Urbanization and its Impact on Lifestyle and Living Standards

Discuss about the Personal Life Style Choices Of The Individuals Living In The Modern Era.

Lifestyle is indicative of the interests and behaviour orientation pertaining to an individual and culture. A person living in a rural environment has a different kind of lifestyle as compared to an individual living in the urban metropolis. The kind of neighbourhood of a person has an effect on the lifestyle and the affluence and cultural environment has a bearing on the standard of life of a person (Hugo, 2017).  Sustainability refers to the development that helps in meeting the need of the present and which does not compromise ability of the future generations in meeting their need. This essay discusses about the personal life style choices of the individuals living in the modern era and how it has an effect on the arena of sustainability.

The world is undergoing urbanization and it has brought great amount of changes in relation to the living standards along with lifestyles of an individual. Promise of jobs along with prosperity are pulling the people towards that of the cities. It has been found that more than that of 50 % of the population in the world live within the urban area (Aronson et al., 2014).  Urban living can help in providing a gamut of opportunities which includes access to health care. It can however be stated that the modern urban environment can be harmful for the health of the individuals and it can pave the path for the introduction of new hazards. The health challenges within the cities relate to that of water and environment. Poor quality of air along with water and insufficient availability pertaining to water is augmented on account of the population destiny along with that of demand pertaining to urban environment (Soja, 2016).

Commuting behaviour can help in the determination of the exposure to that of air pollutants within the urban areas. Air pollution is a problem that is caused by emission of pollutants that can have a negative impact on the health of an individual. It can severely damage the condition of the environment. There are a large number of people who travel by car and the vehicle emissions can irreparably damage the environment. The cars are responsible for the emission of greenhouse gas like that of carbon dioxide that can act as a contributor to the aspect of global warming. The particulate matter that is emitted from the cars can enter the food chain of the human being and it can affect the reproductive along with respiratory system of the animals (Kasman & Duman, 2015) Nitrogen oxide can produce acid rain that can change the ph of the water bodies and the soils. The air pollution being caused can cause disturbance in the natural order of the universe. The death of the animals on account of the air pollution in the cities can cause damage to the balance of the universe which acts as a threat in relation to sustainability. The acid rain weakens the tress and it damages the leaves. It can limit the nutrient that is available to the trees which poses a threat to that of sustainability (Benson, 2016).  Roads along with parking take up a large amount of space. The construction of road along with that of manufacture of the transport equipment need materials and it produces a large amount of waste. The emissions that come out from the vehicles harms the environment and it acts as a threat to sustainability.

The Health and Environmental Risks of Urban Living

The air conditioners which is powered by that of electricity can be extremely harmful for the world. The gases which are released from the air conditioner can severely harm the environment. It poses a threat to sustainability as the usage of air conditioner can create a cycle pertaining to damage. The rising income of the common people has changed the lifestyle of the people who are living in the urban areas. It has been found that residential along with industrial air conditioning account for consumption of one trillion kilowatt hour pertaining to electricity throughout the world on annual basis (Van Acker, Goodwin & Witlox, 2016). The electricity that is instrumental in running the air conditioners has been generated from the fossil fuels. The space heating that is carried out in the regions that have cool climates is carried out by the burning of fuels that have smaller carbon emission as compared to that of coal. This along with energy loss that is involved in relation to the transmission pertaining to electric power is instrumental in causing greenhouse gas emission. The greenhouse effect pertaining to heating along with cooling will rise and it will harm the factor of sustainability prevailing in the environment (C?t?lin & Andreea, 2014).  The refrigerants can give rise to air conditioning and it can cause harm to that of the stratospheric ozone layer. The personal life style choices of the people residing in the urban areas can harm the balance of the atmosphere and is hazardous for the future generations.

The modern lifestyle compels an individual to wear fashionable clothes so that they can get a sophisticated look. The cloth can look soft and fresh but toxic chemicals are used in the production stage that can be detrimental for the individual. The polyesters are the synthetic petrochemicals and purchasing of the plastic-based clothes can increase demand pertaining to crude oil (Cohen, Duncan & Thulemark, 2015).  Polyester is cheap and is an inseparable part of fashion but is has an adverse impact on the environment. Polyester is associated with the wrinkle- free property of the clothes (Uddin, Bokelmann & Entsminger, 2014).  Polyester can easily be ironed and it can be washed very easily in the washing machine. This makes it a popular choice for the consumers of the modern era. Production pertaining to polyester make use of the harmful chemicals that includes that of carcinogens and when it is released to the water along with air can pave the path for environmental damage (Al-Mulali & Ozturk, 2015).  The drilling of the oil can lead to the disturbance of the marine ecosystem and the seismic techniques that are used for exploration of the ocean floor can harm the life of the marine animals. More than that of 70 billion barrel is used for the making of polyester in every year. Polyester is non bio-degradable and it continues to stay within the ecosystem even after it breaks apart. It can thus alter the balance of the earth and is a threat for that of sustainability.

Air Pollution and Transportation

In past times, people used to buy clothes that they used to wear for a long period of time. Recent research has shown that an average US woman wears the clothing only seven times and then throws it away. Consumerism in the modern age makes the people buy more clothes. Buying of a new shirt can pave the way for water along with air pollution that can severely harm the environment (Al-Mulali et al., 2015).  The people who have to make these clothes have to live in polluted conditions and they have to live on land which is polluted on account of the pesticides on account of the pesticides which is required for the growing of cotton. These workers have to work in the unsafe conditions that can adversely affect their health (Panayotou, 2016). They cannot easily find that of a better job and this is the reason why they have to continue working under these kinds of adverse situations. In the event of the environment being polluted it can pave the path for chronic illness along with that of unhealthy living condition. Animal species are lost on account of this kind of environmental conditions and it can harm the balance prevailing in the environment. This threatens the element of sustainability in the universe.

Conclusion:

The urbanization of people has a great impact on the living standards of the people. Jobs and prosperity are the two causes that compels an individual to move to the cities. In the cities most of the people take recourse to cars for travelling that damages the balance prevailing in that of the environment. Greenhouse gas are emitted by the cars that contributes to that of global warming. Particulate matter that comes out of the cars can enter food chain of the individuals. It can irreparably damage the reproductive and respiratory system. Rising income of the individuals in the cities has led to changes in lifestyle of the individuals. The industrial air conditioning consumes up a lot of energy on annual basis within the world. Fossil fuels help in the generation of this electricity and the fossil fuels being used up can severely harm the environment. The refrigerators emit the greenhouse gases that can prove to be adverse for the environment. This can cause harm to the stratospheric ozone layer that can deteriorate the conditions prevailing in the earth. The buying of the polyester-based clothes can augment the demand of the crude oil. The oil drilling can disturb marine ecosystem and it can harm life of the aquatic animals. The seismic techniques can cause damage to the lives of the animals and it can be adverse for that of sustainability.

References:

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