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Society

The Environmental Crisis:

How to Protect the Environment

20318 Lee, Yu-gyeong

Changing environmental conditions have influenced the evolution of humans and other species
since the appearance of life on earth. Indeed, until the Upper Paleolithic era, environmental
crises arose almost entirely from natural conditions.
However, since the emergence of large-scale hunting, and especially after the invention of
agriculture, environmental crises have increasingly reflected the influence of human behavior
and human policies. Anthropogenic effects on the natural environment have influenced ever-
larger parts of the earth and have posed threats to social stability in regional contexts. Since the
widespread use of fossil fuels in the industrial era, anthropogenic effects have extended their
reach to literally global proportions.
Consequently, a wide range of environmental problems has emerged; those problems include
global warming, the hole in the ozone layer, acid rain, the destruction of tropical forests, the
depletion and extinction of species, and the precipitous decline of biodiversity. Yet, while
all of these problems have physical and
environmental manifestations, their causes—
and their potential solutions—are invariably
bound up in human attitudes, beliefs, values,
needs, desires, expectations, and behaviors.

Simple Ways to Help the Environment
Unfortunately, humans have not been very
good stewards of the Earth over the years.
To protect the environment and preserve the
planet for our children and future generations,
we all need to take proactive steps toward
The environmental crisis
cleaner living habits.

34 + Eunoia