There’s no doubt that the modern industrial age has had a negative impact on the environment. The world’s population has grown from about 1.6 billion people in 1900 to over 7 billion today, and industrial nations are now responsible for about 85% of the world’s energy use.
Unfortunately, current government policies are unlikely to be enough to address climate change and other environmental concerns.
The most important things that need to be done involve not just new government policies, but a sea change in the way businesses do business.
There’s no doubt that modern industry is having a detrimental effect on the Earth’s ecosystem. We’re over-polluting, over-fishing, and over-harvesting. We have to find a way to make modern industry more environmentally sustainable.
Fortunately, there are a number of things we can do to cut the environmental impact of industry. For example, we can choose renewable energy sources, develop sustainable technology, and promote recycling.
Reducing freshwater usage and boosting water recycling
In developed countries, more than half of freshwater consumption is from the Industrial sector, and it is expected to increase over the next several decades.
This is because the demand for energy is increasing, and a lot of it is produced from non-renewable sources.
The way we use water in modern times is causing irreversible damage to the environment. Water is very important for us, but there are ways in which we can reduce the amount of water we use.
The use of renewable sources of energy is a vital part of a sustainable future. However, the energy sector currently accounts for around 20 per cent of global freshwater consumption and this is likely to increase in the future as the global population increases and industrialisation spreads.
On the other hand, one of the ways modern industry can be more environmentally sustainable is by reducing freshwater usage and boosting water recycling.
Using less water is one of the most important steps industry can take to reduce its environmental impact. While the amount of water used in industry is small in comparison to other uses, like agriculture, it is a precious resource that is becoming scarcer due to increased demand.
In the UK alone, over 5,000 industries consume nearly 1.9 billion cubic meters per day of water. (The majority of water is consumed by the energy industry.)
Improving auxiliary processes across the board
While many companies have either already started or are planning to start, a transition to more environmentally sustainable practices, many still have vast room for improvement. The most common way to measure this is through the emissions produced by one unit of production.
The more efficient a company is, the less emissions it will produce, but there are other ways to measure sustainability.
Environmental impact is a complicated and multifaceted topic, and a lot of the focus is on the obvious externalities like water pollution, carbon emissions, and waste.
However, there’s another element of environmental responsibility that often goes overlooked: the impact that industry has on the people and processes that support it.
The fact is, in order to improve environmental sustainability in industry, the process itself must be sustainable. This means that industry must not only search for ways to reduce emissions of pollutants into the environment, but also find ways to reduce the amount of pollutants it generates as a byproduct of its production processes.
This in turn requires that the industry take a closer look at the auxiliary processes that are involved in its production, and find ways to make them more sustainable. To do this, industry will need to make greater use of green chemistry, which is the reduction or elimination of potentially harmful chemicals at every stage of the production process.
Investing into and implementing renewable energy
It’s become a truism that modern industry to be more environmentally sustainable must Investing into and implementing renewable energy. This is partly because of a desire to reduce the carbon footprint of factories and power plants.
But it’s also because the renewables industry is growing rapidly. A recent report from the United Nations Environment Programme showed that investment in clean energy topped $300 billion in 2010, with a rapid rise in solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and other renewable technologies.
Renewable energy, like Solar and Wind, are a great way to help the environment. Renewable energy is becoming more popular and available as new technologies become more affordable.
Not only are wind and solar clean and cost effective, but they also reduce the need for emissions-heavy fossil fuels. Renewable energy is also better for the economy and jobs than fossil fuels.
Sustainable Agriculture and Society
The U.S.A. has a long history of producing food in a way that violates the principles of ecology. Cutting down forests to clear space for crops, using chemical pesticides that poison the soil, and applying chemical fertilizers that are a serious threat to the ocean are all examples of the harm that has been done by the current agricultural system.
Agriculture and society have a close and generally positive relationship with one another. Modern society has its roots in the agriculture which farmers have provided for the past few thousand years. In fact, agriculture has been so important to society that it is the basis of many modern civilizations and countries, including the United States.
Agriculture is important to modern civilization because it provides food for society. Food is the basic need that every human being needs to survive, so this is a valuable service that farmers provide to society.
In addition to providing food, agriculture is also important to society because it gives people a job.
Last Words
Achieving a sustainable modern economy is vital to future generations. At present, the biggest threat to the environment is the industrialization of the modern world. Sustainable energy is a better way to produce the energy we need to run our economy. Sustainable energy includes renewable sources of energy such as solar power, wind power, geothermal power, hydropower, and biomass power.
Some renewable energies are more sustainable than others. Solar power and wind power, for example, have no emissions of greenhouse gases. However, solar and wind power are intermittent. On days when the weather is bad, solar panels and wind turbines cannot produce any energy.
