Development and progress have greatly affected our nature and

environment. Discuss the extent to which development and progress

have caused harm and destruction to our nature and environment.

Human population increases by the minute and in order to

cater to this expansion, we need more land and new technologies.
However, in reaching the goal of having a comfortable life, we often
forget about other things that have been sacrificed or demolished
along the way. Development and progress have caused harm and
destruction to our nature and environment through the loss of forest
habitats, open burning, slope development, global warming and
water pollution.
Development and progress had caused the loss of forest
habitats for wildlife. Forests are cleared for development and
progress like plantation and construction site. Some are cleared for
the building of dams. Forest is not only the habitat of wildlife but
also the habitat for plants. The existence of all these wildlife plants
and animals helps to maintain the ecosystem and also the nature of
food chain in the forest. But now the homes as well as their source
of food of all these precious wildlife are destructed by human
activities.
Open burning is defined as to burn something in an open air.
Open burning has greatly affected our natural environment. It has
increased the level of CO2 in the atmosphere. On the other hand,
O2 level decreased. Industries like logging often lead to open
burning. Why do I say so? This is because, those unwanted waste of
logging like leaves and branches are disposed off by burning them.
Another effect caused by open burning is haze. The CO2, which is
released into the air, will react with NO2 that caused the air to be
polluted. Then gases, or known as haze, will form. Open burning of
plantation also contributes to air pollution.
Another factor to the destruction to the nature and
environment is slope development. This usually happen for
constructions of buildings or parks where trees are cut down and
hills are leveled. Hillside developments are highly demanded by the
rich, such as in Bukit Damansara, as it gives breathtaking views as
well as costs more to develop. Without the coverage of trees, the
soil will become loose since the roots of trees are absent. These
roots function as the agent to hold the structure of soil together.
Therefor, soil erosions occur during rain which caused by the stream
of water moving along the slope of loosen soil.
Development and progress of modern society have resulted in
severe weather changes especially global warming. Human
activities such as burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and others
have released extremely ample amount of CO2 into the atmosphere.

The carbon dioxide in the air has increased few times compared to
few decades ago. Besides, agriculture activities such as poultry
which are important in providing our food sources to feed the world
population, contributes to global warming because of the releasing
of methane gas. These two gases are heat trapping gas and hence
causing the earths temperature to rise. This brings ______ weather
changes and resulting in great loss to produce human life and
property.
Development and progress also cause pollution especially
water pollution which endangers marine life. Heavy metal such as
mercury and nickel are released by factories without filtering into
the river and finally to the sea. The harmful chemical substances will
be incorporated into marine life. When the chemical substances
exceeds a certain level, the marine life will die, which may also lead
to the extinction of various species of marine life.
In all, we should never put aside the importance of keeping
the nature and environment at its place as we strive towards
development and progress. The absence of the previous will affect
the later in a matter of time. By keeping both in hand, not only
everything will be balanced but also prolonging the advantages we
can reap from both.