ഗവൺമെൻറ്, എച്ച്.എസ്. എസ് അയിരുപ്പാറ/അക്ഷരവൃക്ഷം/ ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENT
Environment-What is it? The word Environment is derived from the French word “Environ” which means surroundings. It refers to all ecological units which are naturally present on Earth in the form of land, water, soil, air, forests, minerals, sunlight, living organisms etc. The surroundings in which a person live is referred to the word environment. It is the physical and biological surrounding around us. Each organism depend upon environment for their life sustenance. One-fourth of the deaths that happen all over the world in a year is due to the environmental problems Components of the Environment The Environment has four components. They are: • Hydrosphere
• Biosphere
• Atmosphere
• Lithosphere
Lithosphere The first component of the environment is the outer layer which is covered by rock and soil. This layer is called lithosphere. Soil is a mixture of abiotic and biotic substances. The important minerals among them are Silicon, Calcium, Oxygen, Potassium, Aluminium, Iron, Nitrogen, Manganese, Titanium, Carbon dioxide and their compounds. Hydrosphere The second component is the water on the Earth’s surface and underground water. This layer is the hydrosphere. Sea, river, lake etc. are the major sources of water on the Earth’s surface. Biosphere The component which is in the third position is the biosphere where life exists. It is situated between 6,000 metre above sea level and 10,000 metre below sea level. Water, food and the air which we respire are present here. Atmosphere The fourth is the atmosphere which extends upto 500 km from the Earth’s surface. The major factors of atmosphere are: • Nitrogen -78.0 % • Oxygen - 20.9 % • Other gases – 1.1 % Environmental problems • Increased deforestation • Water scarcity • Increasing density of motor vehicles • Unscientific usage of pesticides
• Forest fire
• Outbreak of epidemics
• Human activities
Increased deforestation The forest wealth of Kerala is depleting day by day. As per the forest survey of India, the forest area of Kerala is 9,400 km2 which is only 24.2 % of the total area. Water scarcity Increased level of urbanisation, industrialisation, exploitation of underground water, deforestation etc. leads to the severe environmental crisis called water scarcity. The increase in the atmospheric temperature due to green house gases leads to the severe drought in Kerala during summer season. Increasing density of motor vehicles The carbon dioxide emitted from the motor vehicles leads to the increase in atmospheric temperature. India is in the 3rd position in the countries which produce more green house gases(G H G). Unscientific usage of pesticides According to the statistics of WHO, 2.2 lac. death are happening every year due to the usage of poisonous pesticides. The health problems caused due to pesticides mostly affects the people working on the agricultural fields. Forest fire Forest fire is caused due to climatic change, increase in atmospheric temperature and other human activities. Forest fire in Australia and California lead to the extinction of Koala and other organism. In India, forest fire occurred in the Sathyamangalam forest region situated in Kerala-Tamilnadu border is an example. Outbreak of epidemics Environment changes will leads to the evolution of new types of virus and other pathogens. Ebola virus, Nipah virus etc. are example. Today, worldwide, there is an apparent increase in many infectious diseases, including some newly-circulating virus like HIV/AIDS, SARS, Hanta virus, Hepatitis C etc. This reflects the combined impacts of rapid demographic, social, environmental, technological and other changes in our ways-of-living. Climate change will also affect infectious disease occurrence. Infectious agents vary greatly in size, type and mode of transmission. There are viruses, bacteria, protozoa and multicellular parasites. Those microbes that cause anthroponoses have adapted, via evolution, to the human species as their primary, usually exclusive host. In contrast non-human species are the natural reservoirs for those infectious agents that cause zoonoses. Human activities Human activities will also leads to environmental pollution through dumping of solid wastes as well as liquid wastes. It will increase the development of new resistant varieties of germs etc. Global Warming The term Global warming refers to the situation in which the climatic temperature is greater than the average climatic temperature. According to the report of I P C C (Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change), the green house gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide etc. leads to this phenomenon. Increase in the sea level, heat waves, melting of glaciers and snow in the mountain peaks etc. are the after effects of global warming. Green house gases &Green house effect The gases which leads to global warming are Green House gases(G H G).Carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, water vapour etc. are some of the green house gases. These gases allow insolation to pass through them and obstruct terrestrial radiation and retain the temperature of the atmosphere. This phenomenon is called Green House Effect. Environmental Organisations • International union for Conservation of Nature(I U C N) • Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change(I P C C) • United Nations Environmental Program |( U N E P ) • World Wide Fund For Nature ( W W F) • Green Peace • National Wildlife Federation • Environmental Defence Fund • Wildlife Conservation Society • Global Green Growth Institute ( G G G I ) Climate Change
Effects of climate change
• Lowering of ground water level • Decrease in rain • Decrease in the No: of marine aquatic organisms How to resist these environmental problems ? • Reduce the amount of CO2 emission • Use non-conventional energy sources • Use more energy efficient equipments • Switch over to electrical vehicles • Plant more trees • Implement more rain harvesting technologies • Reduce urbanisation • Implement proper solid waste management methods What the U N E P says? In order to decrease the amount of CO2 emitted every year, the U N E P published some instructions. They are: • Be committed in reducing the carbon foot print(The amount of green house gases emitted by a person) • Be aware of the amount of green house gases emitted by us. • Find the different ways of CO2 emission which can be avoided. • Prefer the products with less carbon usage. • Use energy efficient electrical equipments. • Thermal electricity requires more carbon. So try to produce electricity from water, wind and bio waste. • Take the cost of CO2 reducing activities done by others • Prefer the most suitable one and reduce waste. • Buy or sell eco-friendly products.
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