Environmental Destruction

Environmental destruction is something that plagues the planet for the fact that it threatens life itself. This can be seen through deforestation (loss of habitat for hundreds of thousands of species), droughts (shortened water supply) and oceanic acidification (destruction of major food source and ecosystems)

Deforestation is a type of habitat loss where there is a decrease in forest areas across the world. This is due to many different factors, of these include: agriculture, urbanization, mining, and residential developments. Deforestation has been negatively affecting natural ecosystems since the 1960s. 

Agriculture is the number one cause of deforestation by almost 80%, 33% of which is due to subsistence farming in developing countries. 40% of forest loss is due to commercial and industrial agriculture (livestock as well as crops) in search of space to grow food, biofuel and fibers (beans, palm oil, beef, rice, cotton etc)

Droughts are periods of unusual amounts of nonstop dry weather that continues long enough to cause catastrophic problems such as crop damages and water shortages. Atmospheric change can cause droughts due to: climate change, ocean temperatures, changes in the jet stream as well as changes within the landscape.

Since the industrial revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide within the atmosphere has increased dramatically due to human activities. During this increase, the pH of the surface ocean has fallen by 0.1 pH units; this factor represents ~30% increase in oceanic acidity.  Ocean acidification impacts many species and harms their development. For example, oysters and corals utilize vitamins in the ocean water to build skeletons, with the increase in acidity, those skeletons can begin to dissolve. This and so many more impacts also impact the human race, as with decreased biodiversity and more fragility to ocean environments, there is less phytoplankton to filter carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as well as less food source to sustain life.