Environment protection – a smart practice to protect us and our planet

Before moving to the need of Environment Protection, let’s begin with what the term "environment" means.

In our daily lives and in almost any sphere of our work we commonly come across the term "environment" or aspects related to it. But, do we really understand what this word means?

The word environment defines a place or atmosphere in which all living organisms dwell and survive within their own favorable zones.

In simpler terms, it is the entire natural surroundings around us that form the basis of our survival and the reason for our planet’s existence. Thus, our environment is something that we shouldn’t be neglecting. Although nature and its creatures have been created in such a way that they can adapt to the constant changes to survive and sustain lives in their own favorable way, the constant human interventions have disrupted this natural process causing extensive destruction in more than one single way.

Hence, it is critical for us to protect our environment so as to reduce the devastating impacts on the ecosystems caused by a myriad of anthropogenic activities. Thus the act of protecting our environment refers to the actions actively taken and adapted to protect and save our environment from the dire and vandalizing impact of human and human-made activities.

Protecting the environment must come as second nature to humans as it is more of a moral obligation for humans to protect and conserve the environment that we live in from pollution and other detrimental activities that lead to environmental degradation. Evidently, environmental degradation in the long run directly threatens the health of all the inhabitants forming the eco-system i.e. animals, humans and plants.

Events like air, soil and water pollution, global warming, deforestation, wildfires, acid rains, smog, excessive mining, oil spillage and the like are the main causes of environmental degradation and pollution that we are facing right now.

One doesn’t need to offer financial help or conduct one or two days campaign to spread the notion to save or protect the environment, rather as "charity begins at home", with everyday simple habits and changes in one’s lifestyle this can become possible yielding long-term positive results by gradually reducing carbon footprints.

Everywhere on this planet, wherever life exists, all species live together and depend on one another. Being co-related and co-dependent we as a civilization and ecosystem are so much dependent on each factor that the absence or disbalance of any will make it hard for us to adapt, survive and sustain. A phenomenon like pollution, global warming, high pressure of growth in population, overconsumption, technological advancement, climate change, or interfering human activities has numerous unforeseen impacts, that snowball into the destruction of entire ecosystems.

What is environmental protection?

Environmental protection is the practice by which you can protect your natural habitat from other individuals, organisations, or from governments. Protecting the environment means conserving, reserving the current trends and repairing the damages done to the existing natural resources.

Therefore, in other words, environmental protection can be described as an act of preventing and protecting unwanted changes to the fundamental parts of the ecosystem due to human activities. The measures taken to protect the environment are mainly associated with the small steps you as an individual and a responsible inhabitant of the environment take.

Importance of practicing environmental protection and 7 ways we can follow that –

Tremendous changes are irreversible as a lot of degradation cannot be fixed for a span of hundreds of years. If we fail to protect our environment or wait any longer then we might as well start losing components of our ecosystem causing disruption and imbalance in the biodiversity. Educating people about these causes and explaining the ways to protect our environment by small changes in behaviour and attitude towards life are the main keys to achieving our goals.

What actions/reasons cause damage to our environment?

• Untreated air emissions emitted into the atmosphere due to commercial and industrial activity leads rise in the level of greenhouse gases.
• Pieces of land left unused for many years pose a threat of potential contamination.
• Depleting of the ozone layer due to Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a type of inert chemical released from refrigerators and air conditioners.
• Drastic and sudden climate changes due to increased industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. The reduction of carbon sinks in the ocean can also be the cause of the same.
• Commercial wastes are created and emitted from industrial or commercial production.
• Excessive removal of silt and mud and disruption of the rock bedding of the river can cause floods, this process is called dredging.
• Wearing of land away with time i.e. soil erosion.
• Usage of different hazardous materials like chemical pollutants that are corrosive, flammable or toxic in nature or agricultural field run-offs into water bodies.
• Smog is a direct result of industrial emissions and smoke from burning waste materials.

Being consumers we are dependent on these things and the key is not to stop consuming, but we need to start becoming mindful of our consumption habits and how our activities effects and impact our environment.

The good news is that it’s neither too difficult, nor too expensive or inconvenient for us to practice and incorporate environment-friendly options in our day-to-day life. You can begin it as a fun challenge for yourself and implement it among your family or coworkers. And gradually you’ll notice that these small changes which at an individual level may seem trivial initially, compounded over the years into behavioral modifications resulting in a cleaner and healthier planet and surroundings