By Josephine Oguntoyinbo

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Human errors have been identified as the major cause of environmental disaster.

An environmentalist  Dr Bayo Akinseloyin stated this in a chat with The Hope during the week.

According to him, the act of disrespecting the environment has rendered it unhealthy and unsuitable overtime.

He identified these activities to include littering, noise, water and air pollution, land-filled caused by indiscriminate dumping of refuse, deforestation,poor sanitation, overcrowded tenaments among others.

Akinseloyin posited that effects of harmful actions on the environment were unwholesome which people were consciously or unconsciously responsible for.

“When people purchase goods either in traffic or elsewhere and indiscriminately fling the remnant on the road or other inappropriate places, what they do is to desecrate the environment.

“Unfortunately, what we fail to realise is that our seemingly harmless actions have far-reaching consequences as it may take close to 900 years for such remnant  to decompose.

“When you live in a neighborhood and decide to blast music so much that the entire vicinity vibrates, unmindful of the peace and health of others. As apparently not detrimental as some infamous environmental acts look, it can spur ripple effects on an entire community”, he explained.

The Don added that people living in overcrowded environment were more likely to be exposed to scene of violence, like domestic and verbal abuse among others.

To him, the cost of damaging behaviours against the environment makes government spend unnecessarily while trying to undo the harm done, maintaining that such funds could have been expended in meeting other crucial social needs.

He equally said that public health  was sometimes hampered, as filthy practice tend to lead to outbreak of epidemics which could lead to needless waste of lives.

To this end, he advised people to change negative attitudes towards the environment as this insensitivity would do more harm than good. “Degrading the environment in an abysmal manner is a disaster”.

He also called on government at all levels to invest more in environmental conservation, preservation and development.