- Global warming is essentially a by-product of the existence of a huge human population. To put it as simply as possible, it is a general increase in the temperature of our planet due to human actions (burning fossil fuels, for example). As a consequence, glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, abnormal precipitation is falling, and the ocean is acidifying.
All these processes out of context do not seem particularly scary. However, we must remember that the Earth is a very delicate and fragile system, in which all the links are interconnected. Such large-scale interventions disrupt this system and lead to unpleasant consequences, such as seismic activity and extinction of entire species.
- Pollution of the world’s oceans. More than half (70% to be exact) of our planet is water. The ocean is the main factor shaping the Earth’s climate: currents cause heat or coolness, and evaporated water forms clouds and provokes precipitation.
Approximately a hundred million people live near the ocean, i.e. their life is directly connected to the bodies of water. But in fact, the world’s oceans affect everyone’s lives in one way or another: rainfall and other precipitation; shipping goods between continents; and the fish and other seafood we eat daily. Now, however, the world’s oceans are in danger from constant man-made disasters (tanker wrecks and others), sewage, and industrial waste discharges into the ocean.
- Destruction of the ozone layer. Ozone is a component of the stratosphere (a layer of the atmosphere at an altitude of 12-50 kilometers) which is a form of oxygen. For humans, the value of ozone lies in the fact that it blocks some of the ultraviolet rays, protecting all life from direct solar radiation.
Our science has only recently learned about the existence of ozone, even though mankind has been detrimentally affecting the ozone layer for centuries. The result is holes in the ozone layer due to a lack of the substance. Among the causes of this phenomenon:
International space program. Rocket and satellite launches;
Airplane flights at altitudes of twelve kilometers or higher;
Industrial and domestic emissions of Freon.
In the eighties mankind began to take the first steps to protect and restore the ozone layer. Environmental programs began to be adopted at the governmental level, and global non-profit companies began to develop projects to protect the ozone layer. Unfortunately, such activities tend to be very expensive and rarely find meaningful funding.
- Air pollution. The most obvious danger of atmospheric pollution is the shortage of clean air, but an equally serious problem is climate change of the planet and the further consequences of this process. Of the main elements that pollute the atmosphere, we can distinguish:
Emissions during industrial operations;
Emissions from cars and other vehicles with internal combustion engines;
Radioactive objects;
Waste (domestic and industrial).
In addition, these factors lead to the destruction of the ozone layer, a problem we have already mentioned, which is fraught with global warming and other climatic changes on our planet.
- Soil Pollution. Soil is a resource that is not renewable and if it is lost or degraded, we will not be able to restore it in any way. The condition of the soil has a direct impact on the food we eat, the water we drink, and our health – the function of our internal organs and our life expectancy. More than 90 percent of everything we eat is produced by the soil, directly or indirectly.
Among the causes of soil pollution:
Localized landfills, which are used to dispose of food waste, building materials, materials left over from renovations;
Heavy industry – metallurgical and machine-building industries, which release salts of heavy metals: beryllium, arsenic, cyanide, cadmium, mercury and lead;
Transportation that releases lead, nitrogen, and hydrocarbon oxides into the environment;
Agriculture using pesticides and mineral fertilizers.
- Deforestation and desertification. Like the ocean, the forest is a complex, fragile ecosystem, governed by its own laws and combining plants, fungi, animals and micro-organisms, all of which together influence the climate of our planet, the quality of drinking water and the air we breathe. Only a few millennia ago (a ridiculous amount of time for our planet), a large part of the Earth’s surface was covered by forests. But when humans began to develop the land for their own needs, the problem of deforestation arose.
Yes, the forest is a renewable resource, but the intensity of deforestation in the modern world is not commensurate with the rate of its renewal. To this day large areas of land become deserts after deforestation or forest fires, which leads not only to biological disasters (extinction of species) but also to social ones, including the disappearance of entire ethnic groups.
- By the term “acid rain,” science means any meteorological precipitation (including snow and hail) during which a strongly acidic reaction occurs. Among the sources of this phenomenon are the activities of heavy industries (especially metallurgy), which emit serious amounts of nitrogen and sulfur oxides into the atmosphere. In addition, the activity of thermal power plants and the exhaust gas from cars leads to acid rain.
The process of making such rains is simple: when hydrogen chloride and nitrogen or sulfur oxides enter the air, they react with solar radiation and water droplets floating in the air. The result is acid – sulfuric, sulfuric, nitric or nitrogenous acid. The acid then falls to the ground as precipitation. The acid can take the form of rain, snow, hail, and fog and cause serious damage to the fauna and flora of the region.
- Reduction of biodiversity. Our planet has a huge number of species of flora and fauna living in different regions and natural zones. This great diversity of living things, represented at the present point in history, has been formed over several billion years. However, all of the above ecological disasters provoke another, large-scale and serious one: the reduction of biodiversity. According to WWF, we are losing three species every hour. If nothing is done about it, soon we will lose the world we know forever.
There are several reasons for this problem, and, characteristically, each of them is related to human activity:
Deforestation of the planet, deforestation of trees;
The expansion of human settlements, the emergence of new ones;
Harmful chemical emissions into the atmosphere;
Adaptation of natural areas for agricultural needs;
Use of chemicals in farming;
The growth of the world’s population and, as a consequence, the increasing demand for food of plant and animal origin;
Illegal hunting, poaching;
Environmental, man-made disasters.
To slow down the extinction of species, non-profit organizations create nature parks and nature reserves, which employ specialists who watch over the animals and create favorable conditions for their life and reproduction of the species.