Environment

CONSERVE & PROTECT OUR

ENVIRONMENT

ENVIRONMENT
Environment is the surrounding in which
we live. It is the source of life. Our whole
life is dependent to the environment.

It directs our life and determines our

proper growth and development.

Good or bad quality of social life depends

on the quality of our natural environment.

Causes for The Environmental Damage

High quantity of Exhaust gases

The biggest reason by far for all kinds of

environmental degradation is the exorbitant
amount of gases, harmful to the
environment, which is released by the
various industries.
Prime amongst these gases are C02, S02
and NH3.
Of course there are many more, and these
are the main culprits for ozone holes and
global

Deforestation
Deforestation causes major problems for
one simple reason.
It decreases the number of trees, which
clean the environment, provide oxygen
and also affect rain patterns.
This is the major reason why there are
calls for tree plantation; it is to make up for
this loss

Problems (contd)
The modern technologies have immense
power which has altered the whole
environment in an unimagined way.
The indiscriminate use of environment is
the root of ecological crisis.

High number of industries such

as mining
Mining creates a lot of pollution, mainly because
it releases particulate matter, which qualifies as
Respirable Particulate Matter (RPM).
the particulate matter which can enter our lungs
and can harm the entire respiratory system.
This form causes the most direct harm to
humans, also particulate matter can come from
indoor pollution, as can be seen in cooking on
traditional choolahs and cottage industries like
bangle-making.

Chemical effluents
Effluents are another by-product of
industries which poses threat to the
environment,
leather
and
tanning
industries, petroleum industries and
chemical manufacturing industries create
major waste products which are released
directly into nearby streams without
treatment, creating river pollution and
causing harm to aquatic life.

Transport
Smog is a nuisance that is created
because of vehicular pollution, and HydroCarbons released from engines are the
cause of creation of lower level ozone that
is harmful to humans.

Plastic Bags
Garbage of Plastic Bags

Plastics in the Oceans

Every year, around 500

billion (500000000000)
plastic bags are used
worldwide. So many that
over one million bags are
being used every minute
and they're damaging our
environment.
(Environmental Cosmos)

12 million barrels of oil used to

produce 30 billion plastic bags a
year.
Millions of these bages are
dumped every year..
Averaged use time of a bag is
only 12 min!.
These bags are not only
hurting our oceans but
they are wasting energy &
polluting our environment.

Agriculture Problems
Overloading the land with fertilizers,
Pesticides, overgrazing and shifting
agriculture are ruinous agricultural policies
that degrade land, creating soil erosion
that leads to silting in major rivers and
reservoirs.

The Population
Explosion
The increasing population creates a load
that the entire environment has to support,
not only in terms of food and lodging, but
also in terms of the amount of waste that it
generates and the ability of the
environment to sustain this growth.
All major activities are carried out to
support this growing population, and whilst
this is unavoidable

Effects of Environmental Degradation

Water pollution and

water scarcity
As per the estimation of UN, more than two million
deaths and billions of illnesses a year are attributable
to water pollution.
Water scarcity compounds these health problems.
Productivity is affected by the costs of providing safe
water, by constraints on economic activity caused by
water shortages, and by the adverse effects of water
pollution and shortages on other environmental
resources such as, declining fisheries and acquifer
depletion leading to irreversible compaction.

Air pollution
As per the estimation of UN, urban air
pollution is responsible for 300,000
700,000 deaths annually and creates
chronic health problems for many more
people.

Restrictions on vehicles and industrial

activity during critical periods affect
productivity, as does the effect of acid rain
on forests and water bodies.

Solid and hazardous

wastes
Diseases are spread by uncollected
garbage and blocked drains; the health
risks from hazardous wastes are typically
more localized, but often acute. Wastes
affect productivity through the pollution of
groundwater resources.

Soil degradation
Depleted soils increase the risks of
malnutrition for farmers.
Productivity losses on tropical soils are
estimated to be in the range of 0.5-1.5 per
cent of GNP, while secondary productivity
losses are due to siltation of reservoirs,
transportation
channels
and
other
hydrologic investments.

Deforestation
Death and disease can result from the
localized flooding caused by deforestation.

Loss of sustainable logging potential and

of erosion prevention, watershed stability
and carbon sequestration provided by
forests are among the productivity impacts
of deforestation.

Loss of biodiversity
The extinction of plant and animal species
will potentially affect the development of
new drugs; it will reduce ecosystem
adaptability and lead to the loss of genetic
resources.

Atmospheric changes
Ozone depletion is responsible for perhaps
300,000 additional cases of skin cancer a
year and 1.7 million cases of cataracts.
Global warming may lead to increase in the
risk of climatic natural disasters.

Productivity impacts may include sea-rise

damage to coastal investments, regional
changes in agricultural productivity and
disruption of the marine food chain.

Trees