ISSUES OF THE ENVIRONMENT: MAN MADE DISASTERS

Man made disasters may be industrial and technological mishaps like gas leaks, explosions, terrorist activities, chemical and nuclear war fare; pollution, sabotage etc.

Here I am pointing out some of the main man made disasters:-

1. FIRES: - It is an event of something burning and is often destructive and take with it lives and properties. More people die in fires than in floods, earthquakes, landslides and all other natural disasters combined. Fires are caused by heating sources, cooking accidents (unattended cooking or mechanical failure of stove), short circuits, combustible material accumulated in waste, smoking etc.

2. CHEMICAL AND INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS: - In the event of fires, chemical leaks or explosions occurring in industrial facilities, people are exposed to the danger of heat waves, poisonous gas leak, low oxygen levels, failing of structural elements, combustion of various products and heat waves. Many people may be killed, injured and would require immediate treatment. Inhalation, eye exposure, ingestion, skin contacts are the main routes of exposure.

3. TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS (RAIL, ROAD AND AIR): - The main causes of road accidents are the violation of traffic rules, speeding, drunk driving and poor maintenance of the vehicles and the roads.  Failures in an aircraft include technical problems, fire; landing and take off conditions, frequent storms, hijacking, bombing etc. Rail accidents are caused due to lack of maintenance, human error, poor loading of fuel, oil products etc.

4. TERRORIST ACTIVITIES: - These activities involve malicious acts of mass murder against people by carrying out suicide attacks, shooting massacres, bombings etc. The explosive devices in many of the cases are placed in most unexpected place such as roads, public places and public transport.

5. EPIDEMIC: - An epidemic is the occurrence of cases of a particular disease in excess of the expected, therefore, demanding that emergency control measures be implemented. The main cause for an epidemic is the pathogen. Epidemics are caused due to a number of reasons like poor sanitary conditions, seasonal changes, exposure of a non immune person etc.

           

ISSUES OF THE ENVIRONMENT: NATURAL DISASTERS

A disaster is an event which result in widespread human loss, accompanied by loss of livelihood, property etc. Disasters result in destruction, disturbing the normal life and push back the process of development. Hazard refers to a natural event whereas disaster is its consequence.

Disaster differs according to their natural of the destruction and also in terms of their potential. Disasters like earthquake, floods etc have an immediate impact while drought, crop failures etc create long standing problems.

Here is description of some of the main disasters. Before understanding disaster management and related strategies, it is necessary to understand these disasters:

1. EARTHQUAKE: - Earthquake is a sudden release of energy accumulated in deformed rocks causing the ground to tremble or shake. The exact spot underneath the surface of earth where earthquake generates is known as “focus” while the point lying on ground surface is called “epicenter”. In an earthquake stability of earthquake is immensely disturbed. Buildings crack and break apart, roads and fly over bridges collapse etc. Landslides are also caused due to earthquakes. Under water earthquakes may result in the arrival of Tsunamis.

2. FLOOD: - Floods are inundation of generally lowland areas caused by heavy rains, storm surge, tsunami, melting snow or dam burst. Some typical effects of flood are damage to structures, deaths caused by drowning, contamination of water, loss of entire harvest etc. Not only this, land may turn infertile due to erosion of top layer or may turn saline.

3. CYCLONES: - Cyclones are violent storms characterized by high winds rotating about a calm center of low atmospheric pressure. This center move onwqrds, often with a velocity of 50km per hour. Cyclone is more responsible for death and destructions than any other calamities. Maximum destruction occurs within 100km from the centre of the cyclone. This causes damage to crops, floods, disruption in communications etc.

4. LANDSLIDES: - Landslides are slippery masses of rock, earth or debris which move by force of their own weight down mountains, slopes, or river banks. Landslides may take place in combination with volcanoes, floods and earthquakes. Damages caused due to a landslide includes injuries and fatalities to human and cattle lives, road blockage, damage to agriculture, poultry, forest produce etc.

5. DROUGHT: - Drought generally means a situation where there is a reduction in rainfall for a specified period below a specified amount. It is also referred as a decline in water level of water resources much below the normal for a specified period of time. Droughts do not cause any structural damage. The typical effect includes loss of crop, dairy timber; loss of biodiversity, reduced water and landscape quality, food shortage, ground water depletion etc.

ISSUES OF THE ENVIRONMENT: OZONE LAYER DEPLETION

NINTH LARGEST OZONE HOLE

Ozone is an allotrope of oxygen consisting of three oxygen atoms. It is found in earth’s atmosphere, mainly in stratosphere located 10-15 km above earth’s surface and is called as ozone layer. Ozone layer acts as a natural cover and prevents the ultraviolet rays to reach the earth’s surface by absorbing most of them. This prevents harm to plant’s and animal’s life, reduce sun burn and cancer as well as reduce the risk of mutation.

Human activities are the greatest cause of the upset of delicate ozone balance. Depletion in ozone is caused by release of ozone depletion substances (ODS). Volcanic eruptions may eject chemicals such as chlorine and methane gases that react with and break ozone apart. One of the main ODS is chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) commonly known as Freon. Freon is mainly used in refrigerators, propellants, foaming agents, fire extinguisher agents etc. Oxides of nitrogen also destroy ozone catalytically. The sources of oxides of nitrogen are mainly thermonuclear explosions. Another ODS is carbon tetrachloride which is used in dry cleaning sprays, spray adhesives etc.

Loss of ozone in the stratosphere was first observed in 1970s by a research group from the British Antarctica Survey (BAS) who was monitoring the atmosphere over Antarctica from a research station. It has noticed that more than 50 % of stratospheric ozone is decreasing every year in Antarctica forming pockets known as ozone hole.

Ozone layer depletion results in solar UV radiation’s penetration to the earth surface which causes eye diseases, skin cancer, functioning of immunity system and other infectious diseases. In plants, UV radiations affect leaf size and reduce crop yields. It has found to cause damage in early development stages of fish, crabs etc. Ozone layer depletion is also associated with global warming. 

ISSUES OF THE ENVIRONMENT:
GREEN HOUSE EFFECT, CLIMATIC CHANGES AND GLOBAL WARMING

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The greenhouse effect is a natural process in which certain gases, called as ‘greenhouse gases’, trap heat that radiates from the earth’s surface. The term ‘ greenhouse effect’ was first used in 1827 by J. Furrier.A greenhouse is  construction of transparent structure to provide enough heat to the soil and plants.

The process of greenhouse effect involves the following effect:

1.       Light energy penetrates earth’s atmosphere as short wave radiation.

2.       This energy is absorbed by earth’s surface and changed into heat energy.

3.       The heat energy is radiated back into earth’s atmosphere as long wave radiation.

4.       Greenhouse gases absorb the heat radiation that strikes them on its way back to outer space.

5.       The greenhouse gases release the captured heat energy into the troposphere.

No green house effect means a lower temperature of earth’s surface, probably less then the freezing point of water. Thus, greenhouse gases act as a thermal blanket surrounding the earth.

Among different greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is the worse offender because of vast quantity generated through human activity. Some  important greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, water vapor, chlorofluorocarbons, nitrogen oxides, methane, ozone  etc.

Change in climate and global warming is the main impact of greenhouse effect. Some interrelated effects are:

1.      The temperature on earth may increase by about 1.5 to 4.5 degree centigrade by the year 2050.

2.      Photosynthesis, water use efficiency and yield of plants would decrease.

3.      Food shortage because of shortage of agricultural crops.

4.      Sudden change in climate causing cyclones etc.

According to a recent report, climate is getting warmer and the effects of global warming are becoming increasingly noticeable. Much of Siberia is 3 to 5 degrees Celsius warmer, than it was in early 20^th century. Europe’s Alpine glaciers have lost half their volume since 1850.penguin population have crashed in Antarctica. Some other threats from climatic change are increase in storms, sea level rise destroying beach nesting sites, warmer seas could lead to some turtle species becoming entirely female,growing water scarcity.

Greenhouse gases are released in atmosphere in various ways, electric power stations based on fossil fuels emit huge amount of carbon dioxide, numerous factories burn immense quantity of coal releasing carbon dioxide in atmosphere, exhausts released from automobiles, deforestation and burning of firewood.

ISSUES OF THE ENVIRONMENT:

POLLUTION

Pollution is an offensive change in the physical, chemical or biological characteristic of air, land and water that may harmfully affect lives of human and other species, natural and cultural assets etc. and has become a threat to the delicate and vulnerable life support systems of the Earth.

Pollution may be classified as air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, noise pollution and radiation pollution depending on the component getting polluted or kind of pollutant.

1.    AIR POLLUTION: It is caused due to disturbance in composition of compounds in atmosphere either due to some natural or human activity. Apart from health disorders, global warming, smog, acid rain, ozone depletion etc. are some other effects of air pollution.

        

       SOURCES: Automobile exhaust, fuel production, industrial     processes, auto manufacturing, solid waste disposal, heat and power generation facilities, chemical fertilizer plants, mining, solvent evaporation, forest fires, volcanic eruptions, dust storm etc

2.    WATER POLLUTION: Contamination of water caused by undesirable matters that worsen the quality of water can be termed as water pollution. It includes release of toxic substances that require much oxygen to decompose, that interfere with aquatic systems etc.

SOURCES: Plant nutrients which deplete the dissolved oxygen and produce disagreeable odors, exotic organic chemicals, petroleum specifically from oil spills, inorganic minerals and chemical compounds, radioactive substances etc.

3.    SOIL POLLUTION:  Soil pollution can be defined as alteration in the chemical composition of soil, caused by deposition of solid mass, accumulation of non biodegradable materials, mining etc.

      

SOURCES: Industrial activities, solid waste dumping, constructional activities, domestic and commercial wastes, food scraps, food residues, broken gadgets, worn out furniture, power plants, pulp mills, fertilizers, pesticides etc

4.    RADIATION POLLUTION: There is no doubt that nuclear energy is one of the most appreciable area of work of technology but waste resulted from nuclear reaction, which is a form of pollution is the biggest concern. Radiation pollution can be defined as the increase in natural background radiation emerging from the activities of man involving the use of naturally occurring or artificially produced radioactive material.

                          

SOURCES: Nuclear power plants, nuclear weapons, disposal of nuclear waste, uranium, mining, nuclear accidents, radio-tracers etc.

5.    NOISE POLLUTION: This type of pollution refers to unwanted sound, annoying, interfering with speech, communication, leisure etc. It may result in hearing loss by causing damage to the hair cells in the cochlea of the inner ear. It is ever increasing due to rise in heavy duty machineries, industrial facilities, vehicles etc.

SOURCES: All the equipments or others producing noise of greater than 85 decibels.

         

ISSUES OF THE ENVIRONMENT:

 ENERGY CRISIS

Technological advancement can be stated as a result of our increasing ability to harness energy, convert it to useful forms and put to various uses. Energy is a key input in the economic growth. But “the era of easy oil” is over, demand of energy is popping out like never before.

Broadly energy resources can be divided into two forms:-

1. Conventional Sources of Energy: These sources have been formed through a series of processes that lasted over millions of years. Once these fuels are used, they will not be available again and hence are also called as Non Renewable Sources of Energy. This category includes coal, fuelwood, petroleum, natural gas etc.

2. Non Conventional Sources of Energy: This category includes resources that are inexhaustible. They are also called as Renewable Sources of Energy which includes solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, geothermal energy, biomass, wave energy etc. Among all solar energy has the greatest potential.

A strong correlation between energy use and economic output exists. The more energy one can harness, the more one can produce. The real fact is that, although, 78 % of world’s population lives in developing countries, their energy consumption is only 35 % of world’s total energy consumption.

There has been a rapid rise in energy demand in the past two decades. But the energy supply has not been able to keep pace with the rising demand. The major reasons behind it are:

• Population growth
• Rapid increase in the use of power in agriculture sector.
• Growth in industrial and transportation sector.
• Rise in residential use.

Energy is consumed mostly in the form of electricity. But the peak energy shortage is about 15 % of peak demand. The main reason for this huge gap is population explosion. Commercial energy consumption in the transport sector is growing enormously. A shift from railway to roads, inadequate exploitation of inland water transport, inadequacies with public transportation systems leading to an increase in the use of personal transport have all contributed to the higher rate of growth in energy consumption.

ENERGY SAVING TIPS:

1. Energy saving tips in transport:

·         Use public transport whenever possible.

·         Get your vehicle service regularly.

·         Have a look on keeping petrol consumption down.

2. Tips to save electricity:

·          Use the mains rather than batteries whenever possible.

·         Defrost the refrigerator regularly

·         Install a solar water heater

·         Maximize the use of natural light

·         Don’t open the refrigerator for too long.