My Environmental Worldview free essay sample

My Environmental Worldview. Now at the turn of the two centuries the mankind comes to grips with the sharpest global problems of the modern world menacing to the existence of a civilization and even of the life on our planet. Inability to foresee and to prevent negative consequences of scientific and technical revolution threatens to cause to fall the mankind into thermonuclear, ecological or a social disaster. In many cities and rural areas the present state of the environment can be called as an ecological disaster. And the number of these cities and rural areas is still being increased. We are almost on a threshold of the close global catastrophe. If the mankind doesnt give a priority to the problems of ecology and multiply efforts on preservation and restoration of the natural environment in its activity, probably it will soon collide with irreversible processes not only in the nature, but also in the evolution of the human being as a part of the nature. We will write a custom essay sample on My Environmental Worldview or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Everyone should know the problems facing to the mankind: Human population growth, waste management, sustainable development, energy, depleting forests, mineral, water, soil resources etc. Exactly the Earth topsoil represents the major component of the Earth biosphere. The significant value of the soil consists in accumulation of organic matter, various chemical elements, and also energy. The topsoil performs functions of a biological absorber, the destroyer and neutralizer of different contaminations. If this link of the biosphere gets damaged, the fully developed functioning of biosphere will be irreversibly disturbed. For this reason, studying of the global biochemical value of the topsoil, its present condition and change under the influence of an anthropogenous activity is extremely important. Almost all polluting substances which have originally got to the atmosphere finally appear on a surface of the land and water. Soil becomes polluted by various chemical matter, pesticides, and waste products of agriculture, industry and household enterprises. Chemical compounds getting to the ground accumulate and lead to its gradual alteration of chemical and physical properties, reduce number of living organisms, worsen its fertility. I think protection of the topsoil is one of the major mankind problems, as any harmful compounds placed in soil, sooner or later get to our organism. First, there is a onstant washing away of the pollution to open reservoirs and subsoil waters which can be used by people for drinking and other needs. Second, pollution from the soil moisture, subsoil waters and open reservoirs gets to the organisms of animals and the plants using this water, and however on a food chains gets to the human organism. But it isnt a unique problem connected to the soil. In the world there is a process of reduction of the cultivable lands in agriculture. One of major concerns is desert invasion. Deserts of South-West Asia, Northern and Southern America, Sahara are growing. I think that the first step in the decision of this problem is to protect the soil against erosion and the second one is increasing of its fertility. Land improvement (amelioration)  is a set of measures to improve soil and to raise its long term fertility. It includes: irrigation, draining, erosion control, a flooding, and fertilization. Land improvement must be carefully considered otherwise it can bring more harm, than advantage. Draining works should be carried out very cautiously; differently the shallowing of the rivers and lakes that receive nourishment from bogs can take place. The dry woods can be lost. It is necessary to observe norms and a mode of applying fertilizers both mineral, and chemical, differently there will be an intoxication of the soil with mineral salts surplus, washout of salts to reservoirs, blooming of reservoirs, fish kill. But there will be excessive harmful nitrates content to the human in cultural plants. Water is a basis of a life. Its main function is life support. Fresh water consists only 3 % from the total amount of hydrosphere on the planet and it is also distributed irregularly. Not only Africa suffers from the lack of fresh water, but also large cities of Europe, America and Asia. Water used by the human finally comes back to the natural environment. Thus there is a pollution of fresh water reservoirs rivers, lakes, land and coastal sites of the seas. According to the calculations of scientists, 25 thousand km3 of fresh water, or practically all accessible resources of such drain can be demanded for the dilution of these waste waters! For this reason and not because of the growth of a direct water intake this is the main reason of an aggravation of a problem of fresh water. Now many rivers belong to a number of strongly polluted: Rhine, Danube, Seine, Ohio, Volga, Dnepr, Dnestr, etc. Pollution of the World Ocean grows. And here not only pollution by runoff plays the essential role, but also a plenty of mineral oil penetration to seas and oceans. In whole, the most polluted inland seas are Mediterranean, Northern, Baltic, and also the Bay of Biscay, the Persian and Mexican gulfs. There are three kinds of water pollution biological, chemical and physical. In my opinion, resources of fresh waters can be increased by use of the closed circulating water supply at the enterprises. It is a blasphemously to use drinking water for the industrial purposes. Scientists suggest the desalination of sea water, runoff of river, gathering rain and thawed water in underground storehouses. I’m sure that closed in time water tap can bring its contribution to the struggle for preservation of water resources. In my opinion huge advantage in struggle for the water purification, can do nanotechnologies. For example, Petersburg scientist Petrik suggests using the absorbent created in his laboratory for clearing reservoirs of various kinds of pollution right up to radiation. In Petersburg tests of this substance at clearing waters of the river Neva from oil and fuel spots have passed. Productivity of this absorbent was the best. There is a natural resource which is necessary for the human as a land and water it is an air. But there is no, perhaps, such resource, except air, which absence would become an insoluble problem for the human less than in minute after its disappearance. It is known, that pollution of the atmosphere occurs basically as a result of the industrial, transport and other activity, which annually throws out in air more than billion solid and gaseous particles. Nowadays the basic polluters of atmospheres are carbon oxide and sulfur dioxide gas. But, certainly, it is impossible to forget about chlorofluorocarbon (Freon). The majority of scientists believe they are the reason of the formation of so-called ozone gaps in the atmosphere. Just due to the decreasing of ozone contents in the top layers of the atmosphere Physicians explain growth of a quantity of skin cancer. Fertile drops of a rain one more gift of heavens always pleased the human. But in some areas of the Globe rains have turned to a serious danger. Difficult and complicated in its decision problem of acid rains which perniciously affects on the nature of reservoirs, damages silva and agricultural crops. All these substances represent a certain danger to the human life. The main chemical pollutant of the atmosphere – is the sulfur dioxide gas isolated at burning of coal, slates, oil, at the melt of iron, copper, manufacturing of a sulfuric acid, etc. Sulfur dioxide is the reason of acid rains. The poisonous fog sharply worsening conditions of human life appears in industrial regions at the high concentration of sulfur dioxide, dust, and smoke in wet calm weather. This problem is of my personal concern. I live in a small town where there are 3 huge plants: cement, asbestos and brick-making. During a manufacturing process these plants throw out to the atmosphere the huge amount of harmful substances. More and more people in our town become ill with the diseases of lungs, allergy. In my opinion, modernization of the old plants by new equipment meeting the ecological requirements of manufacturing in the greater degree can solve a problem of air pollution. Transport occupies the second place after the enterprises polluting the air environment. Carbonic oxide and oxides of nitrogen are the principal causes of headaches, weariness, unmotivated irritation, low work capacity. In big cities diseases of blood circulation and breath, heart attacks, a hypertension and cancer are widely spread. Automobiles also add heavy metals and other harmful substances to the soil and air. Developers of machines work on the creation of an alternative fuel for transport. Solar batteries, electric machine and etc, completely harmless to the environment are proposed. I like the offer of the mayor of Paris who has proposed to use bicycles which anybody can rent for a small payment for the movement around the historical city centre. Forests play the major role in a normal function of the natural ecosystems. They absorb atmospheric pollution of an anthropogenous origin, protect the soil from erosion, adjust a normal surface runoff, interfere a decrease subsoil waters level and flood of the rivers, channels and water basins. Woods are â€Å"the lungs of the planets â€Å", and reduction of forests areas breaks the process of carbon cycle in biosphere. In spite of the fact that catastrophic consequences of deforestation are already widely known, it still continues. Deforestation entails the destruction of the richest flora and fauna. The human deplete the appearance of his planet. There are other global problems which can begin in connection with deforestation: desertification, soil erosion, â€Å"greenhouse effect â€Å". In my opinion the correct solution of this problem could be possible, if the mass deforestation is reduced, works on artificial forestation are carried out thus establishing balance of the carbon cycle. I think deforestation on big areas will increase the reflecting ability of the Earth. It will change wind current, air circulation. In the issue, in equatorial zones the amount of precipitations will be reduced, that finally will result to the desertification. The attitudes of the human to woodland of our planet need to change quickly. Deforestation is one of the reasons for the climate change. Global warming is the most serious ecological threat of the XXI century. The atmospheric emissions caused by a human activity, leads to essential increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Higher concentration of these gases increases the greenhouse effect, resulting in additional heating of the earth surface and lead to a global warming. I consider the main measure on the prevention of the global warming can be formulated this way: we should find a new kind of fuel or to change technology of the present kinds of fuel use. It means, it is necessary: To reduce the consumption of fossil fuel. To use filters for removal of emissions from chimneys of power stations, and also automobile exhausts; To demand, that more effective systems of heating and cooling were placed in new houses; To increase using of solar and wind energy; To reduce deforestation; To expand the areas of reserves and parks; To create the laws providing the prevention of global warming; identifying reasons of the global warming, monitoring and elimination of consequences. An important problem facing the modern world is population growth. Therefore experts of all worlds ecologists, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists carry out a plenty of the researches concerning problems of the planet population, and the results are horrified. The popul ation of the Earth will increase on conditions that excess of death rates by the rates of birth. Now it occurs like this. The annual population growth varying from 1 up to 3 % seems small, but such parameters mean huge increasing of the population for the centenary period. Now the real way of an overpopulation problem decision is a regulation of the population. Governments of most developing countries try to cut down birth rate both by economic and family planning. Along with the population growth scientists mark a growth of number of a pension age people that is especially actual for the countries of Europe. One more remarkable problem connected to the population, is an urbanization and growth of cities. Plenty of people use automobiles more and more that demands large areas for roads and parking lots that lead to pollution of the environment and energetically inefficient use of the ground. So, these are the basic problems of the population at the present stage of development of our civilization on the Earth. They demand the fast solving, differently our life can become much worse. The more people are on the planet the more power resources they consume. Ecological well-being considerably depends on the reasonable development of power engineering of the Earth, because the half of all gases causing â€Å"greenhouse effect† is created there. The fuel and energy balance of a planet consists basically from pollutant oil, coal, gas. I think that in these conditions only the nuclear power engineering can be a solution, as it is capable in short terms to reduce the greenhouse effect. Replacement of coal, oil and gas by the nuclear power engineering has already given some abatement in emissions of Ð ¡ÃÅ¾2 and other greenhouse gases . The population grows affects the increase of the amount of waste products. Today per capita production of raw materials on the planet is about 20 tons a year which are processed using 800 t of water and 2. kW of power into products while 90 98 % go to waste. The domestic waste per person does not exceed 0. 3-0. 6 t a year. The rest is an industrial waste. As I see it the most acceptable variant of the decision of this problem to learn to recycle waste and to develop a new branch of industry. Here there are some ways of the decision: 1. It is necessary to change the practice of the general gath ering of refuse collection and to carry out its sorting in collection points. 2. It is necessary to create the enterprises for processing of sorted waste products and manufacturing the goods necessary for a society. 3. By the legislative way it is necessary to determine enterprises tax producing single use production, because they cause increasing of waste products volume. Sustainability is one of the major parameters of any systems, including ecological. It determines the ability of a system to maintain itself at the changes of an environment. In the context of this definition we can consider stability as a synonym of the term vitality. In other words the mankind must learn to â€Å"live within its means†, to utilize natural resources without undermining them, to invest money to insurance funding programs aimed at preventing catastrophic consequences of its own activity. This conception is based the fact , that if three fourth of the population of the Earth, nowadays living in poorly advanced countries, goes the same way of development as in advanced countries, the planet obviously would not stand such powerful consumption of its resources and pollution and inevitable ecological catastrophe will burst. At the same time I think it is impossible to blame developing countries for their desire to improve living standards of their fast growing population. I think that the one who pollutes the environment, basically, should bear expenses of eliminating the consequences. The assessment of a state of environment should be effected for reduction of the risk of damaging before a beginning of realization of the projects which can have undesirable consequences. Governments must cut or cancel subsidizing of that projects which do not conform to the purposes and sustainable development problems. The state of sustainable of a world ecosystem depends on as far as the mankind can solve global problems of the present and to prevent the occurrence of new ones. Nature protection is a concern of our century, the concern that has become social. Again and again we hear about the danger threatening to environment, but still many of us consider their unpleasant, but imminent product of a civilization and believe, that we still will have time to cope with all come to light difficulties. However influence of the human on the environment has accepted threatening scales. We need purposeful and carefully planned actions to radically improve the situation. About some possible ways of the decision of problems of environment I have already written. But has not mentioned in my opinion an important point necessities of attraction as much as possible number of people to struggle for preservation of nature. It is necessary to enhance work on informing of the population by mass media about concerns of a world scale what we have. The person must know what exactly he can do to prevent irreversible processes on the Earth. Introduction of ecological education in education of schoolboys and students of the higher school is necessarily. Everyone: the seller, the accountant, the driver, the politician must realize the responsibility for influence of the person on the nature. I consider, that an ecological concern one of the most important problems of mankind. The future of all planets depends on the decision of this problem. And already now people should understand and take an active part in struggle for world preservation. Each person should realize that Mankind on the verge of destruction, and our survival depends upon each of us.