When you think about the many environmental problems facing the modern world, what ways of solving them come to your mind? Perhaps you're thinking about the latest warnings from scientists about global warming, endangered animal and plant species, deforestation, or air and water pollution. Of course, the list of environmental threats is endless, and your children have no doubt already learned about many of them at home or at school.
For many adults, it can be intimidating to study scientific data detailing the state of environmental conservation. How to teach your children the importance of caring for the environment and not put into them the idea of the inevitable end of the world and universal catastrophe? To begin, encourage your children to look at what your family and friends can do to protect the environment. If you help your children take care of environmental protection from a very early age, they will be able to see that their actions actually make a difference, and if they act together with other people, they can play an important role in changing and improving the whole world.
This article provides simple, easy-to-do activities for kids to incorporate into your daily schedule that will help them manage their environment responsibly.
Did you know that one person consumes, on average, about 200 liters of water per day? You might guess that people use more water in the bathroom than in any other room in the house, or that a dripping faucet can spill up to 7,500 liters of water a year. But while you are most likely aware of these statistics, your children probably have no idea how much water is wasted every day.
How to teach children to save our water resources? Consider the following suggestions:
In all likelihood, your bins are much lighter now than they were a few years ago. Today, recycling bins are already in many cities, and most homes also have garbage cans with such waste, which are taken away by special cars once a week.
Your children may also have taken part in school recycling programs and World Environment Day (celebrated annually around the world on June 5), which promote environmental protection. Maybe they even help their family collect and recycle aluminum cans and plastic bottles and get paid for it. Since recycling has become so widespread in recent years, what else can be done to reduce environmental pollution?
Perhaps the simplest thing your family can do in the first place is to reduce the amount of garbage you produce. Because the handful of garbage that each individual produces adds up to huge mountains of universal garbage, and reducing the amount of your personal garbage can have a significant impact on the environment. The following ideas will help you:
Old unwanted clothes, toys, or household items can get a second or even third life if they are misused. For example, an old tire can make a great garden bed, and torn clothes can be used as a rag. Parts of broken toys can be given new life as craft material. You can also donate a still useful item to a charitable society.
Many people carefully collect garbage at home and completely forget about it outside of it. For example, what do you do with empty plastic bottles and soda cans? Do you dispose of them in a recycling bin if there is one nearby? Or just send it to the trash?
Remind your children that all they need to do is make sure the jar or bottle is empty, put it in their backpack, and then throw it in the recycling bin at home. You can also consult with the administration of gardens and parks in your city if it is possible to place such containers in areas of heavy urban traffic. Some gardens and parks and beaches already have special containers for plastic bottles and metal cans.
If your kids are in middle or high school, they may have already been taught about global warming in class. While it may seem like only governments and big businesses can do anything to reduce emissions, there are some things you and your family can do, not to mention that it will help you at the same time. and save money. For example, you could offer your children the following:
Our small daily actions in a variety of ways can have a significant positive impact on the environment. To get your kids thinking about the environment all the time, let them see everything you do to protect it day in and day out and explain why you're doing it. For example, children may not understand why using energy saving lamps or a mechanical lawnmower is better for the environment until you explain it to them. Show your children that you don't litter and explain the impact pollution has on the environment. Do not throw away unnecessary things, but give them to charities. Stay up to date on conservation projects in your area, and you might be able to plant a tree or clean up trash at a local park with your kids.
Pollution is the introduction of pollutants into the natural environment that cause adverse changes. Pollution can take the form chemical substances or energy such as noise, heat or light. Pollution components can be either foreign substances/energy or natural pollutants.
Coniferous forest after acid rain
Smoke from chimneys, factories, vehicles, or from burning wood and coal makes the air toxic. The effects of air pollution are also obvious. The release of sulfur dioxide and dangerous gases into the atmosphere causes global warming and acid rain, which in turn increase temperatures, causing excessive rainfall or droughts around the world, and making life difficult. We also breathe every polluted particle in the air and as a result, the risk of asthma and lung cancer increases.
It caused the loss of many species of flora and fauna of the Earth. This was due to the fact that industrial wastes dumped into rivers and other water bodies cause an imbalance in the aquatic environment, which leads to serious pollution and death of aquatic animals and plants.
In addition, spraying insecticides, pesticides (such as DDT) on plants pollute the groundwater system. Oil spills in the oceans have caused significant damage to water bodies.
Eutrophication in the Potomac River, USA
Eutrophication is another important cause of water pollution. Occurs due to untreated sewage and fertilizer runoff from the soil into lakes, ponds or rivers, due to which chemicals enter the water and prevent the penetration of sunlight, thereby reducing the amount of oxygen and making the reservoir uninhabitable.
Pollution of water resources harms not only individual aquatic organisms, but the whole, and seriously affects people who depend on them. In some countries of the world, due to water pollution, outbreaks of cholera and diarrhea are observed.
soil erosion
This type of pollution occurs when harmful chemical elements enter the soil, usually caused by human activities. Insecticides and pesticides absorb nitrogen compounds from the soil, after which it becomes unsuitable for plant growth. Industrial waste, and also adversely affect the soil. Because plants cannot grow as they should, they are unable to hold the soil, resulting in erosion.
Appears when unpleasant (loud) sounds from the environment affect the human hearing organs and lead to psychological problems including stress, high blood pressure, hearing loss, etc. It may be called industrial equipment, airplanes, cars, etc.
This is a very dangerous type of pollution, it occurs due to failures in the operation of nuclear power plants, improper storage of nuclear waste, accidents, etc. Radioactive contamination can cause cancer, infertility, loss of vision, birth defects; it can make the soil infertile, and also negatively affects the air and water.
Light pollution of planet Earth
Occurs due to noticeable over-illumination of the area. It is common, as a rule, in large cities, especially from billboards, in gyms or entertainment venues at night. In residential areas, light pollution greatly affects people's lives. It also interferes with astronomical observations by making the stars almost invisible.
Thermal pollution is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes the temperature of the surrounding water. The main cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a refrigerant by power plants and industrial plants. When water used as a refrigerant is returned to the natural environment at a high temperature, temperature changes reduce oxygen supply and affect composition. Fish and other organisms adapted to a particular temperature range can be killed by sudden changes in water temperature (or rapid increases or decreases).
Thermal pollution is caused by excess heat in the environment creating unwanted changes over long periods of time. This is due to the huge amount industrial enterprises, deforestation and air pollution. Thermal pollution increases the Earth's temperature, causing drastic climate change and extinction of wildlife species.
Visual pollution, Philippines
Visual pollution is aesthetic problem and refers to the effects of pollution that impair the ability to enjoy the outside world. It includes: billboards, open dumps, antennas, electrical wires, buildings, cars, etc.
Overcrowding of the territory with a large number of objects causes visual pollution. Such pollution contributes to distraction, eye fatigue, loss of identity, and so on.
Plastic pollution, India
Includes the accumulation of plastic products in the environment that have adverse effects on wildlife, animal or human habitats. Plastic products are inexpensive and durable, which has made them very popular among people. However, this material decomposes very slowly. Plastic pollution can adversely affect soil, lakes, rivers, seas and oceans. Living organisms, especially marine animals, become entangled in plastic waste or are affected by chemicals in plastic that cause interruptions in biological function. People are also affected by plastic pollution, causing a hormonal imbalance.
The main objects of environmental pollution are such as air (atmosphere), water resources (streams, rivers, lakes, seas, oceans), soil, etc.
Pollutants are chemical, biological, physical or mechanical elements (or processes) that harm the environment.
They can be harmful both in the short and long term. Pollutants originate from natural resources or are produced by humans.
Many pollutants have a toxic effect on living organisms. Carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide) is an example of a substance that harms humans. This compound is taken up by the body instead of oxygen, causing shortness of breath, headache, dizziness, heart palpitations, and in severe cases can lead to serious poisoning, and even death.
Some pollutants become hazardous when they react with other naturally occurring compounds. Nitrogen and sulfur oxides are released from impurities in fossil fuels during combustion. They react with water vapor in the atmosphere to form acid rain. Acid rain adversely affects aquatic ecosystems and leads to the death of aquatic animals, plants, and other living organisms. Terrestrial ecosystems also suffer from acid rain.
According to the type of occurrence, environmental pollution is divided into:
Deforestation
Anthropogenic pollution is the impact on the environment caused by the activities of mankind. The main sources of artificial pollution are:
Eruption
Natural pollution is caused and occurs naturally, without human intervention. It can affect the environment for a certain period of time, but it can be regenerated. To the sources natural pollution relate:
Left photo: Beijing after the rain. Right photo: smog in Beijing
The environment is the first victim of atmospheric pollution. An increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere leads to smog, which can prevent sunlight from reaching the earth's surface. As a result, it becomes much more difficult. Gases such as sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide can cause acid rain. Water pollution in terms of an oil spill can lead to the death of several species of wild animals and plants.
Lung cancer
Decreased air quality leads to some respiratory problems, including asthma or lung cancer. Chest pain, sore throat, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease can be caused by air pollution. Water pollution can create skin problems, including irritation and rashes. Similarly, noise pollution leads to hearing loss, stress and sleep disturbance.
Male, the capital of the Maldives, is one of the cities facing the prospect of being flooded by the ocean in the 21st century.
The release of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, leads to global warming. Every day new industries are created, new cars appear on the roads, and the number of trees is reduced to make room for new homes. All these factors, directly or indirectly, lead to an increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. Rising CO2 causes the polar ice caps to melt, which increases sea levels and endangers people living near coastal areas.
The ozone layer is a thin shield high in the sky that prevents ultraviolet rays from reaching the earth. As a result of human activity, chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons are released into the atmosphere, which contributes to the depletion of the ozone layer.
Due to the constant use of insecticides and pesticides, the soil can become infertile. Various types of chemicals from industrial waste end up in water, which also affects soil quality.
Many of these are particularly vulnerable as they are subject to human influence in many countries. As a result, some states unite and develop agreements aimed at preventing damage or managing human impact on natural resources. They include agreements that affect the protection of the climate, oceans, rivers and air from pollution. These international environmental treaties are sometimes binding instruments that have legal consequences in case of non-compliance, and in other situations are used as codes of conduct. The most famous include:
The discussion of environmental issues often focuses on the level of government, legislation and law enforcement. However, in the broadest sense, the protection of the environment can be seen as the responsibility of the whole people, and not just the government. Decisions that affect the environment will ideally include a wide range of stakeholders, including industrial sites, indigenous groups, representatives of environmental groups and communities. Decision-making processes in the field of environmental protection are constantly evolving and becoming more active in different countries.
Many constitutions recognize the fundamental right to protect the environment. In addition, in various countries there are organizations and institutions dealing with environmental issues.
While protecting the environment is not just the responsibility of government agencies, most people consider these organizations paramount in creating and maintaining basic standards that protect the environment and the people who interact with it.
Population and technological advances based on fossil fuels have seriously affected our natural environment. Therefore, now we need to do our part to eliminate the consequences of degradation so that humanity continues to live in an ecologically safe environment.
There are 3 main principles that are still relevant and important more than ever:
The fact that we need to consume and recycle less garbage, that we need to save nature, has been talked about more and more lately. This topic was even raised in a recent speech by Pope Francis. However, no matter how much people heed this advice, the damage to our planet has already been done, and the damage is huge.
Two organizations - The Foundation for Deep Ecology and the Population Media Center - released a series of photographs that illustrate the shocking consequences of human consumption of natural resources, as well as environmental pollution. " This is what primarily worries people, and at the same time, what is not talked about in the top news of the press.," explains Missy Thurston, co-director of the Population Media Center.
AT Everyday life it's hard to predict the consequences of our usual choices - whether it's a plastic bottle of water in the supermarket or another TV or computer. However, if we consider that the world's population is almost 7.5 billion people, and each of them, on average, throws out 2 kg of garbage every day (these data have changed by almost 60% since 1960), then it becomes obvious that the problem is really very, very is important and should be addressed by all together.
In September 2015, world leaders will gather to discuss the human development challenges that need to be addressed before 2030. In December, a meeting of the United Nations is to take place in Paris, at which restrictions on environmental pollution will be set. Much depends on influential people who will solve global problems, but no less depends on the ordinary person, who has every opportunity to help nature by his own example.
Many have seen from their own experience that the power of positive thinking is great. Positive thinking allows you to achieve success in any business, even the most hopeless. Why does not everyone have positive thinking, since it is a direct path to success?
If someone calls you selfish, it's definitely not a compliment. This makes it clear that you are paying too much attention to your own needs. Selfish behavior is unacceptable to most people and is considered immoral.
There are times when a series of problems falls upon a person and a black streak begins in life. There is a feeling that the whole world has rebelled against him. How to get out of a losing streak and start enjoying life again?
There are more than seven billion people on Earth. All of them are unique and differ from each other not only in appearance, but also in a set of psychological traits. There is such a category of people who easily communicate with strangers, easily fit into unfamiliar companies and know how to please almost anyone. Such people are more successful in their personal lives and careers than others. Many want to become just such people, a kind of "soul of the company." Today we will talk about what to do to please people and become a more successful person.
Conflicts can arise everywhere, regardless of the people around you and the circumstances. An evil boss or unscrupulous subordinates, demanding parents or dishonest teachers, grandmothers at bus stops or angry people in public places. Even a conscientious neighbor and a dandelion grandmother can cause a big conflict. About how to get out of the conflict without suffering damage - moral and physical - and will be discussed in this article.
It is impossible to imagine a modern person who is not subject to stress. Accordingly, each of us is in such situations every day at work, at home, on the road, some sufferers even experience stress several times a day. And there are people who constantly live in a stressful state and do not even suspect it.
Life is a strange and complicated thing that can throw up dozens of troubles in one day. However, it is worth remembering: any trouble is a lesson that will definitely come in handy sometime in the future. If a person is an honest student, then he will remember the lecture the first time. In the event that the lesson was incomprehensible, life will confront him again and again. And many people take this literally, complicating their lives! But sometimes you should not endure some things, looking for life lessons in them! What specific situations should be stopped?
Everything seems dull and gray, close people annoy, work infuriates and there are thoughts that all life is heading downhill somewhere. In order to change your own life, it is not necessary to do something supernatural and complex. Sometimes the simplest and most accessible actions for everyone can significantly increase the level of energy and make you feel much better. Try to introduce 7 effective practices into your life that will dramatically change your life for the better.
Everyone who is engaged in self-development knows that he cannot do without a feeling of discomfort. Quite often, people confuse discomfort with a black streak in life and begin to complain, or even worse, try to avoid change. But as experience shows, only by going beyond the comfort, you can find and acquire all the benefits that we need.
From elementary grades, we are taught that man and nature are one, that one cannot be separated from the other. We learn the development of our planet, the features of its structure and structure. These areas affect our well-being: the atmosphere, soil, water of the Earth are, perhaps, the most important components of normal human life. But why, then, every year, environmental pollution goes further and reaches an ever greater scale? Let's look at the main environmental problems.
Environmental pollution, which also refers to the natural environment and the biosphere, is an increased content of physical, chemical or biological reagents in it that are not characteristic of this environment, brought in from outside, the presence of which leads to negative consequences.
Scientists have been sounding the alarm about an imminent environmental catastrophe for several decades in a row. Conducted studies in various fields lead to the conclusion that we are already facing global changes in climate and the external environment under the influence of human activities. Pollution of the oceans due to leaks of oil and oil products, as well as debris, has reached enormous proportions, which affects the decline in populations of many animal species and the ecosystem as a whole. The growing number of cars every year leads to a large emission into the atmosphere, which, in turn, leads to the drying of the earth, heavy rainfall on the continents, and a decrease in the amount of oxygen in the air. Some countries are already forced to bring water and even buy canned air, as the production has spoiled the environment in the country. Many people have already realized the danger and are very sensitive to negative changes in nature and major environmental problems, but we still perceive the possibility of a catastrophe as something unrealizable and far away. Is this really so or the threat is close and something needs to be done immediately - let's figure it out.
The main types of pollution classify the sources of environmental pollution themselves:
In the first case, environmental pollutants are the activities of living organisms or anthropogenic factors. In the second case, the natural chemical composition of the contaminated sphere is changed by adding other chemicals to it. In the third case, the physical characteristics of the environment change. These types of pollution include thermal, radiation, noise and other types of radiation. The latter type of pollution is also associated with human activities and waste emissions into the biosphere.
All types of pollution can be present both separately by themselves, and flow from one to another or exist together. Consider how they affect individual areas of the biosphere.
People who have come a long way in the desert will surely be able to name the price of every drop of water. Although most likely these drops will be priceless, because a person's life depends on them. In ordinary life, we, alas, give water something different great importance, since we have a lot of it, and it is available at any time. But in the long run, this is not entirely true. In percentage terms, only 3% of the total world fresh water supply remained unpolluted. Understanding the importance of water for people does not prevent a person from polluting an important source of life with oil and oil products, heavy metals, radioactive substances, inorganic pollution, sewage and synthetic fertilizers.
Polluted water contains a large number of xenobiotics - substances that are alien to the human or animal body. If such water enters the food chain, it can lead to serious food poisoning and even death of all participants in the chain. Of course, they are also contained in the products of volcanic activity, which pollute water even without human help, but the activities of the metallurgical industry and chemical plants are predominant.
With the advent of nuclear research, quite significant harm has been done to nature in all areas, including water. The charged particles that have fallen into it carry great harm living organisms and contribute to the development of cancer. Effluent from factories, ships with nuclear reactors, and simply rain or snow in a nuclear testing area can contaminate the water with decomposition products.
Sewerage, which carries a lot of garbage: detergents, food residues, small household waste, and more, in turn, contributes to the reproduction of other pathogenic organisms, which, when ingested, give a number of diseases, such as typhoid fever, dysentery and others.
Perhaps it does not make sense to explain how the soil is an important part of human life. Most of the food that people eat comes from the soil: from cereals to rare types of fruits and vegetables. For this to continue, it is necessary to maintain the state of the soil at the proper level for a normal water cycle. But anthropogenic pollution has already led to the fact that 27% of the planet's land is subject to erosion.
Soil pollution is the ingress of toxic chemicals and debris into it in high quantities, preventing the normal circulation of soil systems. The main sources of soil pollution:
In the first case, soil pollution occurs due to ordinary garbage that is thrown out in the wrong places. But main reason landfills should be named. Burning waste leads to clogging of large areas, and combustion products spoil the soil irrevocably, littering the entire environment.
Industrial enterprises emit many toxic substances, heavy metals and chemical compounds that affect not only the soil, but also the life of living organisms. It is this source of pollution that leads to man-made pollution of the soil.
Transport emissions of hydrocarbons, methane and lead, getting into the soil, affect food chains - they enter the human body through food.
Excessive plowing, pesticides, pesticides and fertilizers, which contain enough mercury and heavy metals, lead to significant soil erosion and desertification. Abundant irrigation also cannot be called a positive factor, since it leads to soil salinization.
Today, up to 98% of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants is buried in the ground, mainly products of uranium fission, which leads to degradation and depletion of land resources.
The atmosphere in the form of a gaseous shell of the Earth is of great value, since it protects the planet from cosmic radiation, affects the relief, determines the climate of the Earth and its thermal background. It cannot be said that the composition of the atmosphere was homogeneous and only with the advent of man began to change. But it was after the beginning of the vigorous activity of people that the heterogeneous composition was "enriched" with dangerous impurities.
The main pollutants in this case are chemical plants, the fuel and energy complex, agriculture and cars. They lead to the appearance of copper, mercury, and other metals in the air. Of course, in industrial areas, air pollution is felt most of all.
Thermal power plants bring light and heat to our homes, however, in parallel, they emit a huge amount of carbon dioxide and soot into the atmosphere.
Acid rain is caused by waste from chemical plants, such as sulfur oxide or nitrogen oxide. These oxides can react with other elements of the biosphere, which contributes to the appearance of more destructive compounds.
Modern cars are quite good in design and technical characteristics, but the problem with the atmosphere has not yet been solved. Ash and fuel processing products not only spoil the atmosphere of cities, but also settle on the soil and make it unusable.
In many industrial and industrial areas, use has become an integral part of life precisely because of the pollution of the environment by factories and transport. Therefore, if you are concerned about the state of air in your apartment, with the help of a breather you can create a healthy microclimate at home, which, unfortunately, does not cancel the glider problems of environmental pollution, but at least allows you to protect yourself and loved ones.