Requesting a proposal for environmental pollution and waste of resources

Modern people already have considerable ability to change the natural environment. However, when human beings enjoyed the comfortable living environment created by scientific and technological progress, they did not realize the ecological price paid in time. As a result, human beings were forced to face increasingly serious environmental pollution and earth's ecological crisis. What should be the relationship between humans and the natural environment? Can humans regard nature as an accessory to themselves? The reconsideration of the relationship between the environment and humans is one of the most important discoveries of human civilization this century.

This issue will talk about several major environmental issues facing mankind from five different aspects.

Population: The unbearable weight of the earth

Now, every time a calendar is opened, more than 200,000 babies are born on the earth. On October 12, 1999, the world’s 6 billionth citizen was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

More than 6 billion people—this is the total number of human beings at present. In contrast, the average number of air, water, forests, cultivated land, mineral deposits... almost all living resources is shrinking due to the continuous expansion of the denominator.

The population issue is highlighted to the world in a far deeper and broader context than before. Mr. Kawahu, Vice Chairman of the International Union of Population Sciences, pointed out that when a country’s population growth rate reaches 4%, it will bring certain problems to the country’s sustainable development. Dr. Sadiq, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, emphasized that population stability is indispensable for achieving sustainable development and is a key and important goal. Jiang Zhenghua, director of the International Union of Population Sciences, said that China is a country that has truly fulfilled its government's commitment to sustainable development and improved family planning services. It is fully understood that China's population policy has been rigorously demonstrated, its goals are reasonable, and its working methods are constantly improving. Improved. Population issues are essentially development issues. Eradicating poverty and backwardness, improving education levels, protecting women's health, and pursuing quality of life... There are almost no aspects of social life that do not need to be weighed from a population perspective.

Pay attention to reality, the alarm bells of excessive population growth are indeed ringing: in 1830, the world's population was only 1 billion, and it increased to 2 billion 100 years later, and then only 30 years, 15 years and 12 years respectively. time, the total world population has increased to 3 billion, 4 billion, or 5 billion. Now, the global net population increase is more than 86 million every year, but 17 million hectares of forests have disappeared, and 6 million hectares of land have become desertified. The poverty population continues to rise, and it has caused social problems such as the gray hair wave and various urban diseases caused by urbanization. .

Before the 20th century, population science as a science was little known. However, in the 20th century, especially after World War II, it achieved unprecedented prosperity and development. Its historic contribution to mankind in the 20th century was to provide an early warning analysis of the surge in population, enabling mankind to promptly realize the importance and urgency of controlling population growth, take corresponding measures and achieve remarkable results. Although countries have different economic development and cultural backgrounds, and the population problems they face are also different, it is necessary to seek the optimal population size and structure and strive to achieve coordinated and sustainable development of population, economy, society, resources, and environment. It should only be a call from the international population science forum, but should be recognized by governments of all countries, because this is actually the need of the people.

Once upon a time, "family planning" seemed to be a proper term with a Chinese flavor. Now, even countries far away from the fast track of economic development have made significant progress in reducing the total fertility rate of women. The reproductive revolution is becoming a cross-century choice for mankind.

The content of this revolution is of course not just a reduction in population. Our country's implementation of family planning is to promote good health and education through fewer births, promote women's health and women's liberation, and promote the improvement of the living standards and quality of life of family planning households.

As the largest developing country, China accounts for more than one-fifth of the world's population. Just simply imagine, if China's population grows blindly, resources are destroyed, and the environment deteriorates, what will be the consequences?

In fact, China has made great achievements in population control since the comprehensive implementation of family planning in the 1970s. Calculated based on the fertility rate in the 1970s, China has implemented family planning for more than 20 years and at least 300 million people have been born. This has delayed China’s 1.1 billion population day by four years, Asia’s 3 billion population day by three years, and the world’s 50 million people. Population Day has been postponed for two years. China's family planning is a major event concerning the Chinese nation and the entire world.

Natural resources: are they inexhaustible?

Due to population expansion and rapid economic development, the scale of human influence on the earth has increased unprecedentedly. The contradictions between population, resources, environment and development have become increasingly prominent, causing worry and uneasiness around the world. Understanding and understanding the global resource situation and studying global environmental issues related to resource development are of great significance for achieving the goal of sustainable development that is pursued by all countries in the world.

Natural land, water, minerals, air, forests and grasslands are natural objects that existed on the earth before the emergence of humans. Before human intervention, they moved and changed according to their own laws. , only after the emergence of humans, they were used by humans and brought benefits to humans, were they called natural resources by humans, or simply resources.

The earth’s surface area is 510 million square kilometers, more than 70% is covered by the vast ocean, and the land area only accounts for 29%, about 150 million square kilometers. The land itself is an extremely complex ecosystem. Except for deserts, glaciers, frozen soil, mountains that are not suitable for cultivation, and land with extremely poor soil quality, only about 30% can be cultivated. According to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1989, the global land area is 13,069.25 million hectares, accounting for approximately ? of the world's total area. Among the global land area, cultivated land accounts for 11.29%, grassland accounts for 24.58%, forests and woodlands account for 30.98%, and other land accounts for 33.15%.

Water is the most important material basis for the occurrence and existence of all life on earth. There are approximately 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water on the earth, of which more than 97% are seawater unfit for human consumption and only 3% are fresh water; 77.2% and 22.4% of fresh water are stored in glaciers and underground respectively, and surface water that can be used Accounting for only 0.35%, it is mainly stored in lakes, swamps and rivers, of which river water reserves less than 0.01%. It is estimated that there are 10 million animal and plant species on the earth, of which about 1.6 million have been classified and named. Forest resources are the largest terrestrial ecosystem on earth, with a global forest area of ??45.01 hectares. It not only provides humans with wood resources, but also plays a huge role in the global material and energy cycle. At the same time, it is also a huge gene pool. As a renewable resource, grassland provides huge material wealth for the survival and development of animals and humans. The global grassland area accounts for nearly half of the total land area of ??the earth. The above-mentioned land, forests, and grasslands are all resources that can be renewed and reused, and are called renewable resources.

Mineral resources that are different from the above-mentioned renewable resources cannot be regenerated and reused and are called non-renewable resources. With the development of productivity and the advancement of science and technology, humans use more and more types and quantities of mineral resources. So far, humans have discovered more than 3,300 minerals, of which more than 1,000 are of industrial significance. More than 160 mineral species are listed as mineral resources. Those of great value to the human economy include coal, oil, natural gas, There are more than 40 kinds of iron, copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, gold, silver, phosphorus, sulfur, salt, etc.

In addition, the ocean is both a complex ecosystem and a huge resource library. It includes seawater, marine life, seabed minerals and other resources, and is the main space for human development in the future.

Global resources have the following characteristics:

First, the integrity of the resource system and the correlation of various resources. Natural resources are an interconnected, interactive, and interdependent whole. Various resources interact and restrict each other in the biosphere, forming a complete resource ecosystem. The development of one resource will affect other related resources, and the change of one resource will induce the evolution of other resources.

Second, limited resources. No resource is inexhaustible. Mineral resources are non-renewable resources. Use less and less. Renewable resources such as land, water, and biology are also limited. Unreasonable use will also cause water pollution and soil erosion. , rapid forest reduction, grassland degradation and other adverse consequences, there will be fewer and fewer resources that can be utilized by humans.

Third, the uneven distribution of resources. Both renewable and non-renewable resources are distributed unevenly around the world. Taking forest resources as an example, South America has the largest forest area and the highest coverage rate at 51.4%. The forest coverage rates in other continents are North America 36.6%, Europe 30.5%, Africa 24.5%, Asia 22.0%, and Oceania 18.9%. Taking oil resources as an example, the world's recoverable oil reserves are 311.3 billion tons, of which the Middle East accounts for 41.9%, North America accounts for 17.8%, the CIS countries and Eastern Europe account for 13.4%, South America accounts for 8.6%, and the Asia-Pacific region accounts for 8.6%. 7.1%, Western Europe accounts for 3.2%.

Fourth, the evolution of the resource system. There is an eternal contradiction between the global resource system and the human social system. Due to the evolution laws of nature itself and human intervention in resources, the evolution of resource types, quantity, quality, and distribution, such as population growth, continuous improvement of human living standards, and per capita resources The increase in demand has caused an increase in resource consumption; due to the impact of human activities, the quality of the environment as a carrier of resources has declined. Resulting in the reduction and partial disappearance of resource regeneration capabilities, thereby reducing the quantity and quality of resources. Another example is the progress of human society, the continuous improvement of scientific and technological levels, the increase in the quantity and variety of original types of resources, and the discovery of new types, new species, and new fields of resources, and the emergence of new ways of resource utilization, resulting in an increase in resource types, quantity, and quality. improve.

In the past 100 years, especially in the decades after World War II, mankind has become unprecedented in its advanced methods and capabilities in developing resources. Today, human beings have become a huge force that transcends nature. The scope of development and utilization of natural resources has expanded from the surface to the deep earth and space, and from land to offshore and ocean. At present, more than 15 billion tons of various minerals are mined every year in the world, including about 100 billion tons of waste rock; human agricultural activities can move 3,000 cubic kilometers of materials every year, and agricultural water uses 2,290.1 ??billion cubic meters, accounting for 80% of the total water consumption; human beings use About 100 million tons of fish are taken from the ocean.

Due to the continuous increase in population and resource consumption, coupled with the rapid development of transportation and communications, the universe is relatively shrinking, and the scope of human production activities and social activities continues to expand. Therefore, resources Development and utilization have broken through regional and national boundaries, and resource allocation has developed towards internationalization and globalization. This has caused a series of global problems:

First, global environmental problems. Due to the impact of human activities, especially the interaction between human activities and various layers of the earth (atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere), environmental problems that affect the entire earth's surface, such as the greenhouse effect caused by the massive consumption of fossil fuels The global warming caused will melt the polar ice caps, causing sea levels to rise, causing some river deltas with lower altitudes and fertile land to be flooded with water. It will also cause seawater to flow into Hong Kong and pollute underground water sources. Related to the increase in greenhouse gases is the destruction of the ozone layer.

The second is regional environmental problems that are common around the world. The cumulative effects of land degradation, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity caused by irrational use of resources are enough to affect the world. For example, due to irrational use of land, the total area of ??land affected by desertification is 2 billion hectares; the global land affected by soil erosion and drought reaches 2.6 billion hectares; human deforestation has led to the extinction of a large number of species. At least one species is disappearing from tropical forests every day.

The third is the multi-faceted industrial pollution problem. The cumulative effects of soil, water and air pollution caused by industrial "three wastes" (waste residue, waste water, and waste gas) will also affect the world. In recent decades, as countries around the world have discharged more and more waste gas into the atmosphere, acid rain has become a worldwide environmental pollution problem.

Fourth is the environmental problems caused by major natural disasters. Individual emergencies caused by movements within the earth and between planets, such as volcanic eruptions, major earthquakes, landslides, etc., have their impacts gradually amplified through multi-level feedback, and ultimately affect the global environment.

Ozone layer: the protective layer of mankind

As we all know, the earth is tightly surrounded by a layer of atmosphere. Counting from the ground, it can be divided into five layers from bottom to top: troposphere, Stratosphere, mesosphere, ionosphere and exosphere. The troposphere closest to the ground is the closest to humans, bringing complex weather phenomena such as clouds, rain, fog, wind, frost, snow, etc.; while there is an ozone layer in the stratosphere above the troposphere, with a concentration of 10% and a thickness of 30 kilometers away, it can absorb a large amount of radiation from the universe, especially 99% of the ultraviolet rays radiated from the sun to the earth, thereby protecting life on the earth from harm. Therefore, the ozone layer is known as the "protective umbrella of mankind". If this "protective umbrella" is lost, the earth will be subject to strong ultraviolet radiation, species will be difficult to survive, and human health will be greatly threatened.

This is not sensational, but a living fact that is happening. Various ominous signs have already appeared in many places. Let’s first take a look at the ground creatures beneath the Antarctic ozone hole. In the area near the Strait of Magellan at the southern tip of Chile, there were originally many lively and lively fish in the river, but today they have become dull and chaotic "blind fish"; the wandering sheep have become "blind sheep" due to cataracts. , depressed all day long; the jumping rabbits turned into "blind rabbits", and hunters could easily capture them; the free-flying wild birds lost their way due to blindness and crashed into the residents' courtyards... ...What a sad and sobering sight.

Who would have thought that the culprit of the ozone hole is chlorofluorocarbons, refrigerants frequently used in industry and life. Drinking iced drinks in summer was once the exclusive right of ancient emperors. In the past half century, due to the development of industry, people have increasingly used chlorofluorocarbons, which are relatively stable, non-flammable, easy to store, and relatively cheap. Substances used to make refrigerants, sprays, foaming agents and cleaning agents. These substances can persist in the atmosphere for a long time and destroy the ozone layer, thereby endangering human health and affecting biological growth.

El Ni?o

From 1997 to 1998, it seemed that the entire world was suffering from severe weather. Continuous high temperatures have caused extremely frequent forest fires around the world. Drought has hit Australia, Chile and other countries, severely reducing crop yields. Forest fires in Indonesia have been burning for nearly a year, covering almost all of Southeast Asia in thick smoke.

It seems that there is a big problem with the earth's climate. In fact, this is just a cyclical natural phenomenon. Only by trying to find patterns in their unpredictable footsteps can we better face these two naughty children: El Ni?o and La Ni?a. El Ni?o, which means "Holy Child" in Spanish, is characterized by an abnormal rise in seawater temperatures in parts of the eastern Pacific. In contrast, La Ni?a refers to an abnormal drop in water temperature in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The impact of these two climate phenomena on the global environment has exceeded greenhouse gas emissions and has become the primary factor leading to climate anomalies. El Ni?o and La Ni?a have been quietly accompanying Earth's history.

Scientists claim that El Ni?o had a devastating impact on the earth's climate 15,000 years ago. But the history of human understanding of El Ni?o and La Ni?a is very short. In the second half of the 19th century, meteorologists observed a strange phenomenon.

When the pressure over the western Pacific is higher than normal, the pressure on the eastern side of the Pacific is lower than normal, and vice versa. A look at long-term climate records in the Pacific shows a seesaw-like relationship between pressure in the east and west Pacific. This phenomenon is called the Southern Oscillation. Abnormalities in air pressure cause abnormalities in temperature and precipitation, causing great damage to human society and the economy. Year 8 became the hottest year in 100 years. Agriculture, animal husbandry, and fisheries around the world have suffered a huge blow as a result. Rising sea temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean have caused massive fish die-offs. In 1970, Peru's fish catch reached 12 million tons, but after the strong El Ni?o in 1972, it dropped sharply to less than 2 million tons in 1973. The El Ni?o phenomenon from 1997 to 1998 reduced Peruvian fish production to 38% of normal years. Rising sea temperatures are also killing corals in large areas of the world's oceans. Corals in the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Red Sea are all seriously threatened.

There is a very strong connection between El Ni?o years and years with frequent catastrophic forest fires. When fires broke out in forests near Sydney in 1994, it was during the El Ni?o cycle. Historically, so have many of the fires that have occurred this century.

From 1997 to 1998, it seemed that the entire world was suffering from severe weather conditions. Continuous high temperatures have caused extremely frequent forest fires around the world. Drought has hit Australia, Chile and other countries, severely reducing crop yields. Forest fires in Indonesia have been burning for nearly a year, covering almost all of Southeast Asia in thick smoke.

The cause of El Ni?o has not yet been determined, and people do not yet know whether it is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster. Normally, there is an area of ??warmer ocean surface temperatures in the western Pacific called the equatorial warm pool. This heat engine sends huge clouds stretching for tens of kilometers into the atmosphere. The warm air flows across the Pacific, across the equator, and finally sinks over the cold waters of the eastern Pacific. Warm air is diverted westward by the trade winds, forming what is known as the Walker Cell. In years when the trade winds weaken, the equatorial warm pool moves eastward, concentrating the Walker circulation area over the eastern Pacific. As a result, the air in northern Australia becomes drier, while the atmosphere along the coast of South America becomes wetter. This could be a sign of an approaching El Ni?o. It's like seeing dark clouds in the sky and knowing a storm is coming. To some extent, we can also predict El Ni?o and La Ni?a. Many countries around the world have established El Ni?o and La Ni?a monitoring systems to pay close attention to subtle changes in water temperatures in the tropical Pacific. Because these changes may be a precursor to the arrival of the Holy Infant brothers and sisters.

Save the Forest

Many years ago I saw a cartoon with far-reaching meaning: city dwellers living in a "concrete forest" queued up to enter a museum to see the earth. A rare species that has been hard to see - a living tree. The cartoonist used images and exaggeration to issue a "shocking" cry: Save the forest!

The forest is the "lungs of the earth". This is probably a truth that everyone knows. However, human measures to protect forests are far behind the ruthless axe. According to a report published by the Worldwatch Institute in early 1999, the world's forests are disappearing at a rate of 16 million hectares per year, which is almost an area the size of the United Kingdom or half of Germany. To date, half of the forest has been lost. If forests continue to disappear at this rate, one day the earth may be cut into a "bald head".

Mankind calls for the protection of forests every year, but the forest area decreases sharply every year. This may seem contradictory, but in fact there is a causal connection. We need the protection of the forest, but we also need the contribution of the forest. It is understandable that human beings are seeking social progress and economic development. However, in order to achieve this goal, some people often take arbitrarily from the forest for immediate benefits. Experts warn that while humans are still driven by this irresponsible attitude and utilitarianism, it will be difficult for forests to escape their current misfortune.

Forests are the treasures of the earth. Because of this, deforestation has become a shortcut for some people to get rich. When the cultivated land and pasture are not enough, some people ask for it from the forest; when they need foreign exchange, some countries do not hesitate to cut down the forest; when the price of rare wood furniture on the market is bullish, some "members" of the forest "family" will want to expand. Disaster is coming. Relevant figures show that this type of tree felling activity has tripled in the past 30 years.

The demand for forests due to social and economic development is also increasing year by year. It is like a big mouth devouring the dwindling forests. Take the paper industry as an example. A report by the Worldwatch Institute points out that the rapid development of the paper industry is a major threat to the world's forests. In the 1990s, annual wood consumption for papermaking tripled from 1950, and paper consumption will double by 2013. Currently, four percent of the world's felled trees go to paper mills in industrial countries. The United States is the largest country in paper consumption, with per capita consumption of 341 kilograms per year; followed by Japan and Germany. The United States, Japan, and European countries only account for one-third of the world's population, but consume two-thirds of the world's paper products. Almost all of the wood in these countries is imported from developing countries. Therefore, developed countries have a negative impact on the world's forests. has an unshirkable responsibility for the reduction. Man-made disasters are more severe than tigers. It is we humans who are causing the sharp decline of forests. This is a reality we must acknowledge.

Facing the riddled "lungs of the earth", should humans reflect?