Why is a Clean Environment Important for a Healthy Life?
Environmental protection not only helps the environment and the animals that live in it. Here you will find some of the reasons why you should consider environmental protection as self-protection and a long-term investment in your own future and the future of your children.
It is about the big picture, of which you are a part and which you influence even if you are not aware of it or if you don’t want to. If everyone starts with themselves and makes their everyday life more environmentally friendly, this can lead to the environment being better off in the long run than it is today.
Your behaviour influences others: if you leave your garbage behind, others are encouraged to do the same
Throwing a small candy wrapper onto the street here, leaving a beverage can somewhere else – what difference does it make? A big one! People influence each other, positively or negatively, consciously or unconsciously.
Let’s assume that nobody would do that, or even participate in clean-up campaigns – how much better and cleaner would the city centres, the adjacent recreation areas, the beaches and oceans look in a few weeks, months and years?
Little things make the difference and train your own behaviour. Try to avoid unnecessary waste and throw any waste paper, no matter how small, into the trash. You can help to change things and get other people to do the same.
You also breathe this air every day: poor air quality causes many types of illness
Toxic emissions damage the ozone layer. Everyone knows that by now. But poor air quality can also cause a variety of diseases. This should be of particular interest to athletes, as they need more oxygen during physical exertion.
Examples of diseases that can be caused by poor air quality are asthma, pneumonia and other lung diseases, as well as certain heart diseases.
Against this background, the best protection against such diseases is to work for a clean environment.
How exactly do you quench your thirst? Clean drinking water has curbed the spread of once deadly diseases
The simple act of chlorinating and filtering drinking water has greatly reduced the incidence of typhoid fever around the world and has practically eradicated the disease from the earth’s surface.
However, the purification of drinking water becomes exponentially more difficult when the source is already contaminated with harmful microorganisms. Therefore, everyone should have an interest in clean drinking water worldwide. You should also be interested if you read in the newspapers that seas, lakes and rivers are polluted by industrial accidents or that fresh water sources are polluted by illegal waste disposal. There is a big water cycle on our planet. This means that once the dirt is in this cycle, it comes back to you one way or another and can harm you too.
Dirt causes stress: a dirty environment can cause psychological stress
Your physical health is not the only thing you should be concerned about in connection with pollution.
Studies show that people generally have lower heart rates and blood pressure when they are shown images of clean nature and a clean environment. However, these values change negatively, so they increase again when they are shown pictures of polluted urban environments.
As stress can damage your mental health, you should have a strong interest in a clean environment for this reason too. A clean environment helps you to reduce stress.
Conclusion
Some simple and easily understandable reasons were given why a clean environment is essential for a healthy life. By helping to keep your environment clean, you can make a positive difference and do something good for yourself. In the future, your self-interest should be an additional motivator to support environmental protection and protect yourself from environmentally related diseases.
Environment FAQ
What is environment?
The expression “environment” can refer to different things:
- All atmosphere layers
- Land, water and air
- All living organisms and organic and inorganic matter
- Roads, works, buildings, facilities and structures
- Ecosystems and ecological relationships
- All economic and social conditions affecting the community
What is pollution?
Pollution refers to different sorts of contamination of land, air or water which, which changes the biological, chemical, thermal or aesthetic properties of water, land and air. Pollution can can make the land, air or water impure or noxious.
Sources of pollution can be:
- emission
- discharge
- wastes
- effluent
- air pollutants
- noise
What is effluent?
Effluent refers to any material in a liquid, solid or gaseous form or a combination thereof that is being discharged from industrial activities or any other source and contains vapor, slurry or suspension.
What is hazardous substance?
Hazardous substance refers to a substance or a mixture of substances which due to its corrosive, chemical, toxic or radioactive nature is capable of causing adverse environmental effects.
What is waste?
Waste refers to any substance or object which is intended to be disposed and includes solid waste, liquid waste, industrial waste, nuclear waste and residues from all types of wastes.
What is the adverse of environmental effect?
The expression “adverse of environmental effect” refers to the impairment of or damage to the environment. It consists of:
The damage to or impairment to human health and safety or to property or biodiversity.
Any other adverse environmental effect as it can be specified in the regulations.
How do people adapt to climate change?
It is important that human beings adapt to the various impacts of climate change. This can be achieved by using technological methods such as consumption habit changes and coastal defenses. Human beings are already getting used to changes in climate and further efforts in adaptation will be necessary for the coming years.
How do humans contribute to climate change?
Most of the activities human beings are doing contribute to climate change since they do cause changes in the earth’s atmosphere either in aerosols, greenhouse gases or cloudiness. For instance, one of the largest contributions comes from fossil fuel burning which releases carbon dioxide gas.
What does eutrophication mean?
“Eutrophication” refers to the process where there is an excessive increase of nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate in water due to the depositing of untreated sewage. It is these nutrients that act as fertilizers which lead to abnormal proliferation of algae. The bacteria number that decomposes organic materials also increases due to an increase in algae population.
What is climate change?
Global warming and climate change are normally used interchangeably. However, climate change is used to refer to both the rise in global temperatures due to activities of human beings and the several impacts it will have on the planet. These impacts can be a rise in sea levels, frequent storms and droughts, warming seas and melting of glaciers.
What type of environment damage does mercury pollution cause?
Mercury refers to a metal that contaminates mollusks, fish, crustaceans and other types of living organisms in lakes, rivers and seas. Mercury will accumulate on the food chain. Whenever human beings feed on contaminated animals, they will also get contaminated which may result in severe nervous system injuries. Some of the main sources of mercury pollution are substances that are derived from agriculture and industries and in the mining of gold.
What does greenhouse effect mean?
There are several gases that surround the earth. A huge percentage of radiation of the solar that gets to the earth is normally reflected back. Gases such as carbon dioxide which form a layer around the earth take in some of the heat. It is this heating of the earth by insulating that is referred to as the greenhouse effect.
What is climate change?
Global warming and climate change are normally used interchangeably. However, climate change is used to refer to both the rise in global temperatures due to activities of human beings and the several impacts it will have on the planet. These impacts can be a rise in sea levels, frequent storms and droughts, warming seas and melting of glaciers.
