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Man is very dependent on his surroundings, especially on his environment. It is where he gets his basic needs such as food, shelter, air, and water. Without this, he cannot survive.

Decades ago, the world can still be considered a good place to live in. The forests are still abundant; the waters are still clean. There was a good balance in nature back then. Unfortunately today, there are tons of problems that man is facing on his environment. It is being destroyed by the people who are supposed to be taking care of it.

As the population increase more and more as years pass by, the environment is being greatly affected. This results to a phenomenon called ‘environmental degradation’. Environmental degradation happens because of the pressure being put on nature to produce more food and energy to sustain everyone. This pressure also results to toxic wastes, marine and coastal degradation, deforestation, pollution and climate change, and these are all contributors to the destruction of the environment.

Economic growth is also a factor in this pressure being placed on natural systems. The need to provide necessary resources is somehow heavily dependent on natural resources such as forests, soil, oceans and fresh water. This growth can also contribute to land, air and water pollution, especially when the people who run the companies or factories are irresponsible.  Thus, it fastens the degradation of earth’s resources as well.

All these problems that were mentioned above are intensified by climate change and global warming. Climate change is defined as “the change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards, attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels”. On the other hand, global warming is the “gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants”. The two may seem to be alike, but take note that climate change covers many other changes that men experience beyond an increase in temperature, such as alterations in precipitation patterns, sea level changes and the increase of frequency of severe weather conditions.

Global warming and climate change will most definitely make an impact to various sectors of different countries, whether they are industrialized capitalist countries or developing countries. Their potential to be more exposed to disasters, diseases and low productivity has been increased. The only key to strengthen this vulnerability is to learn to adapt to the changing environment. However, this adaptation will never be easy, since those countries that are most vulnerable to climate change will be the ones to be least able to manage the said challenge of adapting to the environmental changes.

Since this is a global phenomenon, the best way to remedy these problems is for the countries to go hand in hand and start making a change for their environment. They should set aside their differences and set their minds to achieve the goal of attaining environmental sustainability. That is certainly a challenge for all of us.