Our environment consists of the conditions that surround and affect us. It can be likened, according to the oxford-powered lexico.com, as the “natural world especially as affected by human activity”.
The natural world is the responsibility of those that inhabit it, although a person staying at Shagamu, Ogun state, Nigeria can hardly be tasked to look after someplace in Kyoto, Japan. The main point I’m passing across is we are responsible for the space around us.
We are directly or indirectly affected by our environment. Let me break down the initial definition. The natural world consists of both living (animals, humans, insects) and non living things (temperature, climate change). Can we say, then, that this factors don’t affect us? Hardly.
As these environmental factors affect us, our activities also affects the environment. It’s a given. So we better watch out on what we inflict on the environment.
For instance, the excessive amount of dangerous gases released into the air by our factories and locomotives do not only cause build-ups in our lungs and a reduction in atmospheric oxygen but also chips at the ozone layer which protects us from UV rays.
How Do We Protect Our Environment?
Nature has the ability to heal itself with time, but we cause harm faster than it can heal. To protect our environment, we have to:
- Stop using harmful chemicals, they affect both the environment and ourselves,
- Reduce the burning of fossil fuels and invest in alternative energy sources like solar, wave, wind energy and so on,
- Plant trees,
- Keep the environment clean.
Our natural world has given us so much that we cannot but make attempts to repay.
The least we could do in appreciation of this beautiful world is take care of it. The Bible acknowledges that it is more blessed to give than to receive, so let’s decide to give back to our environment.