Using the riches of nature, a person does not always think about the possible negative consequences that can lead to changes in natural complexes and, in the end, make the Earth unsuitable for life.
Since ancient times, people began to engage agricultureusing for this a special natural body - fertile soil as a component of nature. By his activity a person can save or deplete soils, impair their fertility by improper cultivation, introduce an excessive amount of fertilizers and pesticides, irrigate and drain the lands without scientific justification. Agriculture provides people with food. Earth distribution is common in the forest-steppe and steppe zones. Therefore, it determines the formation of modern natural complexes, namely agricultural land, irrigation systems, livestock farms, etc.
Influenced the Earth's natural complexes even more economic activity of people in industrial enterprises, especially those associated with the extraction and processing of minerals. These are mines, mines, quarries, metallurgical and chemical enterprises. They occupy large areas where industrial buildings are located, special territories for the conservation of extracted minerals, waste rock and industrial waste. These man-made mountains are much higher than high-rise buildings. Material from the site
A man built thermal, nuclear and hydroelectric power stations, power lines, covered the planet with a network of railway tracks and highways, dug many tunnels, laid pipelines for transporting liquid and gas fuels, created reservoirs, destroyed and restored forest tracts. Now on Earth there are almost no territories where human activity would not be noted. Finally, in order to live, relax, and satisfy his spiritual needs, man created huge cities and many other settlements. The construction of settlements also significantly changes the natural components: the surface is leveled, various communications are laid (water and gas pipelines, power lines and city electric vehicles). Thus, in the process of human economic activity, economic complexes were formed instead of natural ones. Violating the interconnections in natural complexes, changing them, a person adapts nature to his needs, while not taking into account possible harmful consequences.
- Man, using natural resources, affects the environment and changes it in the process of economic activity.
- The main types of economic activity are agriculture, animal husbandry, work in industrial enterprises, transport, in trade and educational institutions, health protection institutions, etc.
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Human Impact on the Environment
Currently, in the environment surrounding a person, changes are occurring associated with the influence of the scientific and technological revolution, human activities. This is, first of all, clogging of air, water bodies, mismanagement of the land, etc.
Clogging the atmosphere - the gas shell of the Earth - is one of the most important m special environmental problems today. It is known how important air is for any living organism: a person can live without food for a month, without water for a week, and without air for a few seconds. At the same time, what we breathe is strongly influenced by a number of factors - the results of the intensive development of industries such as fuel and energy, metallurgical, petrochemical, etc.
The fuel and energy complex includes the activities of thermal power plants, the operation of which is associated with the emission into the atmosphere of sulfur oxide, nitrogen, formed during the combustion of unenriched coal.
No less dangerous air pollutants are enterprises metallurgy industryemitting various chemical compounds into the air, especially heavy and rare metals. A dangerous source of air pollution are steel and petrochemical industry products, especially hydrocarbon compounds (methane and others).
A dangerous air pollutant is tobacco smoke, from which, in addition to nicotine, a large amount (about 200) of such toxic substances as carbon monoxide, benzoperine and others fall into the air.
As a result of atmospheric pollution, phenomena such as the greenhouse effect — an increase in the general temperature on Earth; an ozone hole formed as a result of a violation of the ozone layer in the atmosphere by nitrogen oxides emitted by the engines of ballistic and space rockets; smog - the accumulation of harmful gases in the lower atmosphere as a result of increased work of boiler houses operating on coal, fuel oil, diesel fuel, and also as a result of air pollution by vehicles; acid rain - compounds of sulfur and nitrogen of air with water and falling to the Earth in the form of rain (acid).
Such "rain" negatively affects the skin, hair, and also on the development of plants, accelerates the corrosion of metals, destroys gypsum, marble, acidifies water bodies, soils, which leads to the death of fish, forests, animals living in them.
The main organizational and technological methods for combating air pollution are as follows:
reduction in the number of power plants (thermal power plants - thermal) due to the construction of more powerful, equipped with the latest systems for purification and disposal of gas and dust emissions;
purification of coal before it enters a thermal power plant;
replacing coal and fuel oil at TPPs with ecologically clean fuel - gas;
the regulation of internal combustion engines in automobiles, the installation of special catalysts on them to neutralize carbon monoxide, and the replacement of harmful ethyl gasoline polluting air with lead with less environmentally harmful ones.
Of particular importance in the purification of atmospheric air is the landscaping of cities and villages, especially nil industrial zones.
Types and degree of human impact on nature
Anthropogenic impacts - human activities related to the implementation of economic, military, recreational, cultural and other interests, introducing physical, chemical, biological and other changes into the natural environment.
The impact of man on nature can be classified in various ways. For example, divided into destructive, stabilizing and constructive; direct and indirect; intentional and unintentional; long and short; static and dynamic; areal and point; deep and subsurface; global, regional and local; mechanical, physical, chemical and biological, etc.
Destructive (destructive) impact – human activity leading to the loss by the natural environment of its qualities useful to man. For example, reducing rainforests to pastures or plantations, as a result of which the biogeochemical circulation of substances is disturbed, and the soil loses its fertility in two to three years.
Stabilizing effect – human activity aimed at slowing down the destruction (destruction) of the natural environment as a result of both human economic activity and natural processes. For example, soil protection measures aimed at reducing soil erosion.
Constructive impact – human activities aimed at restoring the natural environment disturbed as a result of human activities or natural processes. For example, reclamation of landscapes, restoration of the number of rare species of animals and plants, etc. The destructive impact can be called negative (negative), and the stabilizing and constructive - positive (positive).
Direct impact – a change in nature as a result of the direct impact of human activities on natural objects and phenomena. Indirect (indirect) impact - a change in nature as a result of chain reactions or secondary phenomena associated with human economic activity.
Unintentional exposure is unconscious when a person does not anticipate the consequences of his activities.
Deliberate exposure is conscious when a person expects certain results of his activities.
The increasing use of natural resources due to population growth and development scientific and technological progress leads to their depletion and increased environmental pollution by industrial waste and waste. That is, environmental degradation occurs for two reasons: 1) reduction of natural resources; 2) environmental pollution.
Deforestation in the river basin (marked by crosses) leads to the drying out of small rivers - tributaries, lowering the level of groundwater , reducing soil moisture, lowering the water level in the river and lake. This, together with other factors, leads to a lack of water in the city, the death of fish, the development of cyanide (blue-green algae and other aquatic organisms) due to the increasing eutrophication of water bodies. The construction of a dam and irrigation system in order to accumulate water in the river and a normal regime of humidification in the fields does not solve the problem of maintaining the level of groundwater and stopping the drying out of the lake. On the contrary, the water flow for evaporation in irrigation systems and from the surface of the reservoir exacerbates the lack of river runoff into the lake, delays solid runoff, and the backwater of the dam causes flooding of the terrain, including in cities, and its waterlogging. Irrigation causes additional salinization of soils requiring leaching, which means a greater consumption of irrigation water, with which organic matter and fertilizers are washed off into the reservoir, which enhances eutrophication.
You should immediately pay attention to the fact that the higher the level of use of the extracted natural resources, the lower the level of environmental pollution. Therefore, solving the problem of rational use of natural resources, society, firstly, saves natural resources from depletion, and secondly, reduces pollution of the natural environment.
The degree of human impact on nature. The depth of the environmental consequences of human exposure to nature depends on several variables: population size, lifestyle and environmental awareness. This relationship can be described by the formula:
Population sizex Life style
Environmental impact = –––––––––––––––––––––––
Environmental awareness
The larger the population and the higher the lifestyle, the greater the depletion of natural resources and environmental pollution. And, on the contrary, the higher the environmental consciousness of the population, the less pronounced are these negative processes.
In the absence of environmental awareness, even a simple, “close to nature” lifestyle does not in itself lead to the absence of harmful effects on nature. An example of this is deforestation for crops and for the sake of harvesting firewood.
Thus, the most important condition for the further progress of mankind is the cessation of its growth, a change in lifestyle and an increase in environmental awareness. Only after achieving a population equilibrium can we further develop culture, technology, civilization as a whole.