Human impact on nature, negative impact.

In the modern world, there is a point of view that a person, through his activity, harms the environment, extracting minerals, polluting and destroying the world around him. People have appeared who are openly fighting human activity, denying the benefits of civilization in favor of living in "harmony with nature." At the same time, these people enjoy these benefits no less than others, but consider it possible to consider themselves good. The other side is people who mine, build, produce. They give mankind the opportunity to live in the industrial world, but from this point of view they are considered rapists on nature ... But lately I have been learning more and more about another point of view regarding what is happening in the world.

The statement that a person harms nature is, firstly, very selfish and does not pursue the goal of improving the state of nature, but solely the interests of the person who says it. Secondly, this statement is based on the opinion that man is not a part of nature. Let's consider this concept in more detail.

man over nature

Therefore, a person begins to oppose nature, to separate from it. As a result of industrialization, people began to believe that they should use nature for their own purposes: “We cannot wait for favors from nature, it is our task to take them from her” (I. V. Michurin). This phrase has become a symbol of the consumer attitude to nature.

Such people began to be opposed by others who shouted that it was impossible to kill animals, it was impossible to pollute the environment, it was impossible to extract fossil remains. they are finite. In 100 years, oil, gas, coal will end and people will come to an energy crisis. Such people blame others for making life worse on the planet, but what they themselves have done to improve the situation.

A familiar person who studies water says “I hate people. They are polluting the Earth." But what did he do about it? He just kindled aggression in people, which will be directed at him. He, like everyone else, enjoys the benefits of civilization. He didn’t improve the lives of others in any way, he didn’t figure out how to improve the conditions of life on earth ... But he hates it.

At the same time, in reality, everyone pursues only their own goals. Some are mining. Others spend public money to imitate environmental improvement activities. This state of affairs is beneficial to everyone ... except humanity.

Man is part of nature

Throughout the history of the development of the Earth, many times there were periods in which thousands of species of living beings were destroyed. There were also creatures that also significantly influenced the world around them. And they died too. Life on earth has been constantly evolving, and now the crown of the creation of evolution on Earth is man.

However, evolution continues. The activity of any creature, including man, is exactly what was given by nature. It is nature (or, one might say, planet Earth) that strives to constantly develop. It is now striving to go beyond one planet and spread further into space. And it is man who now drives the development of nature with his activity.

Let's think about what minerals are ... For the last millions of years, life has been in full swing on the surface of the Earth. And dying, living organisms (animals, plants, microorganisms) turned into soil. This process went on continuously, and gradually this layer grew and grew. Substances were removed from the cycle of life and deposited in the Earth. Gradually, all this turned into those fossil substances that people now extract.

With his activity, a person again extracts what was buried millions of years ago and introduces it into the circulation of substances. What is the meaning of nature from meaninglessly lying substances. There is nothing useless in nature, and through human activity, the Earth shakes up all its resources, striving to develop further.

The statement that man's activity harms the Earth is not true. He only harms himself. As a result of this activity, in the near future he will use up the materials he thought of. If he cannot come up with something new and dies out, then this is only the problem of a species that could not adapt and develop. The earth was as it was before, and so it will be in the future. It will seek to enable other species to go further where man has failed.

By polluting the environment, a person only worsens the conditions of his life. Chernobyl is now one of the cleanest places in Ukraine, except for radiation. There is clean air, many animals, many plants. For some 25 years, the Earth has already begun to forget about the presence of people there. The same thing will happen if a person cannot cope with his brain and figure out how to destroy himself. It means a defective look, and it is necessary to develop differently.

So there is no need to think about how to take care of nature, it will take care of itself. There will be a nuclear war. In a million years, life will flourish again on Earth, but without people. And some other species will begin to dominate and develop, and maybe go further than humans. 60 million years ago, 99% of the species of terrestrial living creatures, including dinosaurs, died out, and mammals began to dominate. They lived before that, but dinosaurs did not give them the opportunity to develop. Now they have this opportunity. Everything in the world happens purposefully, and if a person does not live up to the expectations of evolution, then he will be forced to leave in favor of others.

Future

The difference here is that in the first understanding of the world there are two types of activity: one of them worsens the conditions of human life (pollutes the environment, affects water, food, etc.), and the other tries to improve (purifies). It's like bending an iron bar in different directions. Sooner or later you can break it. This is similar to how a person drinks a lot of coffee, and then immediately valocardin so that the heart survives this portion of coffee. But by both actions, a person only worsens his condition.

People who are fighting human activity (industry) are fighting themselves. They come out with banners and call for something, but in reality they only contribute to it.

In the second understanding of the world, there is the idea that it is necessary not to fight against activity, but to put human activity for the benefit of mankind. Those. it is necessary not to fight factories that emit waste into the air, but to come up with ways to replace these factories with something new, more progressive, which will not have such a detrimental effect on a person, but rather improve his well-being. Instead of words about saving endangered species (that is, activities directed against evolution), it is necessary to save the main dominant species on the planet - humans. Only when human activity is directed to the benefit of humanity itself, only then will a person have a chance to continue his evolutionary development.

The nature of our planet is very diverse and inhabited by unique species of plants, animals, birds and microorganisms. All this diversity is closely interconnected and allows our planet to preserve and maintain a unique balance between various life forms.

Human impact on the environment

From the very first days of the appearance of man, he began to influence the environment. And with the invention of more and more new tools, human civilization has increased its impact to a truly enormous scale. And at present, several important questions have arisen before humanity: how does a person affect nature? What human actions harm the soil that provides us with basic food? What is the influence of man on the atmosphere we breathe?

At present, the impact of man on the world around him not only contributes to the development of our civilization, but also often leads to the fact that the appearance of the planet undergoes significant changes: rivers dry up and dry up, forests are cut down, new cities and factories appear in place of the plains, for the sake of mountains are being destroyed by new transport routes.

With the rapid increase in the population of the Earth, humanity needs more and more food, and with the rapid growth of production technologies, the production capacities of our civilization are growing, requiring more and more resources for processing and consumption, the development of more and more new territories.

Cities are growing, capturing more and more new lands from nature and displacing their natural inhabitants from there: plants and animals.

This is interesting: in the chest?

Main reasons

The reasons for the negative impact of man on nature are:

All these factors have a significant and sometimes irreversible impact on the world around us. And more and more often a question arises before a person: what consequences will such an influence eventually lead to? Will we eventually turn our planet into a waterless desert, unsuitable for existence? How can a person minimize the negative consequences of his influence on the world around him? The inconsistency of human impact on the natural environment in our time is becoming a subject of discussion at the international level.

Negative and controversial factors

In addition to the obvious positive human impact on the environment, there are significant disadvantages of such interaction:

1. Destruction of large areas of forests by cutting them out. This influence is connected, first of all, with the development of the transport industry - a person needs more and more new highways. In addition, wood is actively used in the paper industry and other industries.
2. wide application of chemical fertilizers in agriculture actively contributes to the rapid contamination of the soil.
3. Widely developed network of industrial productions with its own emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere and water are not only the cause of environmental pollution, but also contribute to the death of entire species of fish, birds and plants.
4. Rapidly growing cities and industrial centers significantly affect the change in the external living conditions of animals, the reduction of their natural habitat and the reduction of the populations of various species themselves.

Also, one cannot ignore man-made disasters that can cause irreversible harm not just to a separate species of flora or fauna, but to entire regions of the planet. For example, after the famous accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, to date, a large region of Ukraine is uninhabitable. The level of radiation in this area exceeds the maximum permissible norms by dozens of times.

Also, the leakage of water contaminated with radiation from the reactor of a nuclear power plant in the city of Fukushima could lead to an environmental catastrophe on a global scale. The damage that this heavy contaminated water could cause to the ecological system of the world's oceans would be simply irreparable.

And the construction of conventional hydroelectric power plants does no less harm to the environment. Indeed, for their construction it is necessary to build a dam and flood a large area of ​​adjacent fields and forests. As a result of such human activity, not only the river and the territories adjacent to it suffer, but also the animal world that lives in these areas.

In addition, many mindlessly throw away garbage, polluting not only the soil, but also the waters of the oceans with their waste products. After all, light debris does not sink and remains on the surface of the water. And given that the decomposition period of some types of plastic is more than a dozen years, such floating "dirt islands" make it much more difficult for marine and river inhabitants to obtain oxygen and sunlight. Therefore, entire populations of fish and animals have to migrate in search of new, more habitable territories. And many of them die in the process of searching.

Deforestation on the slopes of mountains makes them susceptible to erosion, as a result, the soil becomes loose, which can lead to destruction of the mountain range.

Yes, and a person treats vital fresh water reserves negligently - daily polluting freshwater rivers with sewage and industrial waste.

Of course, the existence of a person on the planet brings her considerable benefits. In particular, it is people who carry out activities aimed at improving the ecological situation in the environment. On the territory of many countries, people organize nature reserves, parks and reserves, which allow not only to preserve the surrounding nature in its natural original form, but also contribute to the preservation and increase in the populations of rare and endangered species of animals and birds.

Special laws have been created to protect rare representatives of the nature around us from destruction. There are special services, funds and centers that fight against the destruction of animals and birds. Specialized associations of ecologists are also being created, the task of which is to fight for the reduction of emissions into the atmosphere that are harmful to the environment.

Security organizations

One of the most famous organizations fighting for the conservation of nature is Greenpease is an international organization created to save the environment for our descendants. The employees of Greenpease set themselves several main tasks:

1. The fight against pollution of the world's oceans.
2. Significant restriction on whaling.
3. Reducing the scale of deforestation of the taiga in Siberia and much more.

With the development of civilization, humanity must look for alternative sources of energy: solar or space, to save life on Earth. Also of great importance for the conservation of the nature around us are the construction of new canals and artificial water systems aimed at maintaining soil fertility. And to keep the air clean, many factories install specially designed filters to reduce the amount of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere.

Such reasonable and careful attitude to the world around us definitely has a positive impact on nature.

Every day, the positive impact of man on nature is increasing, and this cannot but affect the ecology of our entire planet. Therefore, the struggle of man for the preservation of rare species of flora and fauna, the preservation of rare species of plants is so important.

Mankind has no right to violate the natural balance and lead to the depletion of natural resources by its activities. To do this, it is necessary to control the extraction of minerals, carefully monitor and carefully treat the fresh water reserves on our planet. And it is very important to remember that it is we who are responsible for the world around us and it depends on us how our children and grandchildren will live!

Incredible Facts

It's lunchtime, but there's no food at home, so you get behind the wheel and drive to the nearest grocery store.

You walk among the stalls in the hope of buying something. In the end, you choose a chicken and a ready-made salad and return home to enjoy your meal.

Consider how a seemingly harmless trip to the store has affected the environment.

First, driving a car contributed to carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. The electricity in the store is nothing but the result of burning coal, the mining of which has devastated the Appalachian ecosystem.

The salad ingredients were farm-grown and treated with pesticides, which then ended up in water streams, poisoning fish and aquatic plants (which help keep the air clean).

The chicken was raised on a remote poultry farm, where animal waste releases large amounts of toxic methane into the atmosphere. When delivering goods to the store, many modes of transport were involved, each of which caused its own harm to the environment.

Even the smallest human actions initiate changes in the environment. How we heat our homes, power our electrical appliances, what we do with our trash, and where our food comes from all have a huge impact on the environment.

Considering the problem at the public level, it can be noted that human behavior has significantly affected the environment. The temperature of the earth has increased by one degree F since 1975, the amount of polar ice has decreased by 9 percent in just one decade.

We have caused enormous damage to the planet, much more than you can imagine. Construction, irrigation, mining significantly spoils the natural landscape and disrupts important ecological processes. Aggressive fishing and hunting can deplete species stocks, and human migration can introduce alien species into established food chains. Greed leads to catastrophic accidents, and laziness leads to destructive practices.

10. Public projects

Sometimes public works projects don't really work for the benefit of the public. Designed to generate clean energy, for example, dam projects in China have devastated everything around them, flooding cities and environmental waste sites, greatly increasing the risk of natural disasters.

In 2007, China completed 20 years of construction on the world's largest hydroelectric dam, the Three Gorges Dam. During the implementation of this project, more than 1.2 million people were forced to leave their usual habitats, as 13 large cities, 140 ordinary cities and 1,350 villages were flooded. Hundreds of factories, mines, dumps and industrial centers were also flooded, plus the main reservoirs were heavily polluted. The project has changed the ecosystem of the Yangtze River, turning the once-mighty river into a stagnant basin, thereby destroying the local flora and fauna to a greater extent.

Redirected rivers also greatly increase the risk of landslides along banks that are home to hundreds of thousands of people. Nearly half a million people along the river are projected to be relocated by 2020 as landslides are imminent and the ecosystem continues to deplete.

Scientists have recently linked dam building to earthquakes. The Three Gorges Reservoir was built on top of two major fault lines, with hundreds of small shocks occurring since its discovery. Scientists have suggested that the catastrophic 2008 earthquake in China's Sichuan province, which killed 8,000 people, was also caused by the accumulation of water in the area of ​​the dam, located less than half a mile from the center of the start of the tremors. The phenomenon of dams causing earthquakes is due to water pressure building up under the reservoir, which in turn increases pressure in rocks and acts as a softener for fault lines that are already under stress.

9. Overfishing

"There are a lot of fish in the sea" is no longer a completely reliable statement. Humanity's appetite for seafood has devastated our oceans to the point where experts fear the ability of many species to repopulate on their own.

According to the World Wildlife Federation, the global fish catch exceeds the allowable rate by 2.5 times. More than half of the world's fish stocks and species are already depleted, and one quarter of the species is over-depleted. Ninety percent of large fish species - tuna, swordfish, cod, halibut, flounder, marlin - have lost their natural habitat. According to forecasts, if the situation does not change, then by 2048 the stocks of these fish will disappear.

It is worth noting that the main culprit of what is happening are advances in fishing technology. Most commercial fishing boats today are equipped with fishfinder sonar. Once they find the right spot, the fishermen release huge nets, the size of three football fields, that can sweep up all the fish in a matter of minutes. Thus, with this approach, fish populations can be reduced by 80 percent in 10-15 years.

8. Invasive Species

Man throughout the era of the founding of the world was himself a distributor of invasive species. Even though it may seem to you that your favorite pet or plant feels much better in a new place, in fact, the natural balance is disturbed. Invasive flora and fauna have been proven to be the most destructive thing humanity has done to the environment.

In the United States, 400 out of 958 species are listed in the Red List because they are considered to be at risk due to competition with invasive alien species.

Invasive species problems mostly affect invertebrates. For example, in the first half of the 20th century, an Asian fungus destroyed more than 180 million acres of American chestnut trees. As a result, more than 10 species dependent on chestnuts have become extinct.

7. Coal mining

The biggest danger posed by coal mining is climate change, but it also threatens local ecosystems.

Market realities pose a serious threat to coal mining, especially in the United States. Coal is a cheap source of energy - one megawatt of energy produced with coal costs $20-30, as opposed to one megawatt produced with natural gas - $45-60. Moreover, one quarter of the world's coal reserves are located in the United States.

Two of the most destructive forms of the coal mining industry are the extraction of coal from the tops of mountains and the use of gas. In the first case, the miners can "cut down" more than 305 meters of a mountain peak in order to get to the coal deposit. Extraction with the help of gas occurs when coal is closer to the surface of the mountain. In this case, all the "inhabitants" of the mountain (trees and any other creatures living in them) are exterminated to extract valuable minerals.

Each practice of this kind creates a large amount of waste in its path. Extensive damaged and old forest areas are being dumped into nearby valleys. In the United States alone, it is estimated that more than 121,405 hectares of hardwood forests have been destroyed by coal mining in West Virginia. By 2012, it is said that 5,180 square kilometers of Appalachian forest will cease to exist.

The question of what to do with this kind of "waste" is still open. Usually, mining companies simply dump unwanted trees, dead wild animals, etc. in nearby valleys, which in turn not only destroys natural ecosystems, but also affects the drying up of large rivers. Industrial waste from mines finds shelter in riverbeds.

6. Human disasters

Although most of the ways in which man harms the environment develop over a period of years, some events may occur in an instant, but this instant will have far-reaching consequences.

In 1989, the oil spill in Prince Williams Bay, Alaska, had the most serious consequences. Then there was a spill of about 11 million gallons of crude oil, as a result of this accident, more than 25,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 seals, 250 eagles, about 22 killer whales, as well as billions of salmon and herring, died. At least two species, the Pacific herring and the murre dove, did not recover from the disaster.

It is still too early to assess the damage to wildlife from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the scale of the disaster is unlike anything seen before in American history. Over the course of several days, more than 9.5 million liters of oil were seeping into the bay daily, the largest spill in American history. By most estimates, wildlife damage is still lower than the 1989 spill due to lower species densities. However, despite this, there is no doubt that the damage from the spill will persist for many years to come.

5. Cars

America has long been considered the land of cars, so it's no surprise that one-fifth of all US greenhouse gas emissions come from cars. There are 232 million cars on the roads of this country, very few of which are powered by electricity, and the average car consumes about 2271 liters of gasoline annually.

One car emits about 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the form of exhaust gases. In order to purify the air of these impurities, 240 trees will be needed. In America, cars emit about the same amount of carbon dioxide as coal-burning factories.

The combustion process that takes place in a car engine produces fine particles of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and sulfur dioxide. In large quantities, these chemicals can harm the human respiratory system, causing coughing and choking. Cars also generate carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas produced by burning fossil fuels that blocks the transport of oxygen to the brain, heart, and other vital organs.

At the same time, the extraction of oil, which is necessary to create fuel and oil for the movement of the car, in turn, also has a serious impact on the environment. Land drilling is crowding out native species, while offshore drilling and subsequent transportation has created an unthinkable amount of problems over the years, as more than 40 million gallons of oil have been spilled worldwide since 1978.

4. Unsustainable agriculture

In all the ways that humanity harms the environment, there is one common trend: we are not able to plan for the future. But nowhere is this more evident than in our method of growing our own food.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, real farming practices are responsible for 70 percent of the pollution in the country's rivers and streams. Chemical runoff, contaminated soil, animal waste, all end up in waterways, of which more than 173,000 miles are already in disrepair. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides increase nitrogen levels and decrease oxygen levels in water.

Pesticides used to protect crops from being eaten by predators threaten the survival of some bird and insect species. For example, the number of bee colonies on US farmland fell from 4.4 million in 1985 to less than 2 million in 1997. When exposed to pesticides, the immune system of bees weakens, making them more vulnerable to the enemy.

Large-scale industrial agriculture also contributes to the process of global warming. The vast majority of meat products in the world are produced on industrial farms. On any farm, tens of thousands of cattle are concentrated in small areas in order to save space. Among other things, the destruction of untreated animal waste releases harmful gases, including methane, which, in turn, has a significant impact on the global warming process.

3. Deforestation

There were times when most of the earth on the planet was covered with forests. Today, forests are disappearing before our eyes. According to the United Nations, 32 million acres of forests are lost every year, including 14,800 acres of virgin forests, that is, land that is not occupied or affected by human activity. Seventy percent of the planet's animals and plants live in forests, and, accordingly, having lost their home, they themselves will face the threat of extinction as a species.

The problem is particularly acute in tropical forests with a humid climate. Such forests cover 7 percent of the land area and provide a home for about half of all species on the planet. At the current rate of deforestation, scientists estimate that the rainforest will be wiped off the face of the earth in about 100 years.

Deforestation also contributes to global warming. Trees absorb greenhouse gases, so fewer trees means more greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. They also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. Without trees, forests will quickly turn into barren deserts, leading to even more severe fluctuations in global temperatures. When forests burn, trees release carbon into the atmosphere, which also contributes to the problem of global warming. Scientists have calculated that the trees of the Amazon forest have processed the amount of greenhouse gases equivalent to 10 years of human activity.

Poverty is one of the main causes of deforestation. Most rainforests are in third world countries, and politicians there regularly stimulate the economic development of weak regions. Thus, lumberjacks and farmers are slowly but surely doing their job. In most cases, deforestation occurs due to the need to create a farm site. The farmer usually burns trees and vegetation in order to obtain ash, which can then be used as fertilizer. This process is called slash-and-burn agriculture. Among other things, the risk of soil erosion and flooding increases as, over the years, the nutrients from the soil evaporate, and the land is often unable to support the planted crops for which the trees were cut down.

2. Global warming

The average surface temperature of the Earth has increased by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 130 years. Ice caps are melting at an alarming rate - since 1979 more than 20 percent of the world's ice has disappeared. Sea levels are rising, causing flooding, and having a significant impact on catastrophic natural disasters occurring worldwide with increasing frequency.

Global warming is caused by the greenhouse effect, in which some gases channel the heat received from the sun back into the atmosphere. Since 1990, annual greenhouse gas emissions have increased by about 6 billion tons worldwide, or 20 percent.

The gas most responsible for global warming is carbon dioxide, which accounts for 82 percent of all US greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide is produced by burning fossil fuels, mainly by driving cars and by feeding factories and factories with coal. Five years ago, global atmospheric concentrations of gases were already 35 percent higher than before the industrial revolution.

Global warming can lead to the development of natural disasters, large-scale food and water shortages, and devastating effects on wildlife. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, sea levels could rise by 17.8 - 58.4 cm by the end of the century. And since most of the world's population lives in coastal areas, this is a very big danger for both people and ecosystems .

1. Overpopulation

"Overpopulation is 'the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about,'" says Dr John Guillebaud, professor of family planning and reproductive health at University College London. reduce the population, nature will do it for us through violence, epidemics and famine," he adds.

Over the past 40 years, the world's population has grown from 3 billion to 6.7 billion. 75 million people (equivalent to the population of Germany) are added annually, or more than 200,000 daily. According to forecasts, by 2050 the world population will exceed 9 billion people.

More people means more waste, more demand for food, more production of consumer goods, more need for electricity, cars, and so on. In other words, all the factors that contribute to global warming will only get worse.

Increasing demand for food will force farmers and fishermen to do more damage to already fragile ecosystems. The forests will be removed almost entirely as cities continue to expand and new areas for farmland will be needed. The list of endangered species is getting longer. In rapidly developing countries such as India and China, increased energy consumption is expected to increase carbon emissions. In short, the more people, the more problems.

When the last tree is cut down, when the last river is poisoned, when the last bird is caught, only then will you understand that money cannot be eaten.
Prophecy of the Cree Indians

• Man appeared on a unique planet, where there was plenty of clean water and clean air - everything that is so necessary for life. Centuries passed, and it seemed to people that it would always be so, that the gifts of nature were inexhaustible. But lately we have noticed more and more that the air has become completely different from what it was before - it becomes difficult for them to breathe. And what have our water sources turned into - rivers and lakes? They became shallow, overgrown with mud and became so dirty that even “purified” water has to be drunk with caution ...

How do we enter the 21st century? What awaits us?

The environmental prognosis, based on facts, is extremely disappointing. Scientists believe that humanity has reached such a level of technical development, at. in which his unbridled economic activity is capable of irreversibly changing the natural environment on Earth, as a result of which an ecological apocalypse will come, that is, the death of all life on our still blue and green planet.

Formally, in Russia, and in other countries as well, measures are being taken to protect the natural environment, international symposiums are being held, and agreements between countries are being signed. So, for example, in 1972, agreements were signed between the USSR and the USA on cooperation in the field of environmental protection. But there are no visible improvements. On the contrary, the severity of the environmental problem is increasing every year: the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, while the amount of free oxygen decreases; Tropical forests are being destroyed before our eyes, rare species of animals and plants are disappearing, fertile lands are dwindling, and supplies of clean fresh water are declining. In a word, nature degenerates. And if nature deteriorates, people begin to be overcome by diseases ...

One of the most important components of the natural environment is the atmosphere. According to researchers, industrial enterprises and thermal power plants annually emit many billions of tons (!) of harmful chemical compounds, ash and dust into the earth's atmosphere. In highly industrialized countries, pollution emissions roughly double every 12 years. Over 40% of all pollution comes from road transport.

Atmospheric pollution has no boundaries. Today, within the troposphere, the air is already polluted throughout the Earth. In comparison with 1965, pollution has increased by about three times. According to geochemists, more than 300 billion tons of carbon dioxide enter the atmosphere every year from the burning of oil, coal, gas and wood! With an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide, the thermal balance of the planet changes: the Earth absorbs more infrared (thermal) radiation, the outflow of heat into space decreases and the average temperature of the surface air layer rises. Therefore, "thermal" pollution causes climate change on a planetary scale.

Some warming, which is currently observed, causes the melting of ice in Antarctica and Greenland, which inevitably leads to an increase in the level of the World Ocean. In the future, this process may become irreversible, and then the rise in ocean level by 5-6 m (due to increased melting of continental glaciations) will pose a serious threat to the population living in low-lying coastal regions of the Earth.

In cities, pollution is usually 5-10 times higher than in rural areas. This is facilitated by industrial and domestic waste dumps that form around cities. Such dumps have become a real disaster for the environment and people. They are a source of pollution not only of the atmosphere, but also of soil, and water basins, and even groundwater.

Recently, the danger has come even from rural areas and due to the widespread use in agriculture of the so-called pesticide he - highly toxic chemicals that are used to control pests of crops. Air currents and waterways, these substances are distributed throughout the Earth. Suffice it to say that even in the stomachs of chinstrap penguins, DDT has been found.

No less serious danger to humanity is the pollution of water sources. It is not only about the purity of our rivers, lakes and reservoirs, but also about the purity of salty sea water. For some reason, it is considered in the order of things to release spent fuel oil directly overboard. Every year, its waste from all ships amounts to tens of thousands of tons (this is in addition to 10 million tons of oil flowing into the oceans as a result of oil tanker accidents). One can imagine what this leads to if every ton of fuel oil or oil spreads on the water surface as a thin film over an area of ​​12 km2, and the ocean is the main supplier of oxygen! On satellite images taken from orbital stations, it can be seen that many thousands of square kilometers of the coastal waters of the World Ocean and the seas are covered with a dark oil film ...

The famous French aquanaut Jacques Yves Cousteau (1910-1997) was concerned about the results of his studies of the deep sea: due to the constant pollution of the oceans, there was a real threat of the complete destruction of many of its inhabitants. In the last 50 years alone, more than a thousand species of marine fauna have disappeared.

If pollutants are present in the atmosphere, iodine and soil, they inevitably accumulate in plants and animals. Man consumes plant and animal food. Consequently, through food, many harmful substances, such as lead and mercury, enter the human body.

At present, it is very difficult to find a place on Earth that has not been exposed to human influence. But, changing natural conditions, a person often does not take into account how this will affect his own health. In an effort to obtain momentary economic benefits, people do not at all think about the irreparable harm they cause not only to themselves, but also to future generations.

Thus, thoughtless human economic activity leads to negative changes in the entire environment and, ultimately, to the complete devastation of nature. In turn, the polluted environment - dying nature - causes mass diseases of people with chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, disorders of the nervous and cardiovascular systems.

All living beings on Earth have always been exposed to ionizing radiation, the source of which is natural radioactive isotopes. They create the natural radioactive background of the planet, to which man has adapted quite well.

But in 1945, in connection with the first tests of nuclear weapons, radioactive substances created by people themselves appeared in the atmosphere. And together with air and water, a person began to swallow them. Radioactive isotopes of strontium and uranium turned out to be especially dangerous for a living organism. Over the years, they accumulate in human bone tissue, which becomes a source of ionizing radiation that causes leukemia - a serious incurable disease.

Now around the world, about 500 nuclear power units are operating at nuclear power plants. And if catastrophes like Chernobyl on April 26, 1986 are repeated, then the possibility of contamination of the entire Earth with the most dangerous strontium-90 is not ruled out ...

As you can see, the problem of nature protection has acquired planetary significance in our days. To deal with the impending threat, the people of the entire Earth must look at their planet as one. Therefore, to successfully solve the global environmental problem, space sensing is indispensable. For the timely detection of sources of pollution, their localization and neutralization, special patrol observations of the Earth from space are needed. Such observations are already being made.

Space methods for operational monitoring of the state of the natural environment are very effective. And only thanks to this, the further development of space research should be recognized as an unconditionally necessary thing. But for a complete solution of the environmental problem, it will be necessary to conduct an offensive along the “all front”.

First of all, it is necessary to take urgent measures to reduce environmental pollution. A promising way is the establishment of a waste-free technological process at industrial enterprises. But even if we create a waste-free land-based industry, it still will not bring the desired result: pollution of the planet will continue to some extent. There is only one way out: to relocate all our industrial production to space.

Some supporters of the environmental movement, the so-called "greens", believe that space technology has a detrimental effect on the natural environment: it pollutes the earth's atmosphere with harmful combustion products of rocket fuel and destroys the ozone layer. Of course, to some extent this happens. But a complete rejection of further space research will not save the nature of our planet from destruction. The most favorable development strategy should proceed from a reasonable combination of contradictory requirements: on the one hand, to preserve the earthly nature, on the other hand, to ensure not only the survival of man, but also his further progress.

The Russian scientist-philosopher Arkady Dmitrievich Ursul put forward a hypothesis about the division and future of social production into terrestrial and cosmic. The first should be predominantly agricultural, the second - industrial. If it is not possible to completely create closed technological cycles, then it is important to develop such an option so that space production waste does not litter the near space - near-Earth space, does not affect the Earth's atmosphere and its nature.

At present, our planet is undergoing an intensive accumulation of radioactive waste, which is formed at nuclear power plants. These wastes pose a deadly threat to humans and the earth's biosphere. Burying containers of radioactive isotopes in deep exhausted mines and on the ocean floor are not the best options. All this for the time being. The trouble can come at any time and it will be worse than Chernobyl!

The solution has long been suggested: the place of nuclear energy is space! In the meantime, it continues to operate on Earth, you should think better: where to put radioactive waste? There are projects for space disposal of this very hazardous waste. For example, removal with the help of rockets outside the solar system - into interstellar space. But from an ecological point of view, the option of burning radioactive waste in the plasma envelope of the Sun is considered the best.

The removal of industrial production from the Earth and the creation of orbital industrial complexes in space is a task that humanity should begin to solve in the second half of the 21st century. Only from the standpoint of space exploration is it possible to solve the ecological catastrophe that has come upon us and save the nature of the Earth. There is no other way.

“All wealth begins from the earth, and the earth loves care,” says a Russian folk proverb. The wise meaning of these words is clear to everyone: a person must fatherly protect and protect nature - our priceless wealth, the source of all our earthly blessings.