Question

Is environmental crisis a recent phenomenon? If so, why?

Answer 1

Yes, the environmental crisis is a very recent phenomenon; the sparks of such crisis were never visible in the past. In the early centuries before industrialisation, the population growth was on a tight rein. The demand of the environmental resources was much lower than its supply. Environment supported the world’s population in the past as the rate of usage of the resources was lesser. Also, the rate of regeneration of resources exceeded the rate with which the resources were exploited. In other words, the threat of environment crisis was never felt in the past as the exploitation of natural resources was within the carrying capacity of the environment. But, today, due to heavy industrialisation, urbanisation, man has started exploiting nature to its maximum. Nuclear and industrial wastes being dumped into the water bodies, pollution of land and air has affected the environment in three-fold manner. Now, the rate of exploitation of natural resources is lagging behind the rate of regeneration of the natural resources. Consequently, the mounting pressure on the carrying capacity of the environment is paving the way for environmental crises.