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Environmental Issues

Globally, environmental degradation is a major issue and is one of the most important sources of carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon emissions are noted as the release of carbon dioxide gases and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Carbon emissions are mainly caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and human production of items. In addition, these human activities catalyze the emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, which are key contributors to the greenhouse effect, due to heat being trapped in the Earth's atmosphere and further leading to global warming. Those problems have continued to rise over the past 30 years, the data has indicated the amount of carbon emission has increased by over 60% throughout the past 30 years. In 2023, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported global carbon emissions as a total amount of 37.01 billion metric tons (GtCO₂), this high amount of carbon emission has negatively affected society. Furthermore, high carbon emissions also hurt urban air quality and human health. Many industrial activities produce matter ​​and other pollutants, which harm both the environment and the community. As cities expand, transportation and energy consumption add significantly to the carbon footprint, making the problem continue to become worse. Global warming might be one of the most serious problems caused by carbon emissions. Global average temperatures have risen about 1.1°C since the Industrial Revolution period, according to the journal from MIT, over 1.5°C could lead to serious damage. Moreover, the global warming problem has already affected the environment, typically the ecosystem. Ice and glacier melt have resulted in sea level rise; sea levels could rise by over a meter by 2100, displacing millions of people all over the world. 

Not only does the large factor industry produce carbon emissions, but the human daily activity of transportation and the process of producing daily use items also directly contribute to carbon emissions. The carbon footprint appears in every field, even though that activity might not seem that harmful to the environment; however, it is tremendous when it's being added up. Moving on, not only do carbon emissions issues result in damage to our environment, but land pollution issues also result in inestimable damage. Damage to the ecosystem is a significant problem caused by land pollution, which directly contributes to the loss of biodiversity. Pollutants in soil result in damage to microorganisms that keep the soil healthy, limiting its ability to support plant growth. This directly threatens ecosystems that rely on a diverse diet. According to the United Nations, roughly 24 billion tons of fertile soil are lost due to land pollution, which forces animals to migrate or die from a lack of resources, or the hastening demise of local ecosystems. This loss of fertile soil not only threatens biodiversity but also causes disruption to natural food chains, and creates long-term ecological instability to the environment. In consequence, carbon emissions driven by human activities significantly contribute to global warming and environmental degradation, which impacts air quality, human health problems, and the ecosystem. 

Cause of The Problem

Figure 1

The causes of carbon emission and pollution problems are deeply related to both human activity and caused by natural events. Human activity such as burning fossil fuels and transportation emissions further damage the environment. Those events release vast amounts of carbon dioxide and contribute to over half of carbon emissions problems, leading to air pollution problems. As the process of combustion results in the carbon stored originally in the burning material is released and transformed into carbon dioxide gas, as Figure 1 has shown, the greenhouse gas produced throughout the industrial process will be captured within the atmosphere, leading to global warming effect form, due to the greenhouse gas cannot be eliminated. In addition, the deforestation process further leads to air pollution problems, as trees can absorb carbon dioxide in the air by the process of carbon sequestration. Nevertheless, deforestation interrupts this natural process by reducing the carbon capacity of forests. Deforestation causes erosion and the disintegration of soil structure, as there is no tree root to hold the soil together. This does not only affect air quality but even further leads to land degradation and loss of biodiversity. Human activity of transporting goods and producing goods, typically 1 times the use of equipment, has a huge negative impact on the environment since the production of those products requires eliminating carbon dioxide in the environment; it has caused more than half the world's carbon emission problem. 

Natural causes are another factor that causes both air and land pollution problems, one significant example is volcano eruption. When volcanoes erupt, it releases CO₂ from the Earth’s mantle into the atmosphere, causing a carbon emission problem, the amoun​​t of carbon dioxide being released throughout the process is over millions of tons. Moreover, wildfires happen naturally in large portions of the forest, and the combustion process also results in carbon emission problems. Consider volcanic eruptions and wildfires if natural disasters are not caused by humans, the damage they cause can not be controlled. 

Purpose Environmental Protection

No matter whether caused by human activity or by nature, all of those events will cause irreversible damage to the environment. According to the data, the pollution problem typically focuses on carbon emissions and hurts the ecosystem. The purpose of environmental protection is significant; environmental protection doesn’t only preserve biodiversity; it can even benefit the human community. Environmental protection aims to preserve the planet’s biodiversity, which can promote sustainable development for future generations. As natural disasters cannot be prevented, people must consider alternative ways to protect the environment. Taiwanese communities need to understand the purpose of environmental protection, because the issues resulting from environmental pollution are all around us, such as transportation and equipment when all carbon footprints are consumed, meaning that carbon emissions are necessary to accomplish all those tasks. Without environmental protection, loss of species and habitat can lead to ecological collapse, reducing the capacity of the land to carry fresh water, fertile soil, air, and other resources bringing a new breath to it.

Environmental protection helps to maintain a delicate balance and ensures that systems can remain in good internal working order. Therefore, the goal of environmental protection is important, not only to protect species but also to protect the natural system from human dependence. To conclude, environmental protection also provides a clean source; without proper conservation efforts, soil erosion can severely damage agricultural production, leading to food shortages and economic problems.