Environmental cost of industrialisation

Industrialisation is a process of social and economic changes whereby a human society is transformed from a pre-industrial to an industrial state. It is a part of a wider modernisation process, where social change and economic development is closely related with technological innovation, particularly with the development of large-scale energy and metallurgy production. The major technological, socioeconomic, and cultural change in the late 18th and early 19th century resulting from the replacement of an economy based on manual labour with one dominated by industry and machine manufacture while our economy grows stronger and our environment becomes weaker as a result. There is only one cause of environmental destruction – industrialisation.

Overpopulation and over consumerism are only consequences/by-products of the industrialisation. Moreover, the environment has been destroyed by industrialization and consumerism but not the population/ overpopulation.

The industrialisation has loaded tremendous pressure on environment. The industrialisation runs hand in glove with environment. But knowingly or unknowingly, the industrialisation ran faster without caring for environment to win the race. The environmental costs of industrialisation are mind boggling. Huge quantities of pollutants solids, liquids and gaseous material which are being let out in the air, water, land are investing the relationships between man and the nature with new complexities. Some of the statistics pertaining to environmental scenario are quite revealing. At present nearly 70 percent of the available water is polluted. Over 73 million days are lost annually due to water related diseases. About half a hectare of land is consumed every second. Life support systems inbuilt in the eco-system are being strained almost to the point of new return. The drive for economic development has resulted in ecological harm. Extraction of minerals can be destructive as streams and rivers were diverted so that miners can pan the riverbeds for minerals. Fish and other resources are destroyed and erosion increase gently. Energy production can create other kinds of damage as well. Oil spills destroy marine life. Power plants burning coal and gas produce pollution along with electricity. A number of hazards are posed by nuclear power. Nuclear power plants raise the temperature of nearby rivers. Concern about the dangers of nuclear energy has focused public attention on the general problem of radiation as they are harmful to human beings. Radiation can also alter the structure of genes in the human bodies. Exhaustion of natural resources is another problem faced by the industrialized societies. We are using up natural resources at an uneven pace. On the one hand the advancements of science & Technology have added to the human comforts by giving us automobiles, electrical appliances, better medicines, better chemicals to control harmful insects and pest but on the Approach for Assessing Environment they gave us a very serious problem to face pollution. The continued increase in the pollution coupled with the industrial revolution has had the vital impact on natural resources. The resultant deterioration of environment and fast depletion of natural resources threaten the sustainability of economic development.Environmental disasters such as Bhopal tragedy, Rhine pollution , acid rain damage ,Ozone Layer Depletion has led to growing public pressures on governments all over the world Which started imposing stringent legislation with severe penalties in environmental issues environmental & safety system. World over, the industries are becoming increasingly concerned about achieving and demonstrating their environmental performance because of the growing compulsions from tough legislations and mounting public pressures.By reducing the population we automatically reduce the impact of individual consumption. A small population could still consume at a high level without the environmental damage of large one. Greener production methods could allow advances in the quality of life without additional environmental damage. While more environmentally-friendly production methods are a vital part of any plan to combat environmental degradation.

One of the most pressing and complex challenges facing by our generation are to search out a workable synthesis between economic development and environmental behavior. So we need to compromise our needs to maintain a harmony between these two entities i.e. Industry & Environment and if we continue to indulge in reckless development that ignores the environment, we may face far worse environmental disasters in future.