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48 Examples of Environmental Problems

John Spacey, updated on June 16, 2021

Environmental problems are negative changes to the natural environment of the planet. This may reduce the current quality of life of people and threaten the long term sustainability of communities, societies and life itself. The following are common examples of environmental problems.

Acid Rain	Agricultural Runoff
Air Pollution	Bioaccumulation of Pollution
Biodiversity Loss	Chemical Spills
Construction Emissions	Coral Bleaching
Cruise Ship Emissions	Deforestation
Desertification	Electromagnetic Pollution
Endocrine Disruptors	Environmental Impact of War
Extinction	Food Quality
Global Dimming	Global Warming
Habitat Destruction	Habitat Fragmentation
Herbicide Pollution	Illegal Dumping
Incinerator Pollution	Indoor Air Quality
Invasive Species	Land Degradation
Marine Debris	Medical Waste
Microplastic Pollution	Mining Runoff
Nanomaterial Pollution	Noise Pollution
Ocean Acidification	Oil Spills
Ozone Depletion	Persistent Organic Pollutants
Pesticide Pollution	Radioactive Waste
Resource Overexploitation	Shipping Emissions
Soil Pollution	Space Junk
Toxic Waste	Unsustainable Fishing Practices
Urban Heat Island	Vehicle Emissions
Volatile Organic Compounds	Water Pollution

Cause & Effect

Environmental problems are defined according to their impact on the environment or people. For example, consumerism is arguably a root cause of pollution but isn't an environmental problem itself.

Problems & Risks

Beyond current problems, there are environmental risks that represent possible future problems. For example, the risk of nuclear war.

Solutions

Solutions to environmental problems generally require systems thinking whereby you consider possible unintended consequences. For example, solutions that directly address the root cause of a problem such as producing vehicles with zero or low emissions that are required to be efficiently recycled or reused at the end of their life.

People, Planet & Profits

People, planet & profits is the principle that solutions to environmental problems not make things worse for people or the economy. This defeats the false dichotomies of environment vs people or environment vs economy. This can also be viewed as pragmatic realism that recognizes that environmental action that is hostile to people and their goals it is unlikely to succeed. For example, green infrastructure projects that provide jobs and solve environmental problems at the same time.

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