Development-environmental impact
We are proclaiming economic progress to be index of development. There is no doubt tat development based on such parameters leaves an impact on the environment.
Industries, which are the symbols of development, have turned our ponds and lake into cesspools of pollution. We have destroyed the forests, without discretion. Several forests have been compressed into much smaller sizes. Many multipurpose projects have drowned hundreds of thousands of acres of even reserved forests. Some developmental projects have destroyed the environment around them when they were first set up while some others continue to damage it in some way or the others years after they started.
Changes in land use pattern have dried up lakes. Rivers have been made to change their course. Water that used to be freely available to all living forms alike has now become a buyable consumer product. Clean and safe drinking water is getting bottle and is available at a cost, to only those few who can afford to buy. Much of the naturally available free water is polluted.
The air we breathe is polluted and we have to travel kilometers to reach a green patch, a park or a garden, for some fresh air. Many animals and plant species have become extinct. Some wild animal species are seen only in Zoo Parks and a few wild plants are available only for exhibition in botanical gardens.
Indeed, our so called development has cost us dearly!
Development sectors
Agriculture- service – industrial
Land consumerism fuel
Water consumption raw material
Seeds patterns
Fertilizers
Pesticides
The adverse effects of pollution on the environment
The environment has been further harmed by industrialization, urbanization and due to changes in the transport system. The rising pollution on the roads due to increasing number of vehicles has led to respiratory diseases. Trees are being cut down to expand roads.
Industrial and vehicular pollution have caused global warming due to the greenhouse effect, causing serve changes in seasons. Climate is intensifying with both heat cold showing extreme readings. These frightening climatic changes are due o the environmental disturbances caused by our developmental activities. In the same of development, forest areas are being pushed back for agriculture. Even reserved forests are being exploited for this, first through shifting agriculture of slash and burn method and then through a settled form.
A further shift has also occurred in land use. Agricultural are turning into industrial areas initially, an industry is put up in an area and is soon followed by ancillary units. The whole area turns into one big industrial estate in no time. Increase, the civic amenities become so bad that the workers themselves protest against them.
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