Industrial Revolution Effects On The Environment Essay

There are many aspects of the Industrial Revolution that have impacted our world today. Before the Industrial Revolution people relied on nature to get everything done; it was our only source of power. For example framers grew their crops in the field and used their horses and other animals to get the farm work done. Everything that was made was done by hand and powered by nature up until the 1700’s when everything started to change. The Industrial Revolution brought about many changes that have acted as s double-edged sword to the world as a whole. In the long run the environment has been hurt by deforestation, building of factories, mass production, and a spike in population (The Industrial Revolution 1760-1830, 1966).

All of the above

negative impacts of the Industrial Revolution act as a snowball effect starting out with the need for more factories. Most of the manufacturing was done in people homes by hand with hand held tools and simple machines until industrialization shifted everything to power and special purpose machinery, which led to factories and mass production. Iron, textile industries, and the steam engine was a key factor in the Industrial Revaluation and brought about several good things that improved living for some. For example there where better systems of transportation, communication and banking also improved; but along with these improvements came set backs and downfalls not only for the earth but for mankind as well (“Industrial Revolution - Facts & Summary,” n.d.).
Even through more factories made live easier for some they did not realize the effect that building more factories for mass production would have in the long run.

In order to build these factories they would have to clear land, which caused deforestation. Deforestation can cause many problems for the environment. For example when one starts cutting down large sections or whole forests they are causing all of the wild life that live within the forest to have to leave and find somewhere else to live which has led to some spices to become in danger of becoming extent. Deforestation also drives climate change. The soils in forests are moist and by cutting down all of the tress the soil dries out from the sun. Trees also help with the water cycle by returning the water vapor back into the atmosphere. A combination of these things is a major factor in global warming (“Deforestation Facts, Deforestation Information, Effects of Deforestation - National Geographic,” n.d.).

Another factor to global warming is all of the pollution that we as humans put into the air. This was not a major problem until the Industrial Revaluation. Since the way of life had been improved the population started going up rapidly and more people started moving into the city; which in turn caused more pollution because there was a high demand for work and items that the factories produced therefore more pollution. Also since there were more people there were more transportation

needs.
The environmental movement that started in during the 1970’s started opening people eyes to what was happening the environment and the worlds first Earth Day was held with an estimated 20 million people attending it. They realized that the way they were headed could cause problems and so they started an international co-operation to protect the environment (“Sustainability | Environmental Movement | Environmentalism,” n.d.).
There have been laws set into place in order to keep things under control. in 1970 the Clean air Act was pass this act sets goals and standards for the quality and purity of air in the U.S. The law reviews it. In 1990 a set of amendments made the air quality standards tougher and put a new emphasis on market forces to control air pollution. In 1973 the Endangered Species Act was passed which was created to protect and recover endangered and threatened species in the U.S. This law also helps protect the species habitats. Another law that was passed in the 1970’s was the National Environmental Policy Act. This act was the first of the modern environmental statutes (“NRDC: Environmental Laws and Treaties,” n.d.).
Overall the environment is still going down hill but it is not traveling as fast as it was before. There have been many discoveries and hard working people to try a find ways to improve and our world. We cannot fix the damage that has already been done but there are steps that we can take to improve the way we do things now