Environmental Issues – What Are They And How To Fight Them?

Today we face several types of environmental issues which surprisingly did not get much attention few decades back. The reason probably was that earth didn’t have too much human population and people managed to stay away from pollution whenever they faced trouble with their habitat. But today, the price of land and home is on the constant increase in almost all parts of the world and for the newer generation, owning a home is almost impossible.

More and more people are getting affected by different types of environmental issues and this is why people started to realize and bring awareness about these problems. Pollution, habitat destruction and overpopulation are some examples for the recent issues our generation faces. The biggest challenge for environmental issues is that humans no longer get places that are ideal for a living and they are forced to compromise on whatever they get.

Japan has one of the highest population densities in the world and the country does not have sufficient land space to utilize. Japanese have been living very close to the ocean for several centuries, but today the population of people who live very close to oceans is steadily on the rise. What is the consequence? When tsunami hit Japan, several thousands of people died even after the Japanese authorities could identify the arrival of the tsunami much earlier.

The problem was that government could not quickly evacuate such a huge population and when the evacuation process was going on, tsunami hit the Japanese soil and took away the lives of several thousands. Most environmental issues are created by humans and for the same reason; it’s possible for us to do something to protect our mother nature. Switching yourself to a green living is the best thing you can do because by using green products, you can bring down pollution drastically.

Make sure that you are not using any products made up of wood because plants are essential for producing sufficient oxygen and keeping our ecosystem cool. You can also spread the word about protecting the land and this will attract the attention of many people. If everybody in our country tries their level best to bring down the damage caused to the earth, it’s very much possible for us to make sure that our coming generations will have a better life. This is why we need to take environmental issues very seriously and do something about it.

Environmental Issues – They Concern Chefs As Well!

It has not probably escaped your notice that environmental issues have captured people’s interest. You can probably say that this is not surprising considering the fact that people are finally experiencing the effects of decades of environmental abuse. Mother Nature is indeed lashing back. Environmental debates are fairly common these days. Being a chef does not excuse you, however, from getting involved. You create your own ecological footprints and you are accountable for them.

Environmental issues generally fall under three categories — bizarre global climate changes, excessive use of resources, improper waste management.

Bizarre Global Climate Changes

There are numerous environmental issues but the one thing that you have likely heard people talking about is the bizarre climate that the whole world is experiencing. The effects of these weird climate changes have caused devastating damages, taking lives and properties. Unfortunately, there are many factors that contribute to climate change. Many of these factors are largely created by man.

Excessive and Abusive Use of Environmental Resources

There are many environmental issues that fall under this category. You have deforestation, land degradation and land being stripped off of fossil fuels. These three are just some of the many problems that arise from abusive use of environmental resources.

Improper Waste Management

Many environmental issues have resulted from people’s inability to manage their waste or trash properly. This category basically embraces all kinds of pollutions caused by humans which include air, water and land pollution.

Resolving Environmental Issues Your Way

It’s certainly a good thing that many people are getting involved in correcting environmental issues. As a chef, you can do a lot of things in order to reverse the damage that has been done to the environment. You can make positive contributions. Being environmentally friendly does not end with disposing potato peelings properly. As a leader, you can influence people to be more environmentally conscious.

Adopt an Environmental Cause

If you own your restaurant, you can get your staff or employees to volunteer for environmental causes. Since you are working in the food industry, perhaps you can get your employees to volunteer for a food feeding program.

You can also adopt environmental programs and support them. For instance, you can adopt a program which aims to provide clear water to many places in Africa or you can support one project that is designed to protect the rainforest in the Amazons. Support any environmental conservation schemes. Try to raise funds if you can in order to support a conservation program.

Recycle!

Another way of helping the environment is to adopt a recycling program in your workplace. You should also make sure that you get recyclable supplies. If you are going to purchase disposable dishware, you should get recyclable or biodegradable ones. Encourage your staff or employees to do the same.

Cut Back on Gas Consumption

There are also various ways of cutting back on gas consumption. You can also get your employees involved in your save-your-gas scheme. You can offer incentives to employees who choose to leave their cars at home. In fact, this method is proving effective among hospitality entrepreneurs. Aside from encouraging your staff to take the bus, you can also get them to set up a carpool system.

Another way of saving gas and cutting back on delivery expenses is to impose minimum order requirement. This will discourage small deliveries and unnecessary use of gas.

Prefer Local Producers

The food service industry has finally recognized that they have a social responsibility to support local producers within their community. If you choose to purchase products from local farmers, not only will you be able to help the local economy, you will also help in minimizing environmental wastages.

Spread the Word

You need to spread environmental consciousness. You can start with the people around you — your employees perhaps. Challenge people to care. Over time, you will eventually get people involved. Employ people who are environmentally conscious — people who purchase organic products and who boast of eco-friendly practices.

You can also train your staff and teach them how to be more eco-friendly. After all, you will reap the benefits as well. You will likely notice a considerable decrease in energy consumption once your staff learns how to conserve energy.

You can also spread the word and influence your guests, customers and clients. You can offer rewards or incentives to guests who adopt eco-friendly measures in order to address environmental issues. You don’t have to stop with your employees. Ideally, the more people you educate, the better it will be for the environment.

Topics for Discussions of Environmental Issues for Kids

Environmental Issues for Kids

Although global environmental issues are considered to be one of the important subjects in the world today, it doesn’t mean that only adults get to speak about them. Part of encouraging children to learn about the world is also making them aware of what’s going on in the condition of our environment, such as for example, global climate change. Here are some tips on how you can teach environmental problems for kids:

Teach the children first about the ecosystem and the normal processes happening in the environment such as the water cycle. It would be nice if they already know about these natural processes at school. If they have adequate knowledge about these, it would be easier for you to talk about environmental ramification for kids.

Engage them in conversations that are relatable to them such as asking a child if he wonders why it rains or how come flooding happens in some areas. Flooding is one of the major environmental issues considered to be effects of climate change.

You may read environmental issues articles and ask children about what you learned. Be sure to only include those that they already know about and use terms that they can understand.

You may also let them read those environmental issues articles if you think these are easy for their eyes and for their understanding. Although some kids may still prefer to read books, many others choose to participate in activities that are highly stimulating such as watching movies. There are animated movies and other kid-friendly movies that you can watch with the kids to increase their knowledge about the environment.

Good topics on environmental implications for kids are usually the ones that they are able to observe in their everyday lives. Take for example, the air pollution. Teach them about air pollution and how it affects the environment after a day out in a busy city where traffic and pollution is apparent.

Have the kids participate in small, creative, and fun activities related to global environmental issues such as planting trees, preparing trash cans with the right labels for segregation, and recycling materials.

More topics on environmental issues for kids also include caring for animals. Bring them to a zoo or a pet shop or introduce the kids to wild animals through watching documentary films together.

When there’s breaking news on the TV or radio about natural disasters happening in certain places and the kids are starting to ask questions, answer them with an adequate explanation on how these effects of climate change take place.

Use of dioramas, pictures and cards also help in giving them visualizations of the nature climate change and other environmental issues for kids.

Aside from making them aware of the climate change effects, teach them also the causes of climate change such as deforestation. A child’s mind is a good soil for cultivating social and environmental awareness and helping them become aware of the effects of climate change or current environmental issues is a good step in developing their sense of responsibility.

Environmental Issues Are Becoming a Wildfire

There is no denying from the fact that environment is changing quickly and constantly. With the change in environmental conditions, it has become a requisite that everyone must be aware of the change, its causes and effects. We people must be conscious of the problems that our planet is facing at the moment like massive influx of natural disasters, rapidly increasing temperature, cooling effects, different types of severe weather patterns and much more.

It is a renowned fact that people from all over the world are facing wealth of new and challenging environmental problems every day. Some of them may be very small but most of them are changing the environment radically. Global warming is just one example. Our planet is getting warmer and warmer; obviously we are the part of the problem too.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that we are in a state of terrestrial emergency as the environmental problems are thinning out and piling up high around us. As our planet is at a point of severe environmental catastrophe, problems we are facing need an urgent attention. There is a long list of environmental issues but some top of the list current issues include global warming, pollution, climate change, deforestation, overpopulation, scarcity of natural resources and biodiversity loss etc.

Global warming has become one of the biggest issues of the time. It is the result of emission of greenhouse gases by different human practices like burning of fossil fuels etc. The planet’s temperature is rising dramatically. The excessive increase in temperature is causing many unusual environmental conditions like rise in sea level, floods, melting of ice caps and excessive snow etc.

Pollution is a whole of air, water and soil pollution. The biggest contributors causing pollution are exhausts of industries and vehicles. Smoke and waste of industries which include different toxic gases and liquids are the biggest cause of air, water and soil pollution.

Climate change is another problem which is mainly caused by global warming. Environmental temperature is rinsing as a result of release of harmful greenhouse gases from industries and burning of fossil fuels. As a result of global warming, many unusual climate changes are happening like severe weather conditions, melting of polar ice caps, infrequent rise in sea level etc.

Deforestation is one of the focal issues of the time. Plants and trees which are the absorbents of the greenhouse gases are becoming scarce. The rate of deforestation is increasing with the development in industrial field. People are clearing out the lands to make it available for building new industries. As a result climate is getting polluted causing many other environmental issues.

Overpopulation is another big issue to be considered. Population of the planet is reaching to an untenable level. The problem is very challenging for the under developed countries where people are facing shortage of resources like water, food and fuel. Increasing population is causing the depletion of natural resources which are already scarce. As a result intensive agriculture is practiced by using fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides which are damaging the environment.

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