Most of the world’s population lives in cities, due to which urban areas are overloaded. At the moment, it is worth noting the following trends for urban residents:
If you add together all the problems of modern cities, then their list will be endless. Let’s designate the most critical environmental problems of cities.
Terrain change
As a result of urbanization, there is a significant pressure on the lithosphere. This leads to a change in the relief, the formation of karst voids, and the disturbance of river basins. In addition, there is desertification of territories that become unsuitable for the life of plants, animals and people.
Degradation of the natural landscape
There is an intensive destruction of flora and fauna, their diversity decreases, a kind of “urban” nature appears. The number of natural and recreational areas, green spaces is decreasing. The negative impact comes from cars that overwhelm urban and suburban highways.
Water supply problems
Rivers and lakes are polluted by industrial and domestic wastewater. All this leads to a reduction in water areas, the extinction of river plants and animals. All the water resources of the planet are polluted: groundwater, inland hydrosystems, the World Ocean as a whole. One of the consequences is the lack of drinking water, including the death of thousands of people on the planet.
Air pollution
This is one of the first environmental problems that were discovered by mankind. The atmosphere is polluted by the exhaust gases of cars, emissions from industrial enterprises. All this leads to dusty atmosphere, acid rain. In the future, dirty air becomes a cause of diseases for people and animals. As forests are being cut down intensively, the number of plants that process carbon dioxide is decreasing on the planet.
The problem of household waste
Garbage is another source of soil, water, and air pollution. Various materials are recycled for a long time. The decay of individual elements takes 200-500 years. In the meantime, the process of processing is underway, harmful substances are released that cause diseases.
There are other environmental problems of cities. No less important is noise, radioactive pollution, overpopulation of the Earth, problems of the functioning of urban networks. The elimination of these problems should be dealt with at the highest level, but small steps can be taken by people themselves. For example, throw garbage in the bin, save water, use reusable dishes, plant plants.
