Question: What damage do humans do to the environment, and how?

Emma Markham answered on 20 Jun 2019:

That is a very wide-ranging question!
I think the main ways we damage the environment include:
-destroying habitat, for example cutting down rainforest to plant palm oil. This means orangutans are being squeezed into a smaller and smaller area, and so are facing extinction in many regions.
-over fishing the ocean, many fish are being overfished and it is unsustainable, meaning fish populations cannot recover unless we ban fishing many of the species we currently enjoy, otherwise this could cause the collapse of the whole ocean ecosystem, because many species rely on fish for food.
-global warming, this is caused by many things, including burning fossil fuel in powerplants, cars and factories. This is causing hotter drying summers and droughts, and more extreme weather and flash flooding. This is making challenging conditions for plants and crops to adapt. This is also causing sea levels to rise from the melting icecaps, which is going to flood low-lying land such as the Netherlands and Florida, displacing people from their homes.