ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: A SURE PANACEA TO OUR DEVOLVING EARTH

Science has proven it that the earth revolves and in recent times it is also devolving. The major cause for this is the absence of knowledge to manage what nature has provided for us. Earth, our home planet is rich with so many natural resources including resources that are found in the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and the biosphere.

These resources can be classified as renewable and non-renewable resources. Resources that can be replenished are termed renewable resources while resources that are finite in supply and can be used up are termed non-renewable resources. It is a lamentable situation that our non-renewable natural resources are depleting at a very fast rate with little or no effort made to ensure its sustainability from the upcoming generations. We are faced with the problem of conserving these resources as the usage of these resources without a plan for its sustainability will have an adverse effect on the upcoming generation because these resources are vital to the continued existence of mankind. At present, the world around us is changing at a very rapid pace. Some changes are beneficial, but many of the changes are causing damage to our planet. The field of environmental science is a valuable resource for learning more about these changes and how they affect the world we inhabit. The earth is in a state of constant degradation caused by the daily hazardous activities of man. This places our planet in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) grading system of threatened species as an endangered planet. A retrospect of the earth from early years till present shows the waning state of the earth as it has lost some of its earthly virtues to the various activities of man perpetrated in recent years. The past 100 years reveals to us that human impact on the natural world has risen dramatically as the scope and intensity of human activities has increased. Although there has been progress recently in tackling air and water pollution problems in some countries, many negative trends, such as the loss of tropical forests and the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, continue unabated. A conscious study of our environment, various interactions that take place in our environment, how it affects us and how we can improve it is required, hence the need for environmental science.