Critical Threats to the Global Environment (Research Paper Sample)

Critical Threats to the Global EnvironmentStudent’s Name Institutional Affiliation Critical Threats to the Global Environment Since it provides a source of life for the plants and animals that people depend on for sustenance, the global ecosystem is essential to humanity. A variety of human activities that sustain their way of life depend on the environment. To guarantee human life, the environment must be safeguarded. Unfortunately, it is hard to create a healthy global ecosystem due to several natural and man-made factors. This article examines the effects of the worldwide usage of fossil fuels and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the ecosystem in great detail. The essay will also examine how people contribute to the detrimental effects of COVID-19 and fossil fuels on the environment and suggest ways to mitigate these effects. Because the COVID-19 outbreak was unexpected by the globe, it affected the majority of enterprises and sectors. Considering there is a necessity to protect the population from the threat of sickness, the majority of governments and health institutions reacted in a panic. The pandemic's effects on the environment were facilitated by the haste to save afflicted individuals and safeguard others. Due to the breadth of higher healthcare waste, haphazard PPE disposal, higher municipal waste generation, and decreased recycling operations, COVID-19 had a detrimental influence on the environment. Addressing these issues is crucial for environmental preservation since they have played a significant role in the pandemic's environmental contamination. Fossil fuels remain to play a significant role in environmental contamination. The environment has long been impacted by people and industries’ reliance on fossil fuel energy, particularly as a result of greenhouse gas emissions. The main focus of discussions on climate change has been the release of greenhouse gases. There are several serious adverse effects of global warming on the environment, particularly the influence on weather conditions. Additionally, as the operations required to extract fossil fuels occupy large areas of land, they hurt ecosystems and aesthetic value. The Effect of COVID-19 on the Global Environment Factors that Make COVID-19 a Serious Risk to the Global Environment The international population was greatly impacted by the global distribution of the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) between late 2019 and early 2020. By influencing the livelihood of billions of people in the social, economic, health, and social spheres, COVID-19 has typically worsened human misery (Mofijur et al., 2021). Since countries and public health organizations are concentrating more on limiting the epidemic and preserving lives, the globe is confronted with the issue of coping with the pandemic due to the serious environmental effects of COVID-19. This implies that the environmental repercussions of COVID-19 are not given priority, creating the risk that the world will continue to struggle with environmental harm even after COVID-19 is defeated (Elsaid et al., 2021). To prevent causing new issues while addressing one of the obstacles, it is important to guarantee that the epidemic and its impact on the environment are given fair attention. The effects of COVID-19 on the environment provide an expansion in medical waste, haphazard disposal of PPE, an upsurge in municipal trash output, and a decline in recycling efforts. the elements of soil, air, water, and hazardous waste contamination that have an impact on the environment globally. With the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic, there has been a rise in hazardous material (gloves, masks, syringes, needles, used tissue papers, bandages, and more), which has an impact on both human health and the environment (Shakil et al., 2020). The collection of specimens for COVID-19 testing, diagnosis, and medication of millions of patients results in a large amount of infectious and biological waste being created in healthcare institutions (Rume & Islam, 2020). During the epidemic, Wuhan, China, is said to have created at least 240 metric tonnes of medical waste per day (Rume & Islam, 2020). India was also severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and as a result, daily medical waste increased from 550 kg to 1000 kilograms (Rume & Islam, 2020). These are only a few instances of how much medical waste is generated throughout the world; the amount generated globally is astounding. Given the sudden increase in hazardous waste and the difficulty of managing it correctly, most nations' resources are scarce, particularly in emerging nations. The careless disposal of personal protective equipment (PPE) is the second aspect of COVID-19 that has an impact on the environment. COVID-19 boosted the use of protective coverings to prevent the illness from spreading to individuals, patients, and medical professionals (Rume & Islam, 2020). Unfortunately, little thought was given to how the protecting materials were discarded because of the limited movement caused by lockdowns. The shutdown of several government agencies in charge of trash management also had a role in this (Shakil et al., 2020). The fact that the general population had access to these materials and was not accustomed to employing protective measures made matters worse because they could not properly dispose of them. According to reports, China produced 14.8 million masks every day, but due to a lack of information about the proper disposal of contagious debris, individuals dumped these PPEs in public areas (Rume & Islam, 2020). Face masks and other PPEs made of plastic are well-known sources of microplastic fibers. The third way that COVID-19 may have an impact on the environment is through the higher output of municipal solid trash and decreased recycling efforts. Environmental effects were generated directly and immediately by an increase in urban trash output. Due to lockdowns and quarantines during the pandemic, there was a growing market for internet shopping and transportation. This led to a rise in household garbage (Mofijur et al., 2021). Most nations stopped recycling garbage as a result of the measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 since such businesses had to be shut down to safeguard their staff (Mofijur et al., 2021). Some nations forbade infected people from sorting their rubbish, which led to an increase in household waste. The Role Humans Play in Aggravating COVID-19 to the Earth’s Environment The impact of Covid-19 on the environment was significantly exacerbated by humans. Higher healthcare waste, careless PPE disposal, higher municipal waste output, and decreased disposal methods were the identified problems linked to COVID-19 and its impact on the environment (Rume & Islam, 2020). All of these elements are related to people, and the degree to which they misbehave about the causes has enhanced the environmental effect (Mofijur et al., 2021). Humans had a crucial part in the rise in medical waste brought on by the need to test, diagnose, and treat COVID-19 because they had control over how the infectious and biological waste utilized in the process was disposed of. It was anticipated that waste disposal would be structured and the community would be made aware of the need for and procedures for handling medical waste properly. Nevertheless, waste management was not a major concern since everyone was so busy trying to stop the disease's progress. Humans were also a factor in the careless disposal of PPEs since they discarded used items improperly and promptly replaced worn-out PPEs with new ones (Mofijur et al., 2021). Because they were unable to walk about and clean the environment to fight the epidemic, those who stayed indoors spent more time in their houses where they purchased meals online and disposed of unwanted goods improperly. Initiatives the Global Community Can Take to Mitigate COVID-19’s Effects on the Environment The world community may employ a few tactics to lessen the consequences of COVID-19 on the environment. Increasing public awareness of the idea of PPEs is one technique. Since there are still positive instances, the pandemic isn't done, therefore individuals will continue to use protective measures like face masks, gloves, disinfectants, glasses, and more to keep themselves safe (Elsaid et al., 2021). Therefore, governments and organizations like the UN need to work together and educate the public on how to deal with such items. As part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, governments and non-governmental organizations can collaborate with the business sector to support trash management projects (Elsaid et al., 2021). These collaborations can assist in generating funding that will support the ongoing management of medical and PPE waste in homes and cities. Finally, to guarantee that trash recycling companies continue to operate during lockdowns and help recycle garbage to limit its disposal in the environment, governments might create exceptions. This will lessen the quantity of rubbish that is dumped in public spaces. The Effect of the Use of Fossil Fuels as an Energy Source Factors that Make the Use of Fossil Fuels a Serious Risk The need for energy to sustain the production of food and other items essential for human life grows as the world's population expands. Energy is a continual requirement for businesses to maintain their manufacturing processes (Marsh, 2021). Since they are natural and created through a natural process from the decay of materials under the earth's surface, fossil fuels are one source of energy that is relied upon internationally. Samples of fossil fuels are natural gas, coal, and crude oil (Perera, 2018). Fossil fuels, though, have a price that negatively impacts the environment in several ways, such as evaporation and water displacing, global warming, soil degradation, water contamination, and air pollution. Global wa...