Human impact on the environment is brief. Human influence on nature, negative impact

Shakhanova Natalie

ABSTRACT:

"HUMAN IMPACT

ON THE ENVIRONMENT"

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MUNICIPAL STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

"SECONDARY SCHOOL No. 7"

ABSTRACT:

"HUMAN IMPACT

ON THE ENVIRONMENT"

WORK COMPLETED: 11TH CLASS STUDENT NATALIE SHAKHANOVA

TEACHER: PANAETOVA SOFIA ILYINICHNA

ST. ESSENTUKSKAYA

2015

The more we take from the world, the less we leave in it, and we end up having to pay our debts at what may be a very inopportune moment to ensure the continuation of our lives.

Norbert Wiener

Man began to change natural systems already at the primitive stage of the development of civilization, during the period of hunting and gathering, when he began to use fire. The domestication of wild animals and the development of agriculture expanded the area of ​​manifestation of the consequences of human activity. As industry developed and muscle power was replaced by fuel energy, the intensity of anthropogenic influence continued to increase. In the 20th century Due to the particularly rapid rate of population growth and its needs, it has reached unprecedented levels and spread throughout the world.

When considering the human impact on the environment, we must always remember the most important environmental postulates formulated in Tyler Miller’s wonderful book “Living in the Environment”:

1. Whatever we do in nature, everything causes certain consequences in it, often unpredictable.

2. Everything in nature is interconnected, and we all live in it together.

3. Earth's life support systems can withstand significant pressure and rough interventions, but there is a limit to everything.

4. Nature is not only more complex than we think about it, it is much more complex than we can imagine.

All human-created complexes (landscapes) can be divided into two groups depending on the purpose of their creation:

– direct – created by purposeful human activity: cultivated fields, gardening complexes, reservoirs, etc., they are often called cultural;

– accompanying – not intended and usually undesirable, which were activated or brought to life by human activity: swamps along the banks of reservoirs, ravines in fields, quarry-dump landscapes, etc.

Each anthropogenic landscape has its own history of development, sometimes very complex and, most importantly, extremely dynamic. In a few years or decades, anthropogenic landscapes can undergo profound changes that natural landscapes will not experience in many thousands of years. The reason for this is the continuous intervention of man in the structure of these landscapes, and this interference necessarily affects the man himself. Here's just one example. In 1955, when nine out of every ten residents of North Borneo fell ill with malaria, on the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), the pesticide began to be sprayed on the island to combat the mosquitoes that carry malaria. The disease was practically banished, but the unforeseen consequences of such a fight turned out to be terrible: dieldrin killed not only mosquitoes, but also other insects, in particular flies and cockroaches; then the lizards that lived in the houses and ate dead insects died; after this, cats who ate the dead lizards began to die; Without cats, rats began to multiply quickly - and a plague epidemic began to threaten people. We got out of this situation by dropping healthy cats by parachute. But... it turned out that dieldrin did not affect the caterpillars, but destroyed the insects that fed on them, and then numerous caterpillars began to eat not only the leaves of the trees, but also the leaves that served as roofs for the roofs, as a result the roofs began to collapse.

Anthropogenic changes in the environment are very diverse. By directly influencing only one of the components of the environment, a person can indirectly change the others. In both the first and second cases, the circulation of substances in the natural complex is disrupted, and from this point of view, the results of the impact on the environment can be classified into several groups.

To the first group include impacts that lead only to changes in the concentration of chemical elements and their compounds without changing the form of the substance itself. For example, as a result of emissions from road transport the concentration of lead and zinc increases in the air, soil, water and plants, many times exceeding their normal content. In this case, the quantitative assessment of exposure is expressed in terms of the mass of pollutants.

Second group – impacts lead not only to quantitative, but also qualitative changes forms of occurrence of elements (within individual anthropogenic landscapes). Such transformations are often observed during mining, when many ore elements, including toxic ones, heavy metals, pass from mineral form to aqueous solutions. At the same time, their total content within the complex does not change, but they become more accessible to plant and animal organisms. Another example is changes associated with the transition of elements from biogenic to abiogenic forms. Thus, when cutting down forests, a person, cutting down a hectare of pine forest and then burning it, converts about 100 kg of potassium, 300 kg of nitrogen and calcium, 30 kg of aluminum, magnesium, sodium, etc. from biogenic form into mineral form.

Third group – the formation of man-made compounds and elements that have no analogues in nature or are not characteristic of a given area. There are more and more such changes every year. This is the appearance of freon in the atmosphere, plastics in soils and waters, weapons-grade plutonium, cesium in the seas, widespread accumulation of poorly decomposed pesticides, etc. In total, about 70,000 different synthetic chemicals are used every day in the world. About 1,500 new ones are added every year. It should be noted that little is known about the environmental impact of most of them, but at least half of them are harmful or potentially harmful to human health.

Fourth group– mechanical movement of significant masses of elements without significant transformation of the forms of their location. An example is the movement of rock masses during mining, both open-pit and underground. Traces of quarries, underground voids and waste heaps (hills with steep slopes formed by waste rocks transported from mines) will exist on Earth for many thousands of years. This group also includes the movement of significant masses of soil during dust storms of anthropogenic origin (one dust storm can move about 25 km3 of soil).

When analyzing the results of human activity, one should also take into account the state of the natural complex itself and its resistance to impacts. The concept of sustainability is one of the most complex and controversial concepts in geography. Any natural complex is characterized by certain parameters and properties (one of them, for example, is the amount of biomass). Each parameter has a threshold value - a quantity upon reaching which changes in the qualitative state of the components occur. These thresholds have been practically unstudied, and often, when predicting future changes in natural complexes under the influence of one or another activity, it is impossible to indicate the specific scale and exact time frame of these changes.

What is the real scale of modern anthropogenic influence? Here are some numbers. Every year, over 100 billion tons of minerals are extracted from the depths of the Earth; 800 million tons of various metals are smelted; produce more than 60 million tons of synthetic materials unknown in nature; contribute over 500 million tons to agricultural soils mineral fertilizers and approximately 3 million tons of various pesticides, 1/3 of which enters water bodies with surface runoff or lingers in the atmosphere (when dispersed from aircraft). For their needs, people use more than 13% of river flow and annually discharge more than 500 billion m3 of industrial and municipal wastewater into water bodies. The list can be continued, but what has been stated is enough to realize the global impact of man on the environment, and therefore the global nature of the problems arising in connection with this.

Consider the consequences of three main types economic activity humans, although, of course, they do not exhaust the entire complex of anthropogenic influence on the environment.

1. Industrial impacts

Industry - the largest branch of material production - plays a central role in the economy modern society and is the main driving force her height. Over the last century, world industrial production has increased more than 50 (!) times, and 4/5 of this growth has occurred since 1950, i.e. a period of active implementation of scientific and technological progress into production. Naturally, such a rapid growth of industry, which ensures our well-being, primarily affected the environment, the load on which has increased many times over.

Industry and the products it produces impact the environment at all stages of the industrial cycle: from exploration and extraction of raw materials, their processing into finished products, waste generation, and ending with the use of finished products by the consumer, and then their disposal due to further unsuitability. At the same time, land is alienated for construction industrial facilities and entrances to them; constant use of water (in all industries)1; release of substances from raw material processing into water and air; removal of substances from soil, rocks, biosphere, etc. The load on landscapes and their components in leading industries is carried out as follows.

Energy. Energy – the basis for the development of all sectors of industry, agriculture, transport, public utilities. This is an industry with very high rates of development and huge scale of production. Accordingly, the share of participation of energy enterprises in the load on the natural environment is very significant. Annual energy consumption in the world is more than 10 billion tons standard fuel, and this figure is continuously increasing2. To obtain energy, they use either fuel - oil, gas, coal, wood, peat, shale, nuclear materials, or other primary energy sources - water, wind, solar energy, etc. Almost all fuel resources are non-renewable - and this is the first stage of impact on the nature of the energy industry -irreversible removal of masses of substance.

Each of the sources, when used, is characterized by specific parameters of pollution of natural complexes.

Coal - the most common fossil fuel on our planet. When it is burned, carbon dioxide, fly ash, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, fluoride compounds, as well as gaseous products of incomplete combustion of fuel enter the atmosphere. Sometimes fly ash contains extremely harmful impurities such as arsenic, free silica, free calcium oxide.

Oil . When burning liquid fuel, in addition to carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and sulfuric anhydrides, nitrogen oxides, vanadium and sodium compounds, and gaseous and solid products of incomplete combustion are released into the air. Liquid fuel produces less harmful substances than solid oil, but the use of oil in the energy sector is declining (due to the depletion of natural reserves and its exclusive use in transport and the chemical industry).

Natural gas – the most harmless of fossil fuels. When it is burned, the only significant air pollutant other than CO2 is nitrogen oxides.

Wood Most used in developing countries (70% of the population of these countries burns an average of about 700 kg per person per year). Burning wood is harmless - carbon dioxide and water vapor enter the air, but the structure of biocenoses is disrupted - the destruction of forest cover causes changes in all components of the landscape.

Nuclear fuel. Usage nuclear fuel is one of the most controversial issues in the modern world. Of course, nuclear power plants pollute the atmospheric air to a much lesser extent than thermal ones (using coal, oil, gas), but the amount of water used at nuclear power plants is twice as high as consumption at thermal power plants - 2.5–3 km3 per year per year. A nuclear power plant with a capacity of 1 million kW, and the thermal discharge at a nuclear power plant per unit of energy produced is significantly greater than at thermal power plants under similar conditions. But especially heated debates are caused by the problems of radioactive waste and the safety of operation of nuclear power plants. The colossal consequences for the natural environment and people of possible accidents at nuclear reactors do not allow one to treat nuclear energy as optimistically as it was in the initial period of using the “peaceful atom”.

If we consider the impact of the utilization of fossil fuels on other components of natural complexes, we should highlightimpact on natural waters. For the cooling needs of generators, power plants produce huge amounts of water: to generate 1 kW of electricity, 200 to 400 liters of water are needed; a modern thermal power plant with a capacity of 1 million kW requires 1.2–1.6 km3 of water per year. As a rule, water withdrawals for cooling systems of power plants account for 50–60% of total industrial water withdrawals. The return of wastewater heated in cooling systems causes thermal pollution of water, as a result of which, in particular, the solubility of oxygen in water decreases and at the same time the vital activity of aquatic organisms is activated, which begin to consume more oxygen.

The next aspect of the negative impact on the landscape during fuel extraction isalienation of large areaswhere vegetation is destroyed, the soil structure changes, water regime. This applies primarily to open-pit methods of fuel extraction (about 85% of minerals and building materials mined by open-pit mining).

Other primary energy sources include wind, river water, sun, ebb and flow, underground heat - water occupies a special place. Geothermal power plants, solar panels, wind turbines, tidal power plants have the advantage of negligible environmental impact, but their distribution in modern world quite limited so far.

River waters , used by hydroelectric power plants (HPPs), which convert the energy of water flow into electricity, have virtually no polluting effect on the environment (with the exception of thermal pollution). Their negative impact on the environment lies elsewhere. Hydraulic structures, primarily dams, disrupt the regimes of rivers and reservoirs, interfere with the migration of fish, and affect the level of groundwater. Reservoirs created to equalize river flow and uninterrupted water supply to hydroelectric power stations also have a detrimental effect on the environment. The total area of ​​the world's largest reservoirs alone is 180 thousand km2 (the same amount of land is flooded), and the volume of water in them is about 5 thousand km3. In addition to flooding land, the creation of reservoirs greatly changes the river flow regime and affects local climatic conditions, which, in turn, affects the vegetation cover along the banks of the reservoir.

Metallurgy . The impact of metallurgy begins with the extraction of ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, some of which, such as copper and lead, have been used since ancient times, while others - titanium, beryllium, zirconium, germanium - have been actively used only in recent decades (for the needs of radio engineering, electronics , nuclear technology). But since the middle of the 20th century, as a result of the scientific and technological revolution, the extraction of both new and traditional metals has sharply increased, and therefore the number of natural disturbances associated with the movement of significant masses of rocks has increased. In addition to the main raw material – metal ores – metallurgy quite actively consumes water. Approximate figures for water consumption for the needs of, for example, ferrous metallurgy are as follows: about 100 m3 of water is spent on the production of 1 ton of cast iron; for the production of 1 ton of steel – 300 m3; for the production of 1 ton of rolled products – 30 m3 of water. But the most dangerous side of the impact of metallurgy on the environment is the technogenic dispersion of metals. Despite all the differences in the properties of metals, they are all impurities in relation to the landscape. Their concentration can increase tens and hundreds of times without external changes in the environment (water remains water, and soil remains soil, but the mercury content in them increases tens of times). The main danger of dispersed metals lies in their ability to gradually accumulate in the bodies of plants and animals, which disrupts food chains. Metals enter the environment at almost all stages of metallurgical production. Some is lost during transportation, enrichment, and sorting of ores. Thus, in one decade at this stage, about 600 thousand tons of copper, 500 thousand tons of zinc, 300 thousand tons of lead, 50 thousand tons of molybdenum were scattered throughout the world. Further release occurs directly on production stage(and not only metals are thrown out, but also other harmful substances). The air around metallurgical plants is smoky and has a high dust content. Nickel production is characterized by emissions of arsenic and large quantities of sulfur dioxide (SO2); Aluminum production is accompanied by fluorine emissions, etc. The environment is also polluted by wastewater from metallurgical plants.

The most dangerous pollutants include lead, cadmium and mercury, followed by copper, tin, vanadium, chromium, molybdenum, manganese, cobalt, nickel, antimony, arsenic and selenium. Two zones can be distinguished in the changing landscape around metallurgical plants. The first, with a radius of 3–5 km, directly adjacent to the enterprise, is characterized by the almost complete destruction of the original natural complex. There is often no vegetation here, the soil cover is largely disturbed, and the animals and microorganisms that inhabited the complex have disappeared. The second zone is more extensive, up to 20 km, looks less oppressed - the disappearance of the biocenosis rarely occurs here, but its individual parts are disturbed and an increased content of polluting elements is observed in all components of the complex.

Chemical industry– one of the most dynamic industries in most countries; New industries often arise in it and new technologies are introduced. But it is also associated with the emergence of many modern problems environmental pollution caused by both its products and technological processes production. This industry, like metallurgy and energy, is extremely water-intensive. Water is involved in the production of most of the most important chemical products - alkalis, alcohols, nitric acid, hydrogen, etc. The production of 1 ton of synthetic rubber requires up to 2800 m3 of water, 1 ton of rubber – 4000 m3, 1 ton of synthetic fiber – 5000 m3. After use, the water is partially returned to reservoirs in the form of heavily polluted wastewater, which leads to weakening or suppression of the vital activity of aquatic organisms, which makes the processes of self-purification of reservoirs difficult. The composition of air emissions from chemical plants is also extremely diverse. Petrochemical production pollutes the atmosphere with hydrogen sulfide and hydrocarbons; production of synthetic rubber - styrene, divinyl, toluene, acetone; production of alkalis - hydrogen chloride, etc. Substances such as carbon and nitrogen oxides, ammonia, inorganic dust, fluorine-containing substances and many others are also released in large quantities. One of the most problematic aspects of the impact of chemical production is the spread of previously non-existent compounds into nature. Among them, synthetic surfactants (surfactants) (sometimes called detergents) are considered especially harmful. They enter the environment during the production and household use of various detergents. When entering water bodies with industrial and domestic wastewater, surfactants are poorly retained treatment facilities, contribute to the appearance of abundant foam in the water, giving it poisonous properties and odor, cause death and degeneration of aquatic organisms and, which is very significant, enhance the toxic effect of other pollutants. These are the main negative impacts on natural systems of the leading branches of world industry. Naturally, the influence of industry is not limited to the above: there is mechanical engineering, which uses the products of metallurgy and the chemical industry and contributes to the dispersion of many substances in the environment; There are water-intensive industries such as pulp and paper and food, which also provide a large share of organic environmental pollution, etc. Based on an analysis of the environmental impact of the three main industries, it is possible to determine the nature and ways industrial pollution environments for any industry, for which you need to know the specifics of production.

2. Impact of agriculture

The main difference between agricultural and industrial impacts lies primarily in their distribution over vast territories. As a rule, the use of large areas for agricultural needs causes a radical restructuring of all components of natural complexes. At the same time, it is not at all necessary that nature is destroyed; quite often agricultural landscapes are classified as “cultural”.

The entire range of agricultural impacts can be divided into two groups: the impact of agriculture and livestock raising.

Agriculture . The impact of agriculture on the natural complex begins with the destruction of large areas of the natural vegetation community and its replacement with cultivated species. The next component experiencing significant changes is the soil. Under natural conditions, soil fertility is constantly maintained by the fact that substances taken by plants are returned to it again with plant litter. In agricultural complexes, the main part of the soil elements is removed along with the harvest, which is especially typical for annual crops. The table gives an idea of ​​the scale of losses compared to the reserves of elements in the arable soil layer. This situation repeats itself every year, so there is a possibility that in a few decades the supply of basic soil elements will be exhausted. To replenish the withdrawn substances, mineral fertilizers are mainly applied to the soil: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It has both positive consequences– replenishment of nutrients in the soil, and negative – pollution of soil, water and air. When applying fertilizers, so-called ballast elements enter the soil, which are not needed by either plants or soil microorganisms. For example, when using potash fertilizers along with the necessary potassium, useless, and in some cases harmful, chlorine is added; a lot of sulfur gets in with superphosphate, etc. The amount of the element for which mineral fertilizer is added to the soil can also reach a toxic level. First of all, this applies to the nitrate form of nitrogen. Excess nitrates accumulate in plants and pollute ground and surface waters (due to their good solubility, nitrates are easily washed out of the soil). In addition, when there is an excess of nitrates in the soil, bacteria multiply and reduce them to nitrogen released into the atmosphere. In addition to mineral fertilizers, various chemical substances to control insects (insecticides), weeds (pesticides), to prepare plants for harvesting, in particular defoliants that accelerate the shedding of leaves from cotton plants for machine harvesting. Most of these substances are very toxic, have no analogues among natural compounds, and decompose very slowly by microorganisms, so the consequences of their use are difficult to predict. The general name of the introduced pesticides is xenobiotics (alien to life). In order to increase the yield in developed countries About half of the cultivated areas are treated with pesticides. Migrating along with dust, underground and surface waters, toxic chemicals spread everywhere (they were found at the North Pole and Antarctica) and pose an increased environmental hazard. Irrigation and land drainage have a deep and long-term, and often irreversible effect on the soil, changing its fundamental properties. In the 20th century The agricultural area has expanded significantly: from 40 million hectares to 270 million hectares, of which irrigated lands occupy 13% of arable land, and their products exceed 50% of all agricultural products. Irrigated landscapes are the most transformed of all types of agricultural anthropogenic landscapes. Moisture circulation, the nature of the distribution of temperature and humidity in the ground layer of air and upper layers of soil change, and a specific microrelief is created. Changes in soil water and salt regimes often cause waterlogging and secondary salinization of the soil. The monstrous consequence of ill-conceived irrigated agriculture is the death of the Aral Sea. Huge amounts of water are withdrawn from natural systems for irrigation. In many countries and areas of the world, irrigation is the main source of water consumption and in dry years leads to water shortages. Water consumption per Agriculture ranks first among all types of water use and amounts to over 2000 km3 per year, or 70% of global water consumption, of which more than 1500 km3 is irreversible water consumption, of which about 80% is spent on irrigation. Huge areas of the world are occupied by wetlands, the use of which becomes possible only after drainage measures are carried out. Drainage has a very serious impact on the landscape. The heat balance of territories changes especially strongly - heat costs for evaporation are sharply reduced, relative humidity air, daily temperature amplitudes increase. The air regime of soils changes, their permeability increases, and accordingly, the course of soil formation processes changes (organic litter decomposes more actively, the soil is enriched with nutrients). Drainage is also caused by an increase in the depth of groundwater, and this, in turn, can cause the drying out of numerous streams and even small rivers. The global consequences of drainage are very serious - swamps provide the bulk of atmospheric oxygen. These are the global consequences of the impact of agriculture on natural systems. Among them, it should be noted the stresses that the environment experiences from the slash-and-burn farming system, which is widespread mainly in tropical latitudes, leading not only to the destruction of forests, but also to a fairly rapid depletion of the soil, as well as the release of large amounts of aerosol ash and soot into the atmospheric air. Cultivation of monocultures is detrimental to ecosystems, causing rapid depletion of the soil and its contamination with phytopathogenic microorganisms. Agricultural culture is necessary, since unreasonable plowing of the soil significantly changes its structure, and under certain conditions can contribute to processes such as water and wind erosion.

Livestock . The impact of livestock farming on the natural landscape is characterized by a number of specific features. The first is that livestock landscapes consist of heterogeneous but closely related parts, such as pastures, pastures, farms, waste disposal areas, etc. Each part makes a special contribution to the overall flow of influence on natural complexes. The second feature is its smaller territorial distribution compared to agriculture. Animal grazing primarily affects the vegetation cover of pastures: plant biomass decreases and changes occur in the species composition of the plant community. With particularly long or excessive (per animal) grazing, the soil becomes compacted, the surface of the pastures is exposed, which increases evaporation and leads to soil salinization in the continental sectors of the temperate zone, and in humid areas contributes to waterlogging. The use of land for pastures is also associated with the removal of nutrients from the soil in the composition of pasture and hay. To compensate for the loss of nutrients, fertilizers are applied to pasture lands, the dual effects of which are described in the section on agriculture. The livestock industry is a significant consumer of water, accounting for about 70 km3 per year of total agricultural water intake. The most negative aspect of the impact of livestock farming on the landscape is pollution natural waters wastewater from livestock farms. A multiple increase in the concentration of organic substances in freshwater bodies of water, and then in the coastal zone of the sea, significantly reduces the oxygen content in water, leads to changes in the community of aquatic microorganisms, disruption of food chains, and can cause the death of fish and other consequences.

3. Transport impacts

The impacts of transport on the environment are extremely multifaceted. This is the influence of a multimillion-dollar fleet of vehicles: cars, locomotives, ships, airplanes; large transport enterprises; motor depots, depots, train stations, sea and river ports, airports; transport routes: roads and railways, pipelines, runways, etc. All types of transport impacts are characterized by land acquisition, pollution of all natural components, and water consumption, leading to disruption of the circulation of substances in natural complexes. It should also be taken into account that transport is a constant consumer of fuel, stimulating the extraction of fuel minerals. Let us consider the specific manifestation of the environmental impact of each type of transport.

Automobile transport.Motor transport has the highest requirements for space; urban areas allocated for its needs reach 25–30% of the total area. Significant areas of roads, parking lots, and motor depots, covered with asphalt and concrete, prevent normal absorption of rainwater by the soil and upset the balance of groundwater. Due to the active use of salt to combat icing of city roads, long-term salinization of soils on roadsides occurs, leading to the death of vegetation; some of the salt is washed away by surface runoff and pollutes large areas. Motor transport is one of the largest consumers of water, used for various technical purposes - engine cooling, car washing, etc. The most powerful stream of impacts is pollution of the environment, primarily the air, by motor vehicles.

Among the pollutants, the leading ones are carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, the proportion of which increases sharply when the engine is running at low speeds, when starting or increasing speed, which is observed during traffic jams and at traffic lights. Very dangerous component car exhaust gases - lead compounds, which are used as an additive to gasoline. There is also significant pollution with other heavy metals – zinc, nickel, cadmium. They are found not only in exhausts, but also in car tire waste: on some European highways the mass of rubber dust reaches up to 250 kg per kilometer of road (per year). Water pollution includes runoff from car depots, car washes, gas stations, roads, containing large quantities of petroleum products, detergents, heavy metals, etc. Naturally, air emissions and runoff pollute other components of natural complexes.

Railway transport.Although rail transport has an impact on the general condition of the landscape, its intensity is significantly less than road transport. This is due to the economical use of fuel and widespread electrification of railways. Railroad transport also requires the allocation of significant areas for its needs, although smaller than automobile transport. The railway track itself occupies a strip of 10–30 m, but the need to place ditches and reserve strips, as well as snow protection devices, increases the width of the allotment to 100–150 m. Significant areas are occupied by stations, terminals, and railway junctions. Water consumption of railway transport has not decreased with the replacement of steam locomotives with diesel and electric locomotives. This is mainly due to the increase in the length of the network and the volume of traffic. Environmental pollution by rail This is most felt in areas where diesel locomotives are operated. Their exhaust gases contain up to 97% of all toxic substances allocated by this type of transport. In addition, the area near railways is contaminated with metal dust as a result of abrasion of cast iron brake pads. During industrial transportation, pollutants include coal and ore dust, salt, petroleum products, etc. they are blown away by the wind and leak due to the poor condition of the cars and tanks.

Water transport. Despite the fact that the main environment experiencing the loads of water transport are rivers, lakes, and seas, its impact is also felt on land. First of all, land is being confiscated for river and sea ports. Their territories are polluted during loading and unloading operations and ship repairs. With heavy ship traffic, the danger of coastline destruction is real. But, of course, it suffers the most water environment. The main sources of pollution are ship engines. The water used in their operation is discharged into water bodies, causing thermal and chemical pollution. In addition, some toxic substances from exhaust gases also dissolve in water. Pollution occurs due to leakage or discharge of bilge water into the water area (bilge is a special space in the hold). These waters contain a large number of lubricants, fuel oil residues. Water areas are often polluted by substances transported on ships. Oil leaks are especially dangerous. The entry of significant quantities of oil into the water is associated not only with losses during transportation or accidents, but also with the washing of tanker tanks before the next loading, as well as with the discharge of ballast water (after the delivery of oil cargo, tankers return empty, and to ensure safety they are filled with ballast water). Oil products are distributed over the surface of the water in a thin film, which disrupts air exchange and the vital activity of the aquatic community over vast water areas, and in case of tanker accidents it has the most catastrophic consequences for the population of the water area.

Air Transport. The seizure of land for the needs of air transport occurs during the construction of airfields and airports, and if in the 30s. the average airport occupied an area of ​​3 km2, then modern airports with several runways 3–4 km long, aircraft parking areas, administrative buildings, etc. located on an area of ​​25–50 km2. Naturally, these areas are covered with asphalt and concrete, and the disruption of natural cycles extends for many kilometers around. The noise impact on people and animals is also extremely unfavorable.

The main impacts of air transport are on the atmosphere. Calculations show that one plane, when flying over a distance of 1000 km, uses an amount of oxygen equal to that consumed by one person during the year. Toxic substances emitted during flights are dominated by carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and soot. Peculiarity atmospheric pollution is that toxic substances spread over very large areas.

Pipeline transport. The impact of pipeline transport on the environment compared to other types of impacts can be characterized as insignificant. The main element - pipelines - for the most part they are placed in closed trenches and, with proper (!) construction and operation, practically do not disturb the structure of landscapes. But the construction of pipelines requires a large alienation of land, and in permafrost conditions, in order to avoid soil thawing, pipes are laid over vast areas on the surface. The impact of this type of transport becomes catastrophic when pipes depressurize and rupture, when oil or liquefied gas spills over large areas. Concluding a brief review of the main anthropogenic impacts on the environment, let us focus on two extremely pressing problems: waste and accidents. They both relate to almost any type of activity, and the most powerful flow of negative impacts on nature is associated with them. Waste is classified according to different properties: liquid, gaseous and solid; organic and inorganic; toxic and less toxic, etc. Waste is stored, occupying large areas. They end up in natural complexes with wastewater and air emissions during dusting. Among others, radioactive waste poses a particular danger to the environment. They accumulate in various scientific institutions (medical, biochemical, physical), special production, during nuclear tests, and the work of nuclear industry and nuclear energy enterprises. A distinctive feature of this waste is the persistence of radioactivity for many hundreds of years. Isolation of such waste remains a difficult task.

The causes and consequences of accidents in specific types of activities were discussed in the relevant sections (accidents at nuclear power plants, pipelines, water transport). As a general conclusion, we emphasize: when assessing any anthropogenic impacts, the possibility of emergency situations and their consequences must be taken into account.

Chemical pollution and soil conservation

In recent decades, humans have caused rapid soil degradation, although soil losses have occurred throughout human history. In all countries of the world, about 1.5 billion hectares of land are now being plowed, and the total loss of soils over the history of mankind has amounted to about 2 billion hectares, that is, more has been lost than is now being plowed, and many soils have become unusable waste lands, the restoration of which either impossible or too expensive. There are at least 6 types of anthropogenic and technical impacts that can cause different levels of soil deterioration. These include: 1) water and wind erosion, 2) salinization, alkalization, acidification, 3) waterlogging, 4) physical degradation, including compaction and crusting, 5) destruction and alienation of soil during construction, mining, 6) chemical pollution soil Soil conservation is to prevent or minimize all types of destruction of soils and/or soil cover.

Below we will discuss only chemical soil pollution, which can be caused by the following reasons: 1) atmospheric transport of pollutants (heavy metals, acid rain, fluorine, arsenic, pesticides), 2) agricultural pollution (fertilizers, pesticides), 3) ground pollution - dumps of large-scale industries, dumps of fuel and energy complexes, 4) pollution with oil and oil products.

Heavy metals. This type of pollutant was one of the first to be studied. Heavy metals usually include elements that have an atomic mass of more than 50. They enter the soil mainly from the atmosphere with emissions from industrial enterprises, and lead from car exhaust gases. Cases have been described in which large amounts of heavy metals entered the soil with irrigation waters if wastewater from industrial enterprises was discharged into rivers above the water intake. The most typical heavy metals are lead, cadmium, mercury, zinc, molybdenum, nickel, cobalt, tin, titanium, copper, vanadium.

Heavy metals most often enter the soil from the atmosphere in the form of oxides, where they gradually dissolve, turning into hydroxides, carbonates, or into the form of exchangeable cations (Fig. 6). If the soil firmly binds heavy metals (usually in humus-rich heavy loamy and clayey soils), this protects groundwater, drinking water, and plant products from contamination. But then the soil itself gradually becomes more and more contaminated and at some point the destruction of soil organic matter may occur with the release of heavy metals into the soil solution. As a result, such soil will be unsuitable for agricultural use. The total amount of lead that can be retained by a meter layer of soil on one hectare reaches 500 - 600 tons; Such an amount of lead, even with very strong pollution, does not occur in normal conditions. The soils are sandy, low in humus, and resistant to pollution; this means that they weakly bind heavy metals, easily transfer them to plants or pass them through themselves with filtered water. On such soils, the risk of contamination of plants and groundwater increases. This is one of the intractable contradictions: soils that are easily polluted protect the environment, but soils that are resistant to pollution do not have protective properties in relation to living organisms and natural waters.

If soils are contaminated with heavy metals and radionuclides, it is almost impossible to clean them. So far, the only way is known: to sow such soils with fast-growing crops that produce large green mass; such crops extract toxic elements from the soil, and then the harvested crop must be destroyed. But this is a rather lengthy and expensive procedure. You can reduce the mobility of toxic compounds and their entry into plants by increasing the soil pH by liming or adding large doses of organic substances, such as peat. Deep plowing can have a good effect, when the top contaminated layer of soil is lowered to a depth of 50 - 70 cm during plowing, and deep layers of soil are raised to the surface. To do this, you can use special multi-tiered plows, but the deep layers still remain contaminated. Finally, on soils contaminated with heavy metals (but not radionuclides), crops that are not used as food or feed, such as flowers, can be grown.

Acid rain. Rain or other highly acidic precipitation is a common result of the release of combustion products (coal) into the atmosphere, as well as emissions from metallurgical and chemical plants. Such emissions contain a lot of sulfur dioxide and/or nitrogen oxides; when interacting with atmospheric water vapor, they form sulfuric and nitric acids. The effect of acid rain on soils is ambiguous. In the northern taiga zones, they increase the harmful acidity of soils and contribute to an increase in the content of soluble compounds of toxic elements in soils - lead, aluminum. At the same time, the decomposition of soil minerals increases. The real way to combat acidification of taiga soils is to install filters on factory pipes that intercept sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Liming can also be used to combat soil acidification.

However, acid rain can be beneficial in some cases. In particular, they enrich the soil with nitrogen and sulfur, which over very large areas are clearly not enough to produce high yields. If such rains fall in areas of carbonate, and even more so alkaline, soils, they reduce alkalinity, increasing the mobility of nutrients and their availability to plants. Therefore, the usefulness or harmfulness of any fallout cannot be assessed according to simplified unambiguous criteria, but must be considered specifically and differentiated by soil type.

Industrial dumps. Atmospheric emissions containing oxides of various toxic metals and non-metals spread over long distances, measured in tens and hundreds of kilometers. Therefore, the pollution they cause is regional and sometimes global in nature. In contrast, large-scale waste from various industries, hydrolytic lignin dumps, ash from thermal power plants, and coal mining dumps have a predominantly local impact. Such dumps occupy considerable areas, removing land from use, and many of them represent quite specific danger for the environment. Coal mine dumps contain a lot of coal; it burns, polluting the atmosphere. Dumps of many rocks contain pyrite FeS2, which spontaneously oxidizes to H2SO4 in air; during periods of rain or snowmelt, the latter easily forms not only highly acidic areas, but even lakes of sulfuric acid in the vicinity of mine workings. The only way to normalize the environmental situation in such places is to level the dumps, their earthing, grassing, and forest planting.

Many local organic wastes, such as hydrolyzed lignin, bird droppings, pig manure can be turned into either good composts or so-called vermicompost. The latter method is based on the rapid processing of organic waste by some hybrids of red earthworms. The worms pass all plant residues through the intestines, turning them into a chernozem-like mass, very fertile, practically odorless, which contains a lot of humic acids.

Oil and petroleum products. Oil pollution soils is one of the most dangerous, since it fundamentally changes the properties of soils, and cleaning up oil is very difficult. Oil enters the soil under various circumstances: during oil exploration and production, during accidents on oil pipelines, and during accidents of river and sea oil tankers. Various hydrocarbons enter the soil at oil depots, gas stations, etc. The consequences for soils caused by oil pollution can be called extraordinary without exaggeration. Oil envelops soil particles, the soil is not wetted with water, microflora dies, and plants do not receive proper nutrition. Finally, soil particles stick together, and the oil itself gradually changes into a different state, its fractions become more oxidized, harden, and at high levels of pollution, the soil resembles an asphalt-like mass. It is very difficult to combat this phenomenon. At low levels of pollution, the application of fertilizers that stimulate the development of microflora and plants helps. As a result, the oil is partially mineralized, some of its fragments are included in the composition of humic substances, and the soil is restored. But with large doses and long periods of pollution, irreversible changes occur in the soil. Then the most contaminated layers simply have to be removed.

Human activity are considered as a separate group of environmental factors. In the process of economic activity, people cut down forests, drain water bodies, plow up areas of virgin steppe, pollute the environment with toxic substances, etc. As a result, a significant number of plant and animal species have disappeared, and thousands of species are on the verge of extinction.

Human impact on the environment:

• Deforestation leads to a decrease in the species diversity of animals and plants.
• Scientific research makes it possible to develop animal protection measures (bird ringing).
• Large industrial enterprises pollute the environment.
• Careless behavior with fire is the cause of devastating forest fires, which are very difficult to extinguish.

But humanity is beginning to realize that preserving and improving the state of nature is impossible without preserving biodiversity , that is, the biological diversity of organisms inhabiting our planet. To develop measures to protect flora and fauna, it is first necessary to study those species of organisms that are threatened with extinction. Over 30 countries around the world have joined World Conservation Strategy. It is based on the understanding that the sustainability of individual eco-systems, as well as the entire biosphere, is determined by the species diversity of organisms. Thus, the more species that are part of a certain ecosystem, the more stable it is. The same applies to the biosphere as a whole: each type of organism is a necessary component of the single ecosystem of our planet - the biosphere.

Ecological thinking — ability to analyze and make business decisions from the point of view of preserving and improving the quality of the natural environment.Material from the site

In natural communities, all species included in their composition are necessary components. The disappearance of any of them from the ecosystem leads to a disruption in the relationships between species, and, thus, to an imbalance in the ecosystem and its possible destruction.

The intense influence of human economic activity, especially in recent decades, has led to the disappearance of many species of organisms from our planet. Hundreds of rare and endangered species requireimmediate protection.

On this page there is material on the following topics:

Introduction

Each of us, each of those who consider themselves a part of global humanity, is obliged to know what impact human activity has on the world around us and to feel a share of responsibility for certain actions. It is man who is the cause of his own fears about nature, as a home that provides food, warmth and other conditions for his normal life. Human activity is a very aggressive and actively destructive (transforming) force on our planet. From the very beginning of his development, man felt himself to be the master of everything that surrounds him. But, as the proverb says: “Don’t cut the branch you’re sitting on.” One wrong decision and it may take tens, or even hundreds of years to correct the fatal mistake. The natural balance is very fragile. If you don’t seriously think about your activities, then this very activity will certainly begin to strangle humanity itself. This suffocation has already begun to some extent and if it is not stopped, it will immediately begin to develop at an incredibly fast speed.

However, the first steps towards nature are already being taken, nature is being respected, cared for and basic order is maintained in it. Although more and more new pollution is coming, huge number is eliminated, but this is not enough. Pollution should not be eliminated, but prevented.

We need global unification, long-term, coordinated and purposeful activity of the driving and producing forces of the planet.

But, initially, in order to fight against human influence on the surrounding nature, it is necessary to find out the influence of human activity on individual sections of nature. This knowledge allows humanity to study the problem more deeply, to find out what reasons led to the disruption of the natural balance and the deterioration of the ecological state. Also, a deep study of sections of nature allows us to develop optimal plans for correcting the situation on the globe in a shorter time.

The solution to the problem of the environment - if we take into account the costs of research, the creation of new technologies, the re-equipment of production and the restoration, at least partially, of destroyed natural systems - grows into perhaps the largest, most ambitious and expensive program.

Target :

1. Study the human impact on the environment.

2. Study the consequences of human impact on the environment.

3. Identify the mistakes of humanity in order to take them into account in later life.

Tasks :

1. Show the real threat of human impact on the environment.

2. Give vivid examples of human influence on the environment.

Human impact on nature

Impact– direct impact of human economic activity on the natural environment. All types of impact can be combined into type 4: intentional, unintentional, direct and indirect (mediated).

Intentional influence occurs in the process of material production in order to satisfy certain needs of society. These include: mining, construction of hydraulic structures (reservoirs, irrigation canals, hydroelectric power stations), deforestation to expand agricultural areas and to obtain timber, etc.

Unintentional impacts occur as a side effect of the first type of impact, in particular, open-pit mining leads to a decrease in groundwater levels, air pollution, and the formation of man-made landforms (quarries, waste heaps, tailings dumps). The construction of hydroelectric power stations is associated with the formation of artificial reservoirs, which affect the environment: they cause an increase in groundwater levels, change the hydrological regime of rivers, etc. When obtaining energy from traditional sources (coal, oil, gas), pollution of the atmosphere, surface watercourses, groundwater, etc. occurs.

Both intentional and unintentional impacts can be direct and indirect.

Direct impacts occur in the case of direct influence of human economic activity on the environment, in particular, irrigation directly affects the soil and changes all processes associated with it.

Indirect impacts occur indirectly – through chains of interconnected influences. Thus, intentional indirect impacts are the use of fertilizers and the direct impact on crop yields, and unintentional ones are the effect of aerosols on the amount of solar radiation(especially in cities), etc.

Impact of mining on the environment - manifests itself in a variety of ways in direct and indirect impacts on natural landscapes. Major violations of the earth's surface occur during the open-pit method of mining, which in our country accounts for more than 75% of the volume of mining production.

Currently total area lands disturbed by mining (coal, iron and manganese ores, non-metallic raw materials, peat, etc.), as well as occupied by mining waste, exceeded 2 million hectares, of which 65% are in the European part of the country. In Kuzbass alone, more than 30 thousand hectares of land are now occupied by coal quarries; in the region of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (KMA) there are no more than 25 thousand hectares of fertile land.

It is estimated that when mining 1 million tons of iron ore, up to 640 hectares of land are disturbed, manganese - up to 600 hectares, coal - up to 100 hectares. Mining contributes to the destruction of vegetation, the emergence of man-made landforms (quarries, dumps, tailings dumps, etc.), and deformation of sections of the earth's crust (especially with the underground method of mining).

Indirect impacts are manifested in changes in the groundwater regime, in pollution of the air basin, surface watercourses and groundwater, and also contribute to flooding and waterlogging, which ultimately leads to an increase in the level of morbidity of the local population. Among the pollutants air environment First of all, dust and gas contamination stand out. It is estimated that about 200 thousand tons of dust are released annually from underground mines and mines; Coal production in the amount of 2 billion tons per year from approximately 4,000 mines in various countries of the world is accompanied by the release of 27 billion m 3 of methane and 17 billion m 3 of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In our country, when developing coal deposits using the underground method, significant amounts of methane and CO 2 are also recorded entering the air basin: annually in the Donbass (364 mines) and in the Kuzbass (78 mines), 3870 and 680 million m 3 of methane and carbon dioxide are released, respectively. 1200 and 970 million m3.

Mining has a negative impact on surface watercourses and groundwater, which are heavily polluted by mechanical impurities and mineral salts. Every year, about 2.5 billion m3 of contaminated mine water is pumped from coal mines to the surface. During open-pit mining, high-quality fresh water supplies are the first to be depleted. In the quarries of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, infiltration from tailings impedes the decrease in the level of the upper aquifer of the horizon by 50 m, which leads to a rise in the groundwater level and swamping of the adjacent territory.

Mining also has a negative impact on the Earth's interior, since industrial waste, radioactive waste (in the USA - 246 underground disposal sites), etc. are buried in them. In Sweden, Norway, England, Finland, oil and gas storage facilities are installed in mine workings, drinking water, underground refrigerators, etc.

Impact on the hydrosphere– man began to have a significant impact on the hydrosphere and water balance planets. Anthropogenic transformations of continental waters have already reached a global scale, disrupting the natural regime of even the largest lakes and rivers globe. This was facilitated by: the construction of hydraulic structures (reservoirs, irrigation canals and water transfer systems), an increase in the area of ​​irrigated land, watering of arid areas, urbanization, and pollution of fresh water by industrial and municipal wastewater. Currently, there are about 30 thousand reservoirs in the world and under construction, the volume of water of which exceeded 6000 km 3. But 95% of this volume comes from large reservoirs. There are 2,442 large reservoirs in the world, with the largest number in North America - 887 and Asia - 647. former USSR 237 large reservoirs were built.

In general, while the area of ​​reservoirs in the world is only 0.3% of land, they increase river flow by 27%. However, large reservoirs have a negative impact on the environment: they change the groundwater regime, their water areas occupy large areas of fertile land, and lead to secondary soil salinization.

In Russia, large reservoirs (90% of 237 in the former USSR), with a surface area of ​​15 million hectares, occupy about 1% of its territory, but of this value, 60–70% are flooded lands. Hydraulic structures lead to the degradation of river ecosystems. In recent years, our country has drawn up schemes for improving the natural and technical condition and improvement of some large reservoirs and canals. This will reduce the degree of their adverse impact on the environment.

Impact on animal world – animals, together with plants, play an exceptional role in the migration of chemical elements, which underlies the relationships existing in nature; they are also important for human existence as a source of food and various resources. However, human economic activities have greatly influenced the animal world of the planet. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, 94 species of birds and 63 species of mammals have become extinct on Earth since 1600. Animals such as the tarpan, aurochs, marsupial wolf, European ibis, etc. have disappeared. The fauna of the ocean islands has especially suffered. As a result of anthropogenic impact on the continents, the number of endangered and rare animal species (bison, vicuna, condor, etc.) has increased. In Asia, the number of animals such as rhinoceros, tiger, cheetah, etc. has decreased alarmingly.

The nature of our planet is very diverse and inhabited by unique species of plants, animals, birds and microorganisms. All this diversity is closely interconnected and allows our planet to maintain and maintain a unique balance between different forms of life.

Human impact on the environment

From the very first days of man's appearance, he began to influence the environment. And with the invention of more and more new tools, human civilization has increased its impact to truly enormous proportions. And at present, several important issues: How does man influence nature? What human actions harm the soil that provides us with our staple foods? What is the influence of man on the atmosphere we breathe?

Currently, man’s impact on the world around him not only contributes to the development of our civilization, but also often leads to appearance The planet is undergoing significant changes: rivers are drained and drying up, forests are cut down, new cities and factories appear in place of plains, mountains are destroyed for the sake of new transport routes.

With the rapid increase in the Earth's population, humanity requires more and more food, and with the rapid growth of production technologies, the production capacity of our civilization, requiring more and more new resources for processing and consumption, development of more and more new territories.

Cities are growing, seizing more and more land from nature and displacing their natural inhabitants: plants and animals.

This is interesting: in the chest?

Main reasons

The reasons for the negative impact of humans on nature are:

All these factors have a significant and sometimes irreversible impact on the world around us. And more and more often a person is faced with the question: what consequences will such influence ultimately lead to? Will we eventually turn our planet into a waterless desert, unsuitable for existence? How can a person minimize Negative consequences its influence on the world? The contradictory impact of people on the natural environment is now becoming a subject of discussion at the international level.

Negative and contradictory factors

In addition to the obvious positive impact of humans on the environment, there are also significant disadvantages of such interaction:

1. Destruction of large areas of forests by cutting them down. This influence is associated, first of all, with the development of the transport industry - people require more and more highways. In addition, wood is actively used in the paper industry and other industries.
2. Wide use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture actively contributes to rapid soil pollution.
3. Widely developed network of industrial production with its own emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere and water They not only cause environmental pollution, but also contribute to the death of entire species of fish, birds and plants.
4. Rapidly growing cities and industrial centers significantly affect changes in the external living conditions of animals, a reduction in their natural habitat and a reduction in the populations of various species themselves.

Also, one cannot ignore man-made disasters that can cause irreversible harm not just to an individual species of flora or fauna, but to entire areas of the planet. For example, after the famous accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, to this day a large area of ​​Ukraine is uninhabitable. The radiation level in this area exceeds the maximum permissible standards by tens of times.

Also, a leak of radiation-contaminated water from a nuclear power plant reactor in the city of Fukushima could lead to an environmental disaster on a global scale. The damage that this heavy contaminated water could cause to the ecological system of the world's oceans would be simply irreparable.

And the construction of conventional hydroelectric power plants causes no less harm to the environment. After all, their construction requires the construction of a dam and the flooding of a large area of ​​adjacent fields and forests. As a result of such human activity, not only the river and the surrounding areas suffer, but also the wildlife living in these areas.

In addition, many people thoughtlessly throw away garbage, polluting not only the soil, but also the waters of the world’s oceans with their waste. After all, light debris does not sink and remains on the surface of the water. And given that some types of plastic take more than a decade to decompose, such floating “islands of dirt” make it much more difficult for marine and river life to obtain oxygen and sunlight. Therefore, entire populations of fish and animals have to migrate in search of new, more suitable territories. And many of them die in the search process.

Felling forest areas on mountain slopes makes them susceptible to erosion, as a result, the soil becomes loose, which can lead to destruction of the mountain range.

And to vital supplies fresh water people are negligent - daily polluting freshwater rivers with sewage and industrial waste.

Of course, the existence of humans on the planet brings considerable benefits to it. In particular, it is people who carry out activities aimed at improving the ecological situation in the environment. On the territory of many countries, people organize nature reserves, parks and sanctuaries, which allow not only to preserve the surrounding nature in its natural, pristine form, but also contribute to the preservation and increase in populations of rare and endangered species of animals and birds.

Special laws have been created to protect rare representatives of the nature around us from destruction. Exist special services, funds and centers fighting the destruction of animals and birds. Specialized associations of ecologists are also being created, whose task is to fight to reduce emissions into the atmosphere that are harmful to the environment.

Security organizations

One of the most famous organizations fighting for nature conservation is Greenpease is an international organization, created to preserve the environment for our descendants. Greenpease employees set themselves several main tasks:

1. Fighting ocean pollution.
2. Significant restrictions on whaling.
3. Reducing the scale of deforestation of taiga in Siberia and much more.

With the development of civilization, humanity must look for alternative sources of energy: solar or cosmic, to preserve life on Earth. Also great importance To preserve the nature around us, they have to build new canals and artificial water systems aimed at maintaining soil fertility. And to keep the air clean, many enterprises install specially designed filters to reduce the level of pollutants released into the atmosphere.

This reasonable and caring attitude towards the world around us clearly has only positive impact on nature.

Every day the positive impact of man on nature is increasing, and this cannot but affect the ecology of our entire planet. That is why the human struggle for the preservation of rare species of flora and fauna and the preservation of rare plant species is so important.

Humanity has no right through its activities to disrupt the natural balance and lead to depletion natural resources. To do this, it is necessary to control the extraction of mineral resources, carefully monitor and take care of the fresh water reserves on our planet. And it is very important to remember that it is we who are responsible for the world around us and how our children and grandchildren will live depends on us!

Of great concern in almost all countries of the world is the threat of environmental pollution - one of the manifestations of an irreversible imbalance between man and nature. The impact of material production on nature has become so intense that it cannot, through its own forces and mechanisms, compensate for disturbances in the ecological balance.
Air and water pollution is growing alarmingly industrial emissions. The main sources of emissions into the atmosphere are energy production and consumption. For 1970-2000 the growth rate of total emissions has decreased somewhat, but their absolute sizes are growing and reaching huge volumes - 60-100 million tons of suspended particles, nitrogen oxides, sulfur, 22.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide (1990 - 16.2 million tons). In this regard, in recent decades the concentration of gases, particulate matter in the atmosphere, as well as chemical elements that reduce the ozone layer, has increased significantly. Concentration of gases causing Greenhouse effect, - methane, nitrogen, carbon compounds - increased significantly. Before the industrial revolution, the concentration of greenhouse gases remained relatively stable (0.0028% of atmospheric volume). IN Lately it is 0.036%, which is caused by various types of production activities. Greenhouse gases are believed to persist in the atmosphere for a hundred years or more.
A major environmental issue is the risk of climate change. The Earth's climate was relatively stable, temperature changes during the century did not exceed 1° C. In the twentieth century. Compared to six centuries, the climate has warmed - the temperature has increased by 0.5°. Terrestrial and aquatic ecological systems, socio-ecological systems (agriculture, fisheries, forestry and water resources) are vital to human development and are all sensitive to climate change. Rising temperatures could lead to a further rise in sea levels, which have risen by 10-25 cm over the last century. But with more than a third of humanity living within 60 km of a coastline, the number of people displaced could reach unprecedented proportions.
There is a threat of destruction of the ozone layer in the lower layers of the atmosphere. Water systems and soil are polluted. In recent years, about 150 million tons of mineral fertilizers per year and over 3 million tons of pesticides are dispersed on the fields. With the increase in the number of different types of chemical compounds in the environment, there is a real threat of their joint action as a result of mutual reactions involving unintended catalysts. As experts note, even at low concentrations, the accumulation of negative effects from the action of various chemical compounds is possible.
For human development and his productive activities it is vital plain water. She also has special meaning for the normal life of nature. Many parts of the world are experiencing a general shortage, gradual destruction and increasing pollution of fresh water sources. This is caused by an increase in untreated sewage, industrial waste, loss of natural water intake areas, disappearance of forest areas, poor farming practices, etc. Access to clean water only 18% of the population have it (1970 - 33%), 40% of the population suffers from its shortage. In developing countries, approximately 80% of all illnesses and 1/3 of deaths are caused by drinking contaminated water.
Modern production poses a threat of destruction of the original conditions of human life on Earth, and in some cases it has crossed the possible threshold. An example of this is the destruction of valuable natural objects, the disappearance of a number of plant species and some species of wild animals. It is estimated that after 1600, over 100 species of birds, invertebrates, mammals, about 45 species of fish, and 150 species of plants disappeared. Declining biological diversity poses a serious threat to the development of human society. The availability of needed goods and services depends on the diversity and variability of genes, species, populations and ecosystems. Biological resources feed and clothe a person, provide housing, medicine, and spiritual food. Thus, about 4.4% of US GDP comes from wild species. The greatest economic benefits of biodiversity are in medicine.
An important influence on the state of the environment and natural resource management is exerted by emergency situations man-made, industrial disasters. In 1984, 2,500 people were killed and tens of thousands were poisoned in India when toxic gas was released from a plant of the American chemical corporation Union Carbide near a densely populated area in Bhopal. Two years later, a nuclear reactor exploded at Chernobyl. 135 thousand people were evacuated, and radioactive contamination affected a large area. Some time later, another incident at the Sandoz chemical plant in Switzerland caused an environmental disaster in Western Europe.
Enormous damage to the environment is caused by military actions and the use of weapons mass destruction. During the Vietnam War, American aircraft dropped over 15 million liters of defoliants. The affected area is 38 thousand square meters. km turned into a lifeless desert for several decades, over 2 million people were affected by toxic substances.
A number of economists believe that if the rate of economic growth, the nature of economic activity, and methods of resolving conflicts continue, then the increase in losses may exceed the benefits of this type of development, and this will mean the beginning of an era of “anti-economic” development, leading to poverty rather than wealth.
Scientific awareness of the consequences of economic activity dates back to the 16th century. and is associated with the name of the German naturalist G. Agricola. He noted that as a result of the development of mining activities, fertile lands began to deteriorate, forests were cut down, rivers were polluted, and the digging of mines resulted in more damage to people than benefits from the ores that were extracted from them. However, unlike India and China, the concepts of Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon prevailed in Europe, asserting the unlimited domination of man over nature. They dominated the economic worldview of society until the last quarter of the 20th century.