What Do You Think Is The Most Overlooked Perpetrator of Environmental Damage?

Question

What industry, activity etc. do you think is overlooked as far as its negative effects on the environment? Overlooked meaning not really being taken into consideration.

Answer 1

the meat industry

Answer 2

DEFORESTATION,because of AGRICULTURE & subsquent DESERTIFICATION,and the reason for this is OVERPOPULATION

or because of War and Trade as in the past
PAST
the Building of the Spanish Armada deforrested Spain
the Phoenician trading fleet turned Lebanon in a dessert
Ganges Khan put everything to the sword and torch, then filled the wells with sand,
the sun finished of the job and whole countries turned to wastelands.

PRESENT

Slash and burn destroys the protective vegetation (which helps to form the soil ),
leaving it open to the Sun ,and then ,wind and, water erosion.

The Plough turns the soil ,killing micro-biotic life (essential to soil building) and accelerates the drying out .
Pressures of the :vehicles, cattle and rain impact brings the salt to the surface.

Mono cultures ,aided by chemicals Exhaust and pollutes the soil .
Adding to this the effects of overgrazing has resulted in large scale desertification.

and there is less and less water (because of deforestation),to irrigate this production ,Farmers
are overpumping deep carbon aquifiers
and plowing more and more unstable lands going into the jungles and onto mountain slopes

expanding populations and expanding farming ,that has to keep pace with the expanding populations are very strong forces that encroach upon the rainforest's
clearing them for farming and settlement areas .

Rainforest's always are in third world countries and always in third world countries corruption and the need for money s highest

in North Africa,India,Mexico ,millions of people are effected by land loss and desertification and some have died as a result

,the Sahara is growing by 7 kilometers a year
and most of the desserts we know are a results of mans actions ,and they are increasing ,not getting less ,in the dinosaurs days ,there were few desserts.

collectively this planet is drying up ,

each degree rise in temperature means 10%crop loss

and there is less and less water (because of deforestation),to irrigate this production ,
and there are less and less farmers to do it..

Arable lands and their farms are lost all over the globe. Many farmers sons abandon farming and head for the cities.

Northern China is drying up, what once were millions of food producing people, are now hungry refugees ,running for their lives from the all consuming dust storms.

This will have a great effect on world food prices when they start buying at what ever cost, to feed their people.

The farmers that are left have to feed some 70 million more people than the year before but with less topsoil.

Over the last half century,
Population growth & rising incomes have tripled world grain demand from 640 million tons to 1,855 million

In the near future the global farming community will not be able to feed every body ,food prices will continue to rise. .

Answer 3

Demolition. People buy property and demolish the old buildings standing there, then put the old materials in landfills. Why don't they at least call out Habitat for Humanity first and let them ransack the place for any and all possible usable items to build houses for the needy? Or even just upgrade the existing building to serve their purposes? But no-- they're always in too much of a hurry to fix or give, they just take. Let me know if you find a company willing to donate parts of a building they are demolishing or one that re-uses the old building rather than tearing it down when they buy the property.

Answer 4

Overpopulation. The pundits mention it, they say it's a problem, but what is actually being done? What can be done? Too many people is not an issue that's being overlooked--talking about it, and figuring out what to do about it is what's overlooked.

Answer 5

I would have to say it's the cattle growers. Cows produce prodigeous amounts of methane, which is one of the problems with greenhouse gasses. Many think it's the automobiles, which, while a real problem, are hardly the worst of them Obviously, the oil industry is one of the major contributors, but allas, not really the worst. Check the internet, and you will see that the cattle growers are a real problem.

Answer 6

Overpopulation! It is the common multipler of all the problems created by mankind, and yet politicians and others refuse to even talk about it.
If you want to take it seriously look at
www.optimumpopulation.org

Answer 7

people - everything we do from overpopulation to our excessive use of fossil fuel. Not conserving or recycling. I think the planet would manage to survive if the human race we taken out of the equation today.

Answer 8

Overcrowding. People move into an area and ovverrun it. thats why deer are such a problem:people are running them out of their natural habitat and into human habitat. They upset the animals, ruin the eco-system of an area, and we wont even talk about trash.

Answer 9

The small business man out with his smoking, sputtering lawnmowers and weed whackers and blowers - all gas powered - from dawn till dusk, and all of his counterparts from a few doors down to those spread out all across the USA. How many pieces of lawn maintenance equipment are running at one time in the US? A lot of them run all day long.

That to me is a lot of toxic emissions.

Answer 10

Houses built on land fills

Answer 11

All good answers above. Add urban sprawl which we don't seem to be taking seriously at all. And off-road recreational vehicles.