Environmental Impact: Contextualization and Current Reality

The environmental impacts of human acts have been a global concern of the contemporary era. The conflict between economic development and environmental protection is a very important topic to be considered before beginning any human activity that may cause negative effects to the environment. This work was designed to review the types of environmental impacts, their classes, and the Brazilian laws related to them. Additionally, this work shows the consequences of human actions on the environment around the world that without the proper assessment can lead to disasters and outcomes that may never be reversed. Although environmental impacts and sustainability are not new subjects, environmental disasters still occur with a certain regularity worldwide, pointing to the human negligence as a possible source of environmental disasters. It important for companies, farmers, and the general public to realize how the environmental impacts their daily lives, and the required measures to minimize the negative effects.