Thousands of years ago, no mobile phones, laptops, computers, etc. And the lack of these was a significant problem in those days. Distance Communication was more challenging; knowing new things was hard. But due to technological advancement, it has become more accessible. And nowadays it is advancing much more. Through artificial intelligence, robots are created to do things humans do and can’t do in self-driving vehicles. Also, augmented reality brought our world into another dimension. Due to the lack of medical facilities, many people died back then. But how many lives were saved thanks to our medical advancement? Even though there are many positive elements of technology, negative ones also exist. If we are creating something, it will have both positive and negative effects. There are many adverse effects of technology that are destroying nature. Yes, technology is beneficial, but we must also know that it harms nature. Let’s see the Top 10 Reasons Why Technology Is Destroying Nature:
1. Mining
Have you ever thought about how our mobile phones are made? You probably might not. And if you do, then you know how technology affects our environment. Many different materials are used in mobile phones, and these are taken from mining. Mining causes climate change due to high carbon costs and energy consumption. It also causes water pollution, deforestation, and the release of harmful gases into the air. It costs both humans and the environment. Now, think about the number of phones being made and the number of resources being used. Can you understand the problem now?
2. High Energy Use
Even though making technological devices needs natural resources, making that into actual products needs massive energy. Data banks and servers also use a tremendous amount of energy. These energy sources are primarily non-renewable, which can’t be retained. Thus, using it will lead to various problems in our environment.
3. Electronic Waste (E-Waste)
We use technology all the time. And when something went wrong in it, or it is damaged; We just throw it off. We don’t know the story after that. These end up as dumps, and only a small amount is recycled. These dumps result in a toxic mixture that joins with waterways and causes water pollution. Living organisms using this water will have serious health problems. Recycling e-waste has tremendous benefits, like mineral restoration. To avoid environmental problems caused by e-waste; recycling is the only way.
4. Air Pollution
You might think, what does technology have to do with air pollution? We use mobile phones, laptops, etc., but it is not connected to air pollution. Well, the truth is technology causes air pollution. The industrial revolution caused massive changes in our world as power stations, factories, vehicles, etc. The gases released from these processes are the significant causes of air pollution, leading to various health problems.
5. Depletion Of Natural Resources
We began to see this world and know about this world from nature. But as we grew, we started to exploit it knowingly or unknowingly. Natural resources can be renewable or non-renewable, which means retainable and non-retainable resources, respectively. We reduce these resources through deforestation, mining, soil erosion, overconsumption of water usage, fossil fuels, etc. These are all due to technological advancement.
6. High Radiation
Did you ever start your day without using a mobile phone? To do your work, you need a laptop or computer. Our lives are connected to technology this much. To make all this, Wi-Fi and internet connection are significant, which generate high radiation. This radiation causes various health problems. Not only humans but animals also suffer from it. This radiation causes the extinction of many birds.
7. Deforestation
We have improved a lot in technology like communication, transport, etc. We have the latest facilities for many things we didn’t have years ago. So, to implement this, we are clearing many trees, for example, creating a new tower or something like that. The advancement of technology was helpful in many ways. But still, cutting down trees for our sake without thinking about the organism living in the forest is incorrect. Due to this, a lot of species are extinct. Also, this is the primary reason for climate change.
8. Water Pollution
Increase in technology results in more factories and industries creating many products. The release of more gaseous emissions from these factories causes water pollution. Nitrogen from these gases aids the growth of algae which stops the oxygen for the aquatic organism resulting in the slow death of those organisms. This affects the quality of the water and pollutes it.
9. Promoting Hyper-Consumption
As technology has improved a lot, tech companies are the ones that benefit from it. They create more products from technology and encourage more consumption by consumers. One of their strategies is to make those products effective only for a few years. So that consumers will buy it often, it encourages hyper-consumption. And the more products we use, the more e-waste will be produced. Thus, it pollutes our environment.
10. Global Warming
We all know how high the temperature of the planet is nowadays. The surface level of the earth has a high temperature with a rise of 0.8 degrees Celsius. To produce energy, fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas are burned. Due to this, co2 level increases a lot as it emits carbon dioxide. About 4.5 million years, this was the highest level of carbon dioxide. Burning of these fossil fuels and deforestation increases greenhouse gases (responsible for heat trapping in the atmosphere), causing global warming.
