Nature and environment

The Earth consist of spheres – Atmosphere contain all the gases, hydrosphere contain all the water, lithosphere contain all the rocks and soil and biosphere contain all the living. These spheres are in balance and if one of them gets out of balance it could cause environmental issues.

Main problems are global warming, ozone holes, water pollution and land pollution.

Global warming is one of the current issues which humans encounter with. Theory says that man has not small influence on this issue. Human’s inventions which run on carbon fossil fuel produce carbon dioxide into the air and this cause the greenhouse effect and contribute on warming the planet. This could lead to state where icebergs are completely melted and the level of sea is raised. Also it could cause unpredictable weather such as floods, drought or hurricanes. – The solution is to change the way of production of energy and reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Next problem is ozone holes which are created by ozone damaging chemicals that we release into the atmosphere. The effect is that UV radiation is no longer reflected by the ozone layer and affect the earth on the ground this cause damage to DNA of cells and possibility of cancer especially after sunbathing. Sheep at high altitude in the Andes are often blinded by UV. – The solution is to ban the use of dangerous chemicals in aerosol, refrigerators and car air conditioning.

Water pollution is contamination of water bodies –lakes, rivers, seas, groundwater which affects biosphere. It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into the water without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds. 90% of China’s cities suffer from some level of water pollution. Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water. The reason of pollution is a wide spectrum of chemicals and many of them are toxic ones. Many of them are produced by factories. Oil in seas which is caused by drowned tankers. But a big part of this is caused by fertilizers which are flushed into the water by rain.

Air pollution is major problem of big cities and areas which have high density of industrial production. The problem is that those emission released by cars and factories weight more than air and cause smog. This cause the air hard to breathe. Another issue is acid rain which is caused by acids turning in poisonous oxidant and falling down on plants and trees. Trees are very important in this case since they absorb carbon dioxide from air and give out oxygen in return. In some places such as Asia and South America trees are not treated by pollution but by humans cutting the trees down. It is called deforestation. The great rainforest are being destroyed for firewood, building material or fields. It is believed that rain forest produce 50% of oxygen on the Earth and are large as whole Europe and contain one third of the world’s trees. If we lose the trees it will lead to lack of oxygen and for us impossibility of breathing. – Solution is to reduce the production of gasses thich cause this.

Soil become contaminated as a result of industrial waste and other causes. Much domestic rubbish is disposed of in landfills. Waste disposal should be controlled and maintained properly. Landfill can be avoided by reusing, recycling or energy recover from the waste material. – Solution is to make the law stricter towards who break the rules and the fines for dumping waste should be increased.

 

Ke stažení zde: Nature and environment