the accompanying exclusivity consciousness, humans have evolved into highly inefficient ecosystem engineers and predators, aided by machinery. Our actions involve transforming the land to meet our needs and desires, harvesting both the oceans and our own fields, and covering even agricultural landscapes with expansive cities. These endeavors directly impact the survival and reproductive capabilities of other life forms. The depletion of nonhuman life occurs through the elimination of certain species and the favoring of others, resulting in a loss of genetic, population, species, and higher-order taxonomic diversity.
We are irreversibly homogenizing life on Earth, essentially engaging in unnatural selection that erases the diversity shaped by millions of years of evolution through natural selection. One species is now dictating which other species will endure, reproduce, and consequently contribute to the raw material for future evolutionary processes.
Biotic Standardization
As expressed by Wilson (1994, p. 355), “The one process ongoing… that will take millions of years to correct, is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.” Whether intentional or inadvertent, human activities are reorganizing Earth’s living components, leading to a reduction in diversity and the standardization of biotas globally. The current ongoing loss of genetic diversity, populations, and species far surpasses natural background rates. Simultaneously, our global economy is facilitating the unprecedented transportation of species worldwide.
The planet is currently witnessing its sixth mass extinction, the most significant since the disappearance of dinosaurs 65 million years ago; contemporary extinction rates are estimated to be 100–1000 times higher than those before human dominance on Earth. According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), a 5-year initiative launched in 2001 to evaluate the world’s ecosystems, an estimated 10–15% of the world’s species are predicted to face extinction by 2035. Approximately 20% of all vertebrates, including 33% of sharks and rays, are at risk of extinction.
Moreover, at least one in every eight plant species is under the threat of extinction. While mammals and birds often receive more attention, the massive extinctions of plants, which constitute the foundation of the biosphere’s food webs, undermine the foundational support for life. Mutualistic relationships between animals and plants, particularly evident in tropical forests, mean that extinctions in one group have cascading effects in other groups. For instance, plants dependent on animals for pollination or seed dispersal face threats when the animal species they rely on become extinct. Notably, some scientists consider extinction the most severe biological tragedy, yet it is just one among various symptoms of global biotic impoverishment.
Genetic Manipulation
While traditional breeding practices have been employed for centuries, the latter part of the 20th century witnessed a direct manipulation of genes. Utilizing tools from molecular biotechnology, scientists successfully cloned sheep and cows from adult body cells. The emergence of gene-editing technologies, known as gene drives, has raised the prospect of transforming or eradicating entire species in their natural habitats. In the United States, farmers routinely cultivate genetically modified crops, such as corn with genetic material incorporating a bacterial gene resistant to specific pathogens. Since 1992, over 40 genetically altered crops, featuring genes borrowed from bacteria, viruses, and insects, have received approval for sale to US farmers. Notably, the United States contributes to nearly two-thirds of globally planted biotechnology crops.
As of 2013, 174 million hectares in 24 countries on six continents were dedicated to genetically modified crops worldwide, marking a 100-fold areal expansion in less than two decades. Biotechnologists focus on the potential of this new-millennium green revolution to address the food needs of the growing world population, which has seen an addition of more than 1 billion people in the past decade alone. However, concerns about unknown human and ecological health risks have sparked deep scientific and public debates, particularly in Europe, reminiscent of the discussions surrounding pesticides during Rachel Carson’s era.
One alarming practice in plant genetic engineering involves attaching the desired genes to an antibiotic-resistant gene, enabling the easy identification of plants that have acquired the desired traits through antibiotic treatment. Critics express concerns that antibiotic-resistant genes may transfer to human pathogens, exacerbating the growing antibiotic-resistance problem. Another apprehension stems from potential allergies that humans might develop in response to genetically modified foods.
Holding a Tremendous Opportunity amidst the Alarming Threats
In the face of disconcerting revelations about the perilous consequences of human activities on the environment, contemporary humanity, propelled by its evolving consciousness, is presented with a remarkable opportunity to rediscover the intrinsic significance of the environment in shaping the quality of life.
Embarking on the transformative journey from an exclusive mindset to an evolved consciousness offers humanity an unparalleled chance to protect our environment. This heightened awareness has the potential to instigate a profound shift in our lifestyles – transitioning from consumerist inclinations to simplicity and charity, thereby substantially mitigating the industrial activities responsible for fossil fuel combustion.
The inherent potential within us can serve as energy to adopt environmentally friendly practices such as recycling, composting, adopting renewable energy sources, choosing organic and locally sourced foods, avoiding single-use plastics, and supporting sustainable transportation methods such as public transportation. or ride a bike. Furthermore, extending support to green companies, organizations or initiatives that advocate ecological products, services or solutions becomes a significant step in this transformative process.
These groundbreaking initiatives, propelled by our evolved consciousness, stand at the forefront heralding a new era of environmental conservation and the pursuit of a sustainable planet. Let us seize this extraordinary opportunity to collectively contribute to the well-being of our world.