Briefly, the problems of rational use of natural resources. Natural resources and their rational use. Rational use of natural resources

Depletion of natural resources is one of the main problems causing the global environmental crisis.

Resources - bodies and forces of nature necessary for man for life and economic activity.

Natural resource potential of the country- the total ability of all natural resources of the country to ensure their own and healthy reproduction and living conditions of the population. The natural resource potential of Russia is enormous. In principle, Russia is a completely self-sufficient country and does not feel any dependence on other states in terms of natural resources.

There are different types of classification of natural resources. Environmental the classification is based on the signs of depletion and renewability of their reserves. On these grounds, resources can be divided into practically inexhaustible and exhaustible.

Inexhaustible resources - solar energy, thermal (underground) heat, ebbs and flows, wind energy, precipitation.

Depending on the geographic location, different regions of the globe are gifted in different ways solar energy... In low-latitude countries, with sufficient irrigation, two or more crops are harvested per year. Nowadays, solar panels are used in these regions, making a significant contribution to the energy supply. Russia is a northern country, a significant part of its territory is located in middle and high latitudes, so accumulated solar energy is practically not used.

Thermal warmth - where it is, it is successfully used not only for medicinal purposes (hot springs), but also for heating homes. In Russia, the largest thermal springs are located in Kamchatka (Valley of Geysers), but they are not yet seriously used, as they are located quite far from large settlements.

The energy of the ocean ebb and flow also has not yet found widespread use due to technological difficulties, but it is known, for example, that on the shores of the English Channel, two power plants operate on a tidal wave: one in France, the other in Great Britain.

Wind energy -new, well forgotten old. Even in past eras, man learned to use wind energy - windmills. At the end of the twentieth century. in northern Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium), quite a few modern "windmills" have appeared - giant units, similar to fans, raised to a height of 20-30 m. Economists in these countries have calculated that such a windmill pays off in two years, and then begins to generate net income. However, another environmental problem arose during operation: such “windmills” are very noisy.

All other resources of the planet belong to exhaustible,which, in turn, are subdivided into non-renewable and renewable.

Non-renewable resources- combustible minerals (oil, natural gas, coal, peat), metal ores, precious metals and building materials (clay, sandstone, limestone).

The more mankind extracts and uses them, the less remains for the next generations.

The world's largest oil-producing region is the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Jordan, Kuwait). Russia also has significant reserves oil and natural gaslocated mainly in Western Siberia. The Tyumen Region is a kind of "oil center". The largest natural gas reserves are Urengoy and Yamburg (the largest in the world). Oil and gas exports today make a significant contribution to the Russian budget.

The depletion of oil and gas reserves is the largest resource problem in the 21st century. Therefore, modern scientific and technical thought in this century should be aimed at the development of alternative energy sources, at how mankind can learn to live without gas and oil.

World coal reserves, according to geologists, will be enough for 2-3 centuries (if the rate of its production does not increase manifold due to the depletion of oil and gas flows).

Metal ore reserves in the depths are also not unlimited, although the situation with them is not as tense as with fossil fuels. However, both in the present and in the next centuries, the rates of extraction of iron and non-ferrous metals will steadily increase, which, undoubtedly, should be taken into account when assessing their reserves and the time of their use. All of this applies to precious metals.

It may seem that stocks of building materials (clays, sandstones, limestones) are endless on Earth. However, despite the fact that compared to other non-renewable resources, stocks of building materials do not yet portend a crisis situation, it should be remembered that the rule “the more we extract, the less remains” applies to them.

Renewable resources -soils, flora and fauna, water and air (the latter are partially renewable).

Soil- a thin (not more than 10 m deep) surface fertile layer of the lithosphere, which feeds the entire flora and fauna, including humans and livestock. Soils fulfill a number of ecological functions, but fertility is integrating. Soil is a rather inert body compared to water and air, so its ability to self-purify is limited. And anthropogenic pollution that has got into it, as a rule, accumulates, which leads to a decrease and even loss of fertility. In addition to pollution, a significant factor in the loss of fertility is erosion (wind, water) as a result of illiterate plowing, deforestation, technogenesis, etc.

Green plants- constitute the basis of the biomass of the earth, these are producers that provide food and oxygen to all other living organisms on the planet. Among natural plant communities, forests (40% of the total land area) are of the greatest importance as the national wealth of any nation and the lungs of the entire planet. With the beginning of agriculture, the process of deforestation of the planet began. Now on earth there are essentially three largest forests - the Amazon jungle, the Siberian taiga and the forests of Canada. Only Canada treats its forests competently and economically. Brazil is barbarously cutting down forests - its national wealth.

The situation in Russia is also deplorable. Forests in the European part (Karelia, Arkhangelsk region) and in Siberia are being cut down predatory and illiterately. Wood export is one of the revenue items of the country's budget. New forests in the place of felling grow in at least 40 years, and the rate of destruction is much higher than the rate of natural regeneration (restoration), therefore, to prevent the extinction of forests, new plantations are needed, which have not been carried out recently. Meanwhile, in addition to economic benefits (timber), forests have colossal recreational value, which can sometimes exceed the value of the products obtained from them. However, another problem arises here: growing cities are putting an increasing anthropogenic load on the surrounding forests, the townspeople litter and trample them. Human-caused fires are also a factor in the loss of forests.

Russian forests are of not only national, but also global significance, supplying oxygen to Europe and exerting a global impact on general climatic changes. Scientists believe that preservation of the colossal forest tracts of Siberia will help halt the process of global warming of the Earth's climate.

Animal world - we mean only wild animals that are in a state of natural nature. Animals are under tremendous anthropogenic pressure associated with the global ecological crisis (loss of biodiversity, etc.). In these conditions, a number of European countries have introduced a ban on hunting on their territory. Russia so far only regulates it, but these restrictions are not being met, poaching is flourishing, especially fish.

For example, sea fish go to spawn in fresh waters, it rises up large and small rivers. Here she falls into dams and poachers' networks. As a result, the sturgeon population in the Caspian has decreased tenfold (now there is a complete ban on catching sturgeon) and salmon in the Far East.

Partially renewable resources - air, water.

Water -on a global scale, the planet's water resources are inexhaustible, but they are very unevenly distributed and in some places are extremely scarce. In nature, the water cycle is constantly going on, accompanied by its self-purification. The ability to self-purify is an amazing and unique property of nature that allows it to resist anthropogenic influences. The planet has less than 2% fresh water reserves, and even less pure water. This is a serious environmental problem, especially for countries located in arid zones.

Atmospheric air - like water, it is a unique and necessary natural resource for all living things, capable of self-purification. The World Ocean plays a huge role in this process, as well as in the water cycle. But the assimilation potential of nature is not infinite. Fresh water used for drinking, atmospheric air, necessary for breathing, now need additional purification, since the biosphere can no longer cope with the colossal anthropogenic load.

Decisive action is required everywhere for the rational use of natural resources. The biosphere needs to be protected, and natural resources need to be saved.

The basic principles of such an attitude to natural resources are set out in the international document "Concept of sustainable economic development" (hereinafter - the "Concept"), adopted at the second UN World Conference on Environmental Protection in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

About inexhaustible resources The "concept" strongly urges a return to their widespread use, and where possible, replace non-renewable resources with inexhaustible ones. For example, replace coal with energy from the sun or wind.

In a relationship non-renewable resources in the "Concept" it is noted that their production should be made normative, that is, reduce the rate of extraction of minerals from the subsoil. The world community will have to abandon the race for leadership in the extraction of this or that natural resource, the main thing is not the volume of the extracted resource, but the efficiency of its use. This means a completely new approach to the problem of mining: it is necessary to extract not as much as each country can, but as much as is necessary for the sustainable development of the world economy. Of course, the world community will not come to such an approach immediately; it will take decades to implement it.

For modern Russia, mineral resources form the basis of the economy. Russia produces more than 17% of the world's oil, up to 25% of gas, 15% of coal. The main problem in their production is incomplete extraction from the depths: at best, oil is pumped out of the well by 70%, coal is mined by no more than 80%, no less large losses during processing.

Creation and implementation of new technologies will increase the share of recovered oil, coal, metal ores. This requires considerable funds. In Russia, the number of “unpromising” flooded mines and abandoned oil wells is increasing.

The problem of more complete extraction of minerals from the depths of the earth is joined by another - complex use of mineral raw materials. The analysis of some ores of the Urals showed that in addition to the main mined metal (for example, copper), they contain a large amount of rare and trace elements, the cost of which often exceeds the cost of the main material. However, this valuable raw material remains in dumps due to the lack of technology for its extraction.

In addition, the mining complex has become one of the largest sources of pollution and environmental disturbance. In places of mining, as a rule, forests, grass cover, and soil suffer; in the tundra, for example, nature has to regenerate and cleanse itself for decades.

The principles of environmental protection require the user of natural resources:

Maximum complete extraction of minerals from the bowels and their rational use;

Complex extraction of not one, but all components contained in ores;

Ensuring the preservation of the natural environment in the areas of mining operations;

Safety for people during mining;

Prevention of subsoil contamination during underground storage of oil, gas and other combustible materials.

Renewable resources- The “Concept” requires that their operation be carried out at least within the framework of simple reproduction and that their total number does not decrease over time. From the point of view of ecologists, this means: how much you took from nature (for example, forests), and return as much (forest plantations).

Forest – according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the total annual losses in the world for the first 5 years of the XXI century. amounted to 7.3 million hectares. Partially, the loss of forests in some countries is offset by an increase in their area in others. Every year, the area of \u200b\u200bthe Earth's forests is reduced by 6,120 million hectares (0.18%). This is slightly less than in the period from 1990 to 2000, when the average annual reduction in the forest area of \u200b\u200bthe Earth was 8.9 million hectares. The maximum rate of deforestation is typical for South America (4.3 million hectares per year) and Africa (4.0 million hectares per year). In Oceania, the annual reduction in forest area is 356 thousand hectares, and in North and Central America - 333 thousand hectares. The situation in Asia has changed significantly (excluding the Asian part of Russia). In the 1990s, the decline in forest area in Asia was about 800 thousand hectares per year, and now it has been replaced by an annual increase of about one million hectares. This is due to large-scale afforestation in China. In Europe (including Russia as a whole), the total forest area both increased in the 1990s and continues to increase today, albeit at a slower rate. The average annual increase in forest area in Europe (including Russia as a whole) is for the period from 2000 to 2005. about 660 thousand hectares, and the increase in the accumulated timber reserves in these forests is about 340 million m 3 per year. Reforestation efforts are projected to increase forest area by 10% over the next half century. However, reducing the rate of deforestation does not solve the problems already created by this process.

The rate of deforestation is highly dependent on the region. Currently, the rate of deforestation is highest (and increasing) in developing countries located in the tropics. In the 1980s, tropical forests lost 9.2 million hectares, and in the last decade of the 20th century. - 8.6 million hectares.

For a long time, mankind has been cutting down forests, using wood in construction and as fuel, or reclaiming land from forests for agriculture. Later, a person had a need to create infrastructure (cities, roads) and mining, which spurred the process of deforestation. However, the main reason for deforestation is the increased need for land for grazing livestock and planting crops.

Forestry cannot produce as much food as land cleared of trees. Tropical and taiga forests are practically unable to maintain an appropriate standard of living of the population, since edible resources are too scattered. Slash-and-burn farming for the short-term use of the ash-rich soil of the forest is used by 200 million indigenous people around the world.

In Russia, over the past 15 years, the volume of felling has increased many times (wood is one of the revenue parts of the budget), and during this period there was no forest planting at all. At the same time, reforestation after felling requires 2–3-fold forest plantations, while reproduction of a full-fledged forest requires 35–40, 50 years.

The lack of necessary measures leads to the fact that at present about 1 million hectares of forests per year die due to fires, pests and diseases. Natural and anthropogenic factors have an impact on forest resources. Thus, clear cuttings from 1987 to 1993 were carried out on an area of \u200b\u200babout 1 million hectares per year. The impact of fires is extremely noticeable: from 1984 to 1992 on 1.6 million hectares. The total damage, according to estimates for 1996, amounted to 26.5 million hectares of forests, with 99% of them occurring in Siberia and the Far East. In Central Siberia (the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory), where a significant part of the boreal forests is concentrated (21.5% of the forest area in Russia), the main exogenous factors causing the loss of the forest fund are fires, felling, and outbreaks of mass reproduction of silkworms. Periodically, damage caused by fires, pests, diseases and industrial pollution in the forest-steppe and southern taiga forests of the region affects 62–85% of their area; as a result, only 5–10% of virgin communities of mature and over-mature plantations have survived. In recent years, negative processes have increased in the conservation, use and reproduction of forest resources. There is a decrease in the volume of timber harvesting and at the same time, the area of \u200b\u200bforests destroyed by fires is growing. So, from 1990 to 1996, forest areas were cut by felling on an area of \u200b\u200b430 thousand hectares (21%), destroyed by fires - 840 thousand hectares (42%), silkworms - on 740 thousand hectares (37%). Gas and dust emissions from the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine killed or severely degraded about 500 thousand hectares. Areas of the forest affected by these emissions are located at a distance of up to 200 km, and at a distance of 80–100 km, the survival rate is almost zero. At the same time, the forest services of the Krasnoyarsk Territory are carrying out certain work on reforestation - as of January 1, 1998, the areas of reforestation lands of the forest fund amounted to 1,795.4 thousand hectares, of which 989.1 thousand hectares were restored naturally, 402 thousand hectares thanks to the promotion of natural regeneration and 4 04.9 thousand hectares - through the creation of forest plantations.

Land resources - the basis for obtaining a harvest of agricultural crops, the main wealth on which our existence depends.

In essence, soil is a “non-renewable” natural resource. To restore 1 cm 2 of soil, depending on natural and climatic conditions, it takes from several years to several thousand years. However, with proper use, the soil, unlike other natural resources, can not only not age, not wear out, but even improve, increase, increase its fertility.

Areas of fertile soils are catastrophically decreasing all over the world: they are polluted, destroyed by air and water erosion, swamped, salted, desertified, removed from agricultural use due to alienation (allotment for construction and other purposes inconsistent with their (soils) main purpose). Irreversible losses of arable land due to soil degradation alone reached 1.5 million hectares per year. The monetary value of these losses is at least $ 2 billion.

Occupying a vast territory of Eastern Europe and all of North Asia, Russia has a huge land fund of 1709.8 million hectares. Its soil cover is represented by many different types of soils - from arctic deserts and tundras, taiga podzols and swamps to forest-steppe and steppe chernozems, chestnut, brown and saline soils of semi-deserts, subtropical brown soils and red-colored terra rossa. More than half of the area of \u200b\u200bRussia is occupied by various northern soils, and about a third - soils of mountainous landscapes, mostly also cold. Half of Russia's area is covered by permafrost. Only a quarter of the country's land fund is, to varying degrees, favorable for agriculture, since there is a lack of solar heat in the northern and middle forest zones. The annual sum of average daily temperatures above 10 о С in these places does not exceed 1,400 degree days. In the southern continental regions there is a lack of atmospheric moisture (less than 400 mm per year). Only 13% of the territory of Russia is occupied by agricultural land, and arable land is even less - only 7%, and more than half of the arable land is concentrated on black soil. Every year, these areas are also reduced as a result of erosion, misuse (construction, landfills), waterlogging, mining (open pit coal mining).

To protect against erosion, use:

forest shelter belts;

plowing (without turning the layer);

plowing across slopes and tinning (in hilly areas);

regulation of livestock grazing.

Disturbed contaminated lands are restored by agricultural and forestry reclamation. Land reclamation can be carried out through the creation of reservoirs, housing construction. Lands can be left for self-growth.

Water resources- by volume, freshwater sources (including glaciers) make up about 3% of the hydrosphere, the rest is the World Ocean. Russia possesses significant reserves of water resources. The territory is washed by the waters of twelve seas belonging to three oceans, as well as the inland Caspian Sea. On the territory of Russia there are over 2.5 million large and small rivers, more than 2 million lakes, hundreds of thousands of swamps and other water resources.

Self-purification of water occurs due to plankton living in the water. The oceans stabilize the planet's climate, are in constant dynamic equilibrium with the atmosphere, and produce a huge biomass.

But for life and economic activity, a person needs fresh water... The rapid growth of the world's population and the rapid development of the world economy have led to a shortage of fresh water not only in traditionally arid countries, but also in those that were recently considered quite water-supplied. Almost all sectors of the economy, except for sea transport and fishing, require fresh water. Each inhabitant of the Russian Federation per year has an average of 30 thousand m 3 of total river flow, 530 m 3 of total water intake and 90–95 m 3 of domestic water supply (ie, 250 liters per day). In large cities, specific water consumption is 320 l / day, in Moscow - 400 l / day. The average water availability of our population is one of the highest in the world. For comparison: USA - 320, UK - 170, Japan - 125, India - 65, Iraq - 16 liters per day. However, compared with many other countries, fresh water is consumed in our country extremely uneconomically. At the same time, in a number of regions in the south of Russia, in the Volga and Trans-Urals, there are difficulties in providing the population with quality drinking water.

During the creation of reservoirs, river runoff was greatly reduced and evaporation and depletion of water bodies increased. Agriculture requires large volumes of water for irrigation, while evaporation also increases; huge amounts are expended in industry; for household needs fresh water is also needed.

Pollution of the oceans and freshwater sources is also one of the environmental problems. At present, waste water pollutes more than a third of the world's river flow, therefore, it is necessary to strictly save fresh water and prevent its pollution.

Plan

1. Environmental principles for the rational use of natural resources

2. Lithosphere. Sources of lithosphere pollution

3. Factors affecting human health

4. Anthropogenic sources of environmental pollution

List of used literature

1. Environmental principles for the rational use of natural resources

Rational use of natural resources and environmental protection is one of the most important problems of modern society in the era of scientific and technological progress, accompanied by an active impact on nature.

Natural conditions - a set of objects, phenomena and factors of the natural environment that are essential for the material and production activities of a person, but are not directly involved in it (for example, climate).

Natural resources are natural objects and phenomena that are used or may be used in the future to meet the material and other needs of society and social production, contributing to the reproduction of labor resources, maintaining the conditions of human existence and raising living standards.

Natural resources are divided into practically inexhaustible (energy of the sun, ebb and flow, internal heat, atmospheric air, water); renewable (soil, plant, animal resources) and non-renewable (minerals, habitat, river energy).

Renewable natural resources are natural resources capable of self-recovery in the course of the cycle of substances in terms commensurate with the pace of human economic activity. Rational use of renewable natural resources should be based on the principles of balanced consumption and renewal of them, as well as provide for their expanded reproduction.

Non-renewable natural resources are a part of exhaustible natural resources that do not have the ability to heal themselves in a time period commensurate with the pace of human economic activity. The rational use of non-renewable natural resources should be based on their comprehensive and economical extraction and consumption, waste disposal, etc.

From the point of view of involvement in human economic activity, natural resources are divided into real and potential . The first type of resources is actively exploited, the second - can be involved in the economic turnover.

By belonging to certain components of the natural environment, separate types of natural resources are distinguished:

Biological;

Environmental;

Geological;

Climatic;

Land;

Vegetable;

Animal resources;

Mineral, etc.

According to the leading signs and the nature of their use, industrial, agricultural, energy, and fuel are distinguished. In non-production spheres, recreational, reserved, landscape-resort, medical, etc. are used.

At present, the problem of depletion of natural resources is becoming more and more acute. The depletion of natural resource potential is expressed in the reduction of reserves of natural resources to a level that does not meet the needs of mankind, its technical capabilities and safety standards for natural systems.

Depletion of natural resources makes their further development economically and ecologically impractical.

With wasteful, predatory use, some types of renewable resources can disappear, losing their ability to self-renew. For example, the arable soil horizon with a thickness of about 18 cm under favorable conditions is restored for 7000 years.

The intensification of industrial interference in the processes of nature, the consumer, utilitarian, predatory destructive attitude towards nature, its resources and wealth destroys the unity between human society and nature.

The growth of production cannot be carried out due to the depletion of natural resources and environmental pollution, since not only the development of production, but also the existence of life on Earth depends on their state.

Rational nature management presupposes the reasonable development of natural resources, prevention of possible harmful consequences of human activity, maintenance and increase of the productivity and attractiveness of natural complexes and individual natural objects.

Rational use of natural resources involves the choice of the optimal option for achieving environmental, economic and social effects when using natural resources.

Integrated use of natural resources involves the use of waste-free and low-waste technologies, reuse of secondary resources. From the point of view of the reproductive aspect, the integrated use of natural resources includes a wide range of problems.

2. Lithosphere. Sources of lithosphere pollution

Man exists in a certain space, and the main component of this space is the earth's surface - the surface of the lithosphere.

The lithosphere is called the hard shell of the Earth, consisting of the earth's crust and a layer of the upper mantle underlying the earth's crust. The distance of the lower boundary of the Earth's crust from the Earth's surface varies within 5-70 km, and the Earth's mantle reaches a depth of 2900 km. After it, at a distance of 6371 km from the surface, the core is located.

Land occupies 29.2% of the earth's surface. The upper layers of the lithosphere are called soil. The soil cover is the most important natural formation and component of the Earth's biosphere. It is the soil shell that determines many processes in the biosphere.

The soil is the main source of food, providing 95-97% of food resources for the world's population. The area of \u200b\u200bland resources of the world is 129 million square kilometers, or 86.5% of the land area. Arable land and perennial plantations in the composition of agricultural land occupy about 10% of the land, meadows and pastures - 25% of the land. Soil fertility and climatic conditions determine the possibility of the existence and development of ecological systems on the Earth. Unfortunately, due to improper operation, some part of the fertile land is lost every year. Thus, over the past century, as a result of accelerated erosion, 2 billion hectares of fertile land have been lost, which is 27% of the total area of \u200b\u200bland used for agriculture.

The lithosphere is polluted with liquid and solid pollutants and waste. It has been established that annually one ton of waste is generated per one inhabitant of the Earth, including more than 50 kg of polymer, hardly decomposable.

Sources of soil pollution can be classified as follows.

Dwelling houses and public utilities. The composition of pollutants in this category of sources is dominated by household waste, food waste, construction waste, waste from heating systems, deteriorated household items, etc. All this is collected and disposed of in landfills. For large cities, the collection and destruction of household waste in landfills has turned into an intractable problem. Simple burning of garbage in city dumps is accompanied by the release of toxic substances. When such items are burned, for example, chlorine-containing polymers, highly toxic substances - dioxides are formed. Despite this, in recent years, methods for the destruction of household waste incineration have been developed. A promising method is the incineration of such waste with over-hot metal melts.

Industrial enterprises. Solid and liquid industrial waste constantly contains substances that can have a toxic effect on living organisms and plants. For example, in the waste of the metallurgical industry, salts of non-ferrous heavy metals are usually present. The machine-building industry emits cyanides, arsenic and beryllium compounds into the environment; in the production of plastics and artificial fibers, wastes are generated containing phenol, benzene, styrene; during the production of synthetic rubbers, waste of catalysts and substandard polymer clots enter the soil; during the production of rubber products, dusty ingredients, soot, which settle on the soil and plants, waste rubber-textile and rubber parts, enter the environment, and during the operation of tires - worn and out-of-order tires, car tubes and rim bands. The storage and disposal of used tires are currently unresolved problems, as this often leads to severe fires that are very difficult to extinguish. The utilization rate of used tires does not exceed 30% of their total volume.

Transport. During the operation of internal combustion engines, nitrogen oxides, lead, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, soot and other substances are intensively released, deposited on the surface of the earth or absorbed by plants. In the latter case, these substances also enter the soil and are involved in the cycle associated with the food chains.

Agriculture... Soil pollution in agriculture occurs due to the introduction of huge amounts of mineral fertilizers and pesticides. It is known that some toxic chemicals contain mercury.

3. Factors affecting human health

Factors affecting human health are divided into biological, chemical, physical and voluntary risk factors.

To the main group biological factors include, as a rule, pathogenic microorganisms of natural and anthropogenic origin, causing various diseases. Infectious diseases are the result of exposure of people to pathogenic microorganisms. The problem of AIDS deserves special attention.

Chemical factors represent the consequences of chemical pollution of the atmosphere. The reaction of the human body to chemical pollution is strictly individual and depends on age, gender, health status. The most vulnerable are children, the elderly and the sick. The effects of exposure to chemical agents can vary depending on the nature, concentration and time of exposure.

With the systematic intake of even small amounts of toxic substances into the body, chronic poisoning and diseases of various internal organs and the nervous system can occur.

From the standpoint of the environmental safety of the population, the most important are chemical ingredient transport pollution: emissions of exhaust gases; lead; heavy metals; wear products of tires and road surfaces.

The most dangerous are emissions into the atmosphere of exhaust gases, since the gases are carried by air flows, add up with energy and industrial emissions. Other influences are relatively local in nature.

The impact of physical environmental factors on human health is of no less importance. It is customary to refer to the parametric (physical) group of transport pollution of the environment energy losses: noise, vibration, electromagnetic radiation.

In addition to environmental factors, the impact of which depends little on each individual individually, there is a group of voluntary risk factors. From the point of view of general ecology - these are smoking, drug and alcohol use.

In the modern sense, environmental safety implies the safety of traffic flows, therefore, from the point of view of the applied ecology of the road-building complex, this group should be added voluntary risk of drivers and passengers violating traffic rules. This leads to the commission of road accidents, death of people, damage to the health of the victims.

4. Anthropogenic sources of environmental pollution

As a result of anthropogenic activity over the past 100-150 years, significant changes have occurred in the Earth's biosphere, as a rule, of a negative nature. These include climate change towards warming, depletion of the ozone layer, acid rain, and a decrease in the biological diversity of flora and fauna. Therefore, in the world community, anxiety over the forgetting civilization is growing, active attempts are being made to limit harmful emissions. In this regard, in 1997, in the Japanese city of Kyoto, an agreement was signed to reduce pollutant emissions by 5%, which has not yet been ratified by many countries, including the United States.

Most climatologists associate climate warming with the greenhouse effect (English "greenhouse effect").

Greenhouse effect in the Earth's atmosphere – it is a geophysical phenomenon, expressed in the ability of certain gases, called greenhouse gases, and water vapor to absorb infrared radiation.

Approximately 44% of the solar energy reaching the upper atmosphere of Earth is absorbed by the surface of the land and ocean, which heat up and generate infrared radiation. Most of this infrared radiation is absorbed by water vapor and some greenhouse gases, and the rest goes into space. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide CO2, methane CH4, nitrogen oxides NOX, tropospheric ozone O3, and chlorofluorocarbons (freons).

Due to the presence of an atmosphere that provides the greenhouse effect, the average annual temperature of the surface air layer on our planet is approximately 14.60C. Due to the greenhouse effect, the temperature increment in the surface layer is /\u003e DT \u003d 33.2 ° C with the following contributions of gas components: H2O vapor - 20.6 ° C (62.05%), CO2 - 7.2 ° C (21.7%), N2O -1.4 0С (4.22%), CH4 - 0.8 0С (2.41%), O3 - 2.40С (7.21%), NH4 + freons + CCl4 + CF4 + O2 + N2 - 0.8 0C (2.41%).

Destruction of the ozone screen ... During the evolution of the biosphere and due to this evolution, the so-called "ozone screen" was formed over the Earth, which protects all life on the planet from the destructive effects of hard ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of less than 400 nm. A decrease in the concentration of ozone in the Earth's atmosphere by 1%, according to American scientists, leads to an increase in skin cancers by 2.6% and causes up to 150 thousand additional cases of blindness due to cataracts. At the same time, immunity also decreases, both in humans and in animals.

Ozone is a triatomic oxygen molecule O3 and is dispersed in the troposphere and stratosphere. The highest concentration is observed at an altitude of 20 to 25 km. If we hypothetically collect all the ozone of the atmosphere in the form of a spherical shell, then its thickness will be only 3 mm. It is formed as a result of discharges of atmospheric electricity, oxidation of organic substances. Ozone is a very toxic gas, its maximum permissible concentration in the surface air layer is only 0.1 * 10-4%. The average concentration of ozone in the stratosphere is 0.3 * 10-3%. This is enough to protect biota from hard ultraviolet radiation.

Acidic precipitation ... The acidity of the medium is characterized by the indicator pН \u003d –lg (H +), i.e. is ultimately determined by the number of hydrogen ions H +. The aqueous medium can have a pH value from 0 to 14. A neutral aqueous solution has a pH \u003d 7, an acidic solution has a pH<7, щелочной – pH>7 (fig.5.22).

Atmospheric precipitation having a pH value<5,6, называют кислотными. Следует отметить, что даже всамом чистом воздухе есть углекислый газ, который, взаимодействуя с парами водыобразует слабый раствор угольный кислоты. Поэтому дождевая вода всегда имеет pH=5,6…6.

Before the industrial revolution, there was no problem with acid rain; it rained slightly acidic in the form of a weak solution of carbonic acid, which is unstable and easily decomposes into water and carbon dioxide. As a result of natural processes (volcanic eruptions, excretions from the earth crust), sulfur and nitrogen compounds entered the atmosphere, which, interacting with water vapor, formed sulfuric H2SO3 and nitric HNO3 acids. In general, for the atmosphere, the concentration of sulfur oxides and nitrogen was insignificant, and the carbonates of ecosystems could easily cope with the acidity of precipitation:

CaCO3 + H2SO3 ® CaSO3 + H2CO3,

CaCO3 + 2HNO3 ® Ca (NO3) 2+ H2CO3.

Anthropogenic influence on the acidity of precipitation began to manifest itself in the XX century, because the amount of fossil fuels burned began to increase. When coal and oil are burned, oxygenated sulfur compounds are formed - sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide (SO2 and SO3), which react with water vapor to form sulfurous and sulfuric acids:

SO2 + H2O ® H2SO3,

SO3 + H2O ® H2SO4.

These acids fall out together with rain, snow, and are present in fog and clouds.

Acid rain is harmful not only for living organisms. Under their influence, ancient monuments of architecture are destroyed. Marble under the influence of sulfuric acid solution is terminated in gypsum. Temperature changes, rain and wind destroy this soft material. The most ancient monuments of Greece, Rome, India in recent decades have been subject to very rapid destruction.

List of used literature

1. Life safety: Textbook. / Ed. E.A. Arustamova. M .: Publishing house "Dashkov and K", 2001.

2. Global problems of our time. Collection of VNINSI works. - 1998. -No. 5.

3. Gorshkov V.G., Kondratyev K.Ya., et al. Problems of the ecology of Russia. - M., 1997.

4. Gritsenko V.S. Life safety: a textbook. –M., 2005.

The most important property of any production is its resource intensity, i.e. the amount of resources consumed to produce a unit of output.
Resources are understood as means, reserves, opportunities and sources necessary for production, to meet the material and spiritual needs of society with modern technologies and socio-economic relations. Production resources are divided into material, labor and economic (financial). Material resources are divided into biological (organic) and mineral. Biological resources are composed of flora and fauna and are unevenly distributed. They are used to provide the population with food and, in part, for production.
According to their ability to restore, natural resources are divided into renewable and non-renewable. Renewable resources (flora and fauna, water, etc.) are within the biosphere circulation of substances. They are capable of self-healing through reproduction or through natural recovery cycles. Animals and plants are not renewed in the event of the extinction of the species. Non-renewable resources (coal, oil, ore, etc.) are not restored in the course of the circulation of substances in a time commensurate with the rate of economic activity. Non-renewable resources should be spent sparingly and rationally.
Replacement and depletion are important features of natural resources. Replaceable resources may be replaced with others at the present time or in the near future. For example, fuel can be replaced by solar energy, thermal water energy, wind energy, etc. Irreplaceable natural resources cannot be replaced by others either now or in the future. The depletion of resources occurs under the influence of human production and economic activities. Depletion leads either to the complete and irreversible destruction of the resource, or to environmental disaster. When the first signs of depletion of natural resources appear, it is necessary to change the activities of the enterprise. Exhaustible resources include scarce natural resources that may disappear in the near future.
Resource saving management (rational use of natural resources) is included in the general management system of the enterprise, the railway and the industry as a whole, and includes a set of environmental measures aimed at improving the environmental performance of rolling stock and railway enterprises. These measures are subdivided into the following groups: organizational and legal, architectural and planning, design and technical and operational.
Organizational and legal measures are aimed at the implementation of environmental legislation in railway transport, the development of environmental requirements, standards, norms and regulations for machinery, equipment, fuel and lubricants, etc.
Architectural and planning measures provide for the development of solutions for rational land use, planning and development of territories, the organization of sanitary protection zones, the preservation of natural landscapes, landscaping and improvement.
Design and technical measures allow introducing technical innovations in the design of rolling stock, sanitary and technological means of protecting the environment at enterprises and transport facilities.
Operational activities are carried out during the operation of vehicles and are aimed at maintaining their technical condition at the level of the specified environmental standards.
The listed groups of activities are implemented independently of each other and allow achieving certain results. But their complex application will provide the maximum effect.
Rational use of natural resources is achieved:
at the production stage - through the use of modern technology and organization of Production, the choice of rational methods of obtaining blanks, progressive methods of mechanical, electromechanical and electrochemical processing, strengthening of parts, the use of resistant anti-corrosion coatings, the use of flexible automated production, improving the design of equipment, creating a rational system of maintenance and repair of means of technical equipment of enterprises and rolling stock, expanding the range and volume of restoration of equipment parts and rolling stock, saving fuel and energy resources, recycling and using production waste;
at the repair stage - by choosing methods for repairing products, reducing the proportion of parts damaged during disassembly, increasing the proportion of restoring worn parts, using selective assembly, as well as local closed systems for using oils, lubricating-cooling liquids, water, etc.;
at the stage of cargo transportation -
ensuring environmental safety in areas and on highways during the operation of rolling stock;
compliance with the main parameters of its characteristics, such as reliability, permissible levels of noise and vibration, levels of sound and light signals;
improving the process of collecting and processing information on the functioning of transport systems, introducing automated control systems for the technical condition of mobile sources of environmental pollution and the environmental situation in areas and on railways;
control over the observance of the technology at the points of loading and unloading of oil products, when transporting flammable liquids and materials, compressed and liquefied gases, oil products, oxidizing substances and organic impurities, bulk cargo;
compliance with the safety requirements of train traffic, taking into account the implementation of measures to ensure the complete prevention of possible emergencies.
Among the many components of natural resources, fresh water resources are currently of particular importance, and rail transport enterprises consume large quantities of it. At the same time, the industry is working at a slow pace to introduce closed water use systems, low-waste and non-waste water-saving technologies.
One of the serious sources of water pollution is the cleaning processes of rolling stock, which generate toxic effluents. Efficient washing machines with revolving systems have been developed.
The main directions of saving water resources at individual railway transport enterprises are shown in Fig. 32.3.
An important place in reducing the loss of natural resources is occupied by the utilization and processing of industrial waste.
Recycling refers to the use of waste as secondary raw materials, fuel, fertilizers and other purposes. In the course of various activities of the company, production and consumption wastes are generated. Production wastes are residues of raw materials, materials, semi-finished products that are generated during the manufacture of products, the performance of work and have partially or completely lost their original consumer properties. Waste consumption is products and materials that have lost their consumer properties as a result of physical and moral wear and tear.
Wastes from production and consumption are called secondary material resources. Secondary resources can be used to produce new types of products or to obtain energy. In all cases, secondary resources must be utilized, i.e. removal from places of formation and accumulation for the purpose of subsequent use or disposal. The more waste, the higher the likelihood of environmental pollution.
Waste is classified into solid, liquid, gaseous and energy waste. The phase state of the waste affects the choice of methods and means of storage, transportation and processing. According to sanitary and hygienic criteria, waste is divided into inert, slightly toxic, water-soluble, slightly toxic volatile, toxic water-soluble, toxic volatile, containing oil (oil), organic easily decomposable, feces, household waste. Toxic waste has its own classification.
The range of waste depends on the type of raw materials and finished products. Solid waste includes waste of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, rubber, plastics, wood, abrasives, slag and ash, mineral and organic substances, household waste. Liquid waste consists of electrolytes, fuels and lubricants, cooling, degreasing and cleaning solutions, etc. Gas emissions are generated from boiler houses, melting equipment, ventilation systems. Heat and various types of radiation (noise, vibration, magnetic and electric fields, radiation) should be considered as energy waste.
Waste use is one of the most important areas of increasing production efficiency, reducing environmental pollution, and reducing the consumption of natural resources per unit of output. When choosing methods and means of storage, transportation and processing of waste, it is necessary to proceed from their technical and economic assessment.
The main types of secondary resources for track repair are concrete and wooden sleepers, worn out rails, rail fastening parts, crushed stone and sand. Old concrete sleepers are used as a foundation in the construction of household and sports facilities or sold to the owners of summer cottages for foundations for greenhouses, baths and houses. Old wooden sleepers can be a good material for the construction of non-residential premises (storage facilities, warehouses). Worn rails are used in the construction of buildings and structures for industrial or household purposes. Sand and gravel are utilized and used in the construction of various structures. Fasteners need to be refurbished or converted into new products. Scraps, sawdust, wood shavings are used as raw materials for the manufacture of chipboard and fiberboard, plywood, hardboard, cardboard, and bark - for the manufacture of medicines and fertilizers.
A large number of motor, industrial, compressor, transmission and other oils made from petroleum are used at railway transport enterprises. The railway enterprises use up to 400 tons of various oils per year, some of which (15-20%) are collected, and most often burned in boiler houses. Modern engine oil contains up to 10 different additives, which are practically not consumed during operation. The most important way to reduce oil consumption at railway transport enterprises is the regeneration of used oils. During regeneration, the following is carried out: cleaning of waste oils from mechanical impurities by settling, separation, methods of coagulation, adsorption, chemical treatment; restoration of the properties of oils by introducing various additives.
The issues of rational use of natural resources and nature protection in railway transport should be considered taking into account the peculiarities of the natural conditions of the area where the projected enterprise is located, assessed by its impact on the ecology of the adjacent area, the possibility of preventing negative consequences in the near and long term. Taking into account the nature of the negative impact of the projected facility on the environment, the issues of rational use of natural resources should be addressed: surface and groundwater, atmospheric air, soil, territories, minerals, vegetation, etc. At the same time, normal sanitary and hygienic conditions of work and everyday life of the population living in the area of \u200b\u200bconstruction of railways or industrial facilities of the industry should be ensured, and the negative impact on flora and fauna as a result of production activities should be minimized.
The development of all measures related to the construction of new ones, as well as the reconstruction of existing railway transport facilities, modernization of rolling stock, should be carried out in unity with the requirements for environmental protection.

The problem of depletion of resources, their rational use and protection

The modern orientation of society towards consumption, coupled with a population explosion, is accompanied by an intensive growth in the consumption of all types of natural resources, as a result, many of them are rapidly depleted. Nature conservation and the transition to rational use of natural resources can somewhat reduce the speed of this process.

At the present stage of development of nature protection, which can be conditionally called "natural resource", one of the basic principles of nature management is the protection of resources directly in the process of their use. A transition to integrated nature protection is already being planned, since, in accordance with one of the laws of B. Commoner "Everything is connected with everything," the protection of one natural object is impossible without the protection of all other objects associated with it.

At the moment, mankind has to spend more and more efforts, means and resources for nature conservation, and at the same time, its condition continues to deteriorate everywhere. The most general methodological basis for environmental protection is the constant scientific and technical improvement of mankind. It is aimed at a wider and more complete use of the global initial natural resource potential, which is continuously depleted in the process of the historical development of the economy.

From this pattern follows another most important principle of nature protection in general and the abiotic environment of life - environmentally friendly: the more prudent the approach to the use of natural resources and the environment of society, the less energy and other costs will be required for their protection and maintenance of a satisfactory condition. Therefore, the results of the reproduction of the natural resource potential of any territory and the efforts spent on its restoration should be comparable with the economic results of nature management.

Remark 1

The rational use of natural resources for different categories implies different goals. In the case of non-renewable resources, it is designed to reduce the rate of their depletion and make this process more manageable. In the case of renewable resources, their rational use can, in principle, prevent the disappearance of this resource, making it "eternal" in the sense that it will persist over the life of at least tens of generations of people.

Principles for the rational use of natural resources

The principle of learning resources. The prudent use of any resources is impossible without information about their reserves, quality, speed of renewal, distribution, forecasting the consequences of their use and the possibility of replacing them with others;
The principle of monitoring the use and condition of natural resources;
The principle of improving technologies at all stages of the use of resources, providing for their fullest use. This also includes taking into account the reduction in resource consumption in the design and construction of new, and modernization of existing industries, as well as their transition to alternative energy sources;
The principle of increasing the efficiency of agriculture, strict regulation of the use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides;
The principle of the development of the most effective environmental technologies with the obligatory conduct of their environmental expertise;
The principle of reducing the formation of production waste, their secondary processing and use as raw materials for the production of energy and products;
The principle of restoring all natural objects after a harmful technogenic impact - this includes land reclamation, protection from soil erosion, forest reproduction after felling and fires, etc.;
The principle of preserving the planet's biodiversity, this includes the organization of various PAs, protection and artificial breeding of rare species of biota;
The principle of popularization of environmental protection activities and environmental education of the population;
The principle of improving environmental legislation and environmental law, increasing the efficiency of mechanisms for its implementation.

The main conditions for the rational use of natural resources are as follows.

1. Study of the laws of nature, the functioning of geosystems (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere) in their interconnection, ecosystems (from biogeocenoses to the global ecological system - the biosphere) and their components in their interaction.
2. Study and determination of the potential of the natural environment for adaptation in relation to anthropogenic, including technogenic, loads.
3. Study and forecasting of changes in nature under the influence of human economic activity.
4. Development of resource-saving and environmental protection technologies.
5. Development of legal, economic, organizational and other mechanisms of rational nature management.
6. Spatial-territorial zoning of territories, taking into account the distribution of natural resources and conditions, including the implementation of architectural and planning measures (for example, the organization of sanitary protection zones around enterprises, green zones in cities, etc.).
7. Education of people ready to move from models of unsustainable nature management to models of rational nature management.
8. Opportunities for investing in the creation of the above conditions for the rational use of natural resources, including in fundamental and applied science.

The main components of the rational use of resources are as follows.

1. Resource saving, primarily in production processes, i.e. reducing their resource intensity. Resource intensity is defined as the ratio of the amount of resources used to the amount of products produced (enterprises, groups of enterprises - companies, industries, regional economies, countries). Depending on the resources used, materials consumption, energy consumption, water capacity, metal consumption, etc. can be calculated separately. The most material-intensive industry is mining. The most energy-intensive is metallurgy. The most water-intensive are energy, metallurgy, chemical industry, pulp and paper industry, irrigated agriculture, and public utilities. For example, for the production of 1 ton of oil, on average, 18 tons of water are required, 1 ton of paper - 200 tons of water, 1 ton of synthetic fiber - 3500 tons of water.
2. Intensive nature of nature management. Preference should be given not to the extensive nature of nature management, but to the intensive one - not due to the development of new and new resources (for example, deposits), but due to the fullest possible extraction of the required resource (as far as the best available technologies allow).
3. The complex nature of the use of natural resources - natural resources must be extracted once for their complex use, and not every time to obtain one of their elements. Non-ferrous metal ores are the most complex. In oil fields, associated components are gas, sulfur, iodine, bromine, boron; in gas - sulfur, nitrogen.
4. Cyclicity and low-waste production - waste from some industries can be raw materials for others, the products created should allow them to be used not only for their intended purpose, but also after that, as initial elements of a new production. For example, slags and sludge from metallurgical enterprises and waste from the pulp and paper industry can be used as sources of building materials. Greater attention should be paid to the recycling of natural resources, which allows saving primary raw materials and energy, and reducing the amount of solid waste.
5. The use of natural resources must be accompanied by their restoration or replacement. Transition from the predominant use of non-renewable resources to the use of renewable ones. In an ideal model of nature management, the dark consumption of renewable resources (water, forest, fish, etc.) should not exceed the rate of their recovery - it is necessary to live "on percent" of the increase in natural resources, and the rate of use of non-renewable resources (mineral resources) should not exceed the pace of their replacement with renewable resources (for example, it is rational to invest part of the income from oil production in the development of renewable energy sources).
6. Preservation and improvement of the quality of natural conditions. The volumes and concentrations of pollutants entering (discharged) into the biosphere should not exceed the permissible levels at which natural ecosystems absorb and process these substances without degrading.
7. The use of natural resources should be carried out taking into account local natural and socio-economic conditions.

Depending on the specific situation: the availability of certain resources, the state of the natural environment, the profile of the enterprise, the standard of living of the population, the development of technologies, etc., these areas of rational use of natural resources are specified for practical application in the form of specific measures and actions.

Examples of indicators of conservation of natural resources are:

- decrease in the area of \u200b\u200bdeserts, erosion processes of anthropogenic origin;
- an increase in the area of \u200b\u200bnatural, including aquatic ecosystems, protected areas (national natural parks, reserves, wildlife sanctuaries and other protected areas), green spaces;
- an increase in the area of \u200b\u200bforests and the diversity of biological species;
- stabilization and increase in the number of rare biological species;
- reduction of water losses during its use for household needs and during transportation;
- reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, etc.