Urbanization: The Pawn that failed Nature

Urbanization: The Pawn that failed Nature

( By Suhana Ahmed )

The earth is a vast place comprising innumerable species of organisms and abiotic components. The beginning of the world, according to science, was completely different. The earth was born without life on it and without so much as the basic air components. It was a huge area of heat. Then, evolution happened and life-supporting abiotic components were formed, leading to the first life on earth- cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae.

The first life was microscopic (single-celled), aquatic, and photosynthetic. Then as the procedure of evolution went forth, life started to sustain on land too, and multicellular organisms were born.

Through evolution, human organisms came into the picture. The initial ancestors of ours were cavepeople, who hunted animals and ate wild fruits to fill their stomachs. Then, the fire was invented, leading to cooking meat and other food.

Since early humans lived on animals and wild plants, there had been a necessity to keep on migrating to sustain life, until one-day agriculture was invented and they could settle.

The evolution that began at the beginning of the earth still continues to exist and nature keeps on evolving. Just like that, humans kept evolving too; conquering the entirety of the world and bringing in changes suitable to their lifestyle. That is where urbanization and globalization were born.

Industrialization brought in great development and comfort into people's life by reducing muscular power and increasing efficiency in the manufacturing of goods. A lot of people lost their jobs due to it, but there were new sets of jobs that were created.

Urbanization led to the building of proper schools, hospitals, electronic goods, better transportation systems etcetera. It made people's life easier and comforting in many ways. It also led to critical thinking and personal development.

But as nothing comes without adverse effects, urbanization brought a greater doom to nature as well; pollution. Many species of plants and animals went extinct as a cause of pollution.

Comparing rural areas with those of urban ones, it can clearly, be said that rural areas are relatively less polluted. They are not as developed as cities, but are close to nature. It's majorly because the villages' contribution to the economy is majorly through the primary production, like agriculture and livestock, whereas the urban areas rely upon secondary and tertiary productions which involve factories and industries- the cause for the highest pollution.

Urban sectors utilize around 80% of the natural resources and produce 90% of the pollution. The factories have been a cause for the death of aquatic life to a larger extent. The uncultured waste from the factories is directly let into a closer by water bodies leading to the extinction of many aquatic lives.

Urbanization also led to deforestation; forest areas were converted into residential and commercial areas, which caused global warming. Autotrophs photosynthesize which helps in keeping the temperature under control as they inhale carbon dioxide and give out oxygen.

Urbanization led to developed transportation through roads, airways, and seaways. The travel time is reduced to a greater extent than centuries ago, but the fuel used to run them leaves its imprint of pollution all over the path. Also, since we use mostly fossil fuels, which are non-renewable natural resources, we're running out of it too.

Urbanization has in many ways created an imbalance in nature. Disruption the easy-going lives and suffocating nature. India stands third in the pollution, preceded by the USA and China.

Now, urbanization is not entirely a bad thing. As mentioned earlier, it has brought in a greater development, but there needs to be a substantial development keeping in mind the environment.

The pollution that has happened does affect humans just as much it affects the rest of nature. In many conditions, non-renewable resources can be stopped using and instead renewable and inexhaustible resources can be used. For example, using CNG instead of petrol or diesel in vehicles.

Even the inexhaustible resources aren't infinite. That's why keeping it in mind, one must use every resource judiciously- only the quantity that is necessary.

Also, efficient eco-friendly alternatives to the polluting materials are to be found. For example, plastic is a very useful and efficient component that has made life easier, but it harms nature to a large extent. That is why the usage of plastics, at least the single-use plastic has to be stopped, but it has made life so efficient that the current alternatives to it aren't necessarily as powerful or tempting.

Also, equal distribution of resources is necessary instead of just a part of the population curbing it all. Thinking of future generations is an important aspect while using the products of nature.

There should be a clear line drawn as to how much material development at a time isn't adversely effective to the world. It's necessary to develop minds and morals at this hour and grow empathy towards the land we live in. We need to understand that we're not the owners of nature, we're just a part of it.

In the end, urbanization is advantageous until it crosses the limit without the care for the world. Whereas urbanization has brought in so much growth in us and in our lifestyle, it is time that we use what we learned due to urbanization into saving the earth and living and let living. There's a balance that nature has formed in itself and it would not be good or profitable to bring disturbance in it. 

Let us not put anyone scarce while we're growing. Let's take everyone with us. Let's not try to be the rulers of the world and instead live in harmony with every species and inanimate components like the part of the nature we are.

There is no gain in harming, but there is peace, empathy, and respect.

Disclaimer:-

The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Light de Literacy and LDL does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.