Nature

    Unparalleled changes in the global environment especially of the climate were already taking place with the entry of various unexpected calamities especially in developing countries.  As a result, the main sustainability of the Earth itself is now highly in question. In the19th century, the worlds climate has remained unchanged primarily due to the limited activities of the people of the world as well as on the limited growth of the population. Unexpectedly, after 200 years, changes began to take place especially in the environment. To be specific, improvements in the technology as well as in medicine has provided the big leaps to the explosion of human population. As a result, 99 of all humans who ever lived are still alive today due to the developments in medical technology. In the same manner, fossil fuel energies or non-renewable sources of energies like coal, oil and gas have been rampant in usage that became the source of energy for all humans. These sources of energy have facilitated the rapid industrialization of countries resulting to further fuel consumption. The carbon found in fossil fuels was gradually produced from the decay of plants stored in the Earths crust that stayed there millions of years ago. The burning of carbon for the past 150 years has augmented the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by about 33 percent. Carbon dioxide is known as a greenhouse gas that has the ability to trap the lower atmosphere bringing heat to our planet (Hardy, p. 11).

    Heavy dependence of developed countries on fossil fuels has triggered the global warming that brought changes on the global climate including the behavior of weather disturbances like typhoons and hurricanes. These results to the worsening deterioration of the global environment which is the main focus of this international relations research paper. To be specific, this paper will analyze the causes and effects of global environment deterioration and what sets of actions could be taken to stop the bleeding of the planet.

Historical Roots of Global Environment Deterioration
Major changes in the global environment or of the planet as a whole have been primarily link or related to the significant changes in the world economy especially with the birth of globalization. This economic phenomenon has allowed countries to use other countries resources for the purpose of generating income without regard to the effect of such operations to the environment. Economic globalization is actually promoting or adding to the problems of the environment because of the following (1) economic growth that is considered environmentally destructive (2) decline in the capacity of national governments for the regulation of environmental challenges (3) increase in the power and reach of multinational companies (4) the growth of environmentally harmful sectors like mining and transportation (5) the increased probability of global economic crises (6) the decline of established local controls on the use of resources (7) the clear separation of impact and action from obligation (8) the continuing dominance of the growth imperative and (9) the swift multiplication of invasive species resulting from the biological homogenization (Speth, 2004).

Another root of the global environment deterioration was the exponential growth of the human population. In the year 2008, the world approximately recorded the world population at 6.7 billion people. In a collective manner, these people are consuming huge amounts of food, raw materials, energy and water that, in turn, produced vast amounts of wastes and pollution. Population estimates suggested that by the year 2050, world population could reach by around 9.3 billion or 10 billion by the end of this century unless death rates rise significantly (Miller, Brewer and Spoolman, p. 218).
Global warming is considered a human-induced environmental problem due to the activities of people that bring negative changes to the environment. To be specific, human activities like poor agricultural practices results to the loss of soil and quickly followed by its impoverishment due to the loss of minerals, groundwater over-extraction, and damages due to acid rain. These are some examples of environmental degradations that highly impact on both local and regional scales.  Another environmental hazard, which is considered the effect of global environment degradation or global warming, is the rise of sea level. Based on studies, an increase in the average level of the sea by 12 centimeters by the year 2030 could not highly affect the environment and the people living in coastal areas (Houghton, p. 54). Nevertheless, half of the population of the world lives or inhabits in coastal areas or zones. As such, the low lying areas are considered the most fertile and densely populated areas. People living in these communities are vulnerable to problems that would be brought about even by a fraction of a meter rise in sea level. Countries that are especially in danger of sea level increase include low lying areas like Bangladesh and related delta regions, the Netherlands, and tiny low-lying islands of the Pacific and other huge oceans.

Climate change that is considered human induced is a recognized phenomenon nowadays. At present, people have the ability to predict how the climate will change and how these changes will actually affect the environment. Global debates continue to flourish regarding the degree of future change that provides the uncertainties on the impact of climate change to the environment (Hardy, 2003). Environmental groups pushed for drastic and immediate steps to be taken by governments to curtail emissions of greenhouse gases with the passage of various international treaties like the Kyoto Protocol. In this agreement, many countries have agreed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions however countries that is emitting the greatest share of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions were reluctant to cut their emissions, making these global treaties ineffective.

As a process that is considered worldwide and human generated, global climate change is a known as an addition to the number of environmental health hazards faced by humankind (McMichael and World Health Organization, p. 86). New viruses that affect humans have been reported to kill and affect the health of several populations. Famous of them was the entry of a new virus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS and the recent health damages caused by Influence AH1N1 virus. These diseases provided evidence that activities of human beings are greatly affecting the balance of energyheat exchange between the space, the atmosphere and the Earth itself that induced global climate change. In this case, a warmer climate could have far reaching effects to forestry and agriculture, unmanaged and managed ecosystems that includes human health, natural habitats, and sea level and water resources depending on the responses of the climate. In addition, a volatile climate could bring changes to regional practices in agriculture, stability of harvests or yields could decline in some regions, and survival of some pests in the months of winter may increase. Likewise, productivity of forests may decline in selected regions and global climate changes, when added to other stressors of the environment could generate major disturbances in various regions of the world (Karling, p. 63).

    Negative environmental changes could bring in conflicts as diverse as terrorism, war or disputes in the area of trade and diplomatic relations (Homer-Dixon, p. 89). Moreover, global environmental deterioration could have various causal roles and may include many physical, political and economic factors. To be specific, experts argued that conflicts may arise due to global environmental changes with the shift of the balance of power among states either globally or regionally that could produce instabilities leading to war or aggression. As such, government leaders and the participation of the public sector could somehow curb the burgeoning problem of global environment deterioration.
Social Causes of Global Environmental Deterioration

    The orientation on most consumers called dominant preference is considered the hindrance to the effective implementation of environmental measures. For instance, in purchasing a car, style and color are far more significant in most of the decisions of consumers than emission control or fuel efficiency. As such, citizens and parents are afraid that this type of consumer preference could replace the concept of consumerism as the main foundation of popular structures of preferences. To be specific, the parent would usually be worried about the security or safety of the automobile while citizens will be concerned with the carbon emissions of the automobile which could contribute to greenhouse gas emissions In this regard even environmentalists are considering the communities as one of the organized factors of global environmental deterioration (Hempel, p. 16). Communities are defined as populations that are interacting with limited size and are having collective sense of obligation or responsibility.

Continuity preserved the common goals and lasting relationships of communities. However, environmentalists claimed that these community goals and relationships are not assured to be environmentally sound. They added that the quality of the environment primarily relies on the improvement of community goals that link the environment as a priority. Ecological literacy is needed to have local knowledge and sense about the place where we are living in for the great purpose of protecting, preserving and understanding the quality of the environment and life within biotic communities (Viotti and Kauppi, p. 28). The process of ecological literacy promotes the centralization of natural landscapes within the diversity of developing the human mindscapes. However, the birth of the global village could be a hindrance to the formation of a real community that cares to the environment due to its nature of virtualization.

Approaching Realism in Dealing with the Environment
Realism is defined as the inclination towards literal truth and pragmatism. The problem of global environment deterioration is considered a real phenomenon and so the need for real and genuine environmental policies to avert the bleeding of the planet is badly necessary. Efforts of one country could not stop the effects of climate change in the environment but a collective effort towards the mitigation of the causes of climate change would be a favorable solution. Since developed countries are the primary emitters of greenhouse gases, they should be required to sign treaties that are pro-environment. In the end, they will be blamed for the destruction and unusual calamities brought about by global warming. However, countries like the United States always have their reasons for not complying with international treaties like the Kyoto Protocol. Two central issues have emerged as the United States designs its strategies for the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. The first issue is on how to limit compliance costs while still maintaining the integrity of the environment and the second issue was on how to involve developing countries in a combined effort of limiting carbon emissions. A new strategy called the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism was also known as the worlds largest offset market. Offsets markets that are well designed could play a big role in the process of engaging developing countries as well as the encouragement of sound investment mechanisms for the control of greenhouse gas emissions (Viotti and Kauppi, p. 37). To be specific, the United States should be able to collaborate with developing countries and talk about the possibility of establishing a Climate Fund for the purpose of financing critical changes in the policies of developing countries leading to reductions of greenhouse gases in the short term. This step is considered a realistic act for the purpose of reducing carbon emissions worldwide. Meanwhile, the Copenhagen environment summit to be held in December of 2009 could be a milestone for the establishment of pro-environment initiatives that would save the global environment from deterioration.

The Global Environment is Deteriorated
It is evident nowadays that the global environment is continuously going into worse due to the severe calamities experienced by developing countries like the Philippines which was primarily caused by global warming and climate change that generated unusual weather disturbance in most developing countries. As such, the author stands firmly on the issue that the global environment is in a crisis due to human activities that generates imbalances in the environment. Global environment crisis refers to the deterioration or decay of the worlds natural resources due to the activities of people that harm their existence (Redclift, p. 77). It is clear that the worlds people do not fully understand the actions that can influence the changes in the global climate.

Operations of factories in most developed countries still continue despite of the fact that they are emitting excessive carbon dioxide to the worlds atmosphere (Houghton, p. 89). As a result, global climate has changed significantly due to the following factors (1) chemical changes happening in the atmosphere due to the increased in carbon dioxide concentration in the air (2) the presence of aerosols and dust (3) clearing of land, inundation and the building of new cities and (4) the use of non-renewable sources of energy (Singer, 1975). Despite of the fact that the exploitation of fossil fuels has produced several negative externalities to the environment, governments still continue to adapt these system of acquiring energy with no concern to its global effects. To be specific, the carbon dioxide generated by these fossil fuels has contributed to global warming of the climate. These results to the suffering of people around the world due to the poor quality of the air they breathe affecting their overall health conditions. Likewise, water pollution has been the result of the continued operation of fossil fuel and coal plants with the past oil spills in major water bodies in the world. These factors especially the fossil fuel use has greatly contributed to global environment deterioration. In this case, debates are not anymore needed to prove that the environment is deteriorated or not. Instead, swift actions should be taken by various governments and non-government organizations to reduce or eradicate the effect of human activities to the environment. As mentioned, aside from governments collaboration, small communities must do their share by making sure that their wastes are properly disposed or segregated, products that consumers are purchasing are not environmentally harmful and making sure that transportation facilities are environmentally compliant.

The global environment is evidently deteriorated but there is plenty of time for governments and the private sector to act on the issue. It is a matter of political willingness to curb the effects of global warming. Likewise, films and documentaries that showed how the world will be depleted if actions were not taken today are signs that we are actually the burden of depletion of our planet. The need to act collectively and in harmony against carbon emitters is important to address the problem of climate change and global warming. Non-government organizations like the Greenpeace International and World Wildlife Fund are consistently rallying for the purpose of enlightening the minds of leaders regarding the harmful effects of economic growth and globalization to the environment. These organizations are also focus on the effects of various non-renewable sources of energy that largely affect the earths atmosphere. On our part, we have to do things that are environment friendly so that we can do our tiny share for the global environment. Reuse, Reduce and Recycle are some of the efforts we can take to help mitigate the effects of our activities to the global environment.